Key repeat broken in macOS Sierra

[jdsimcoe]

Currently your script...

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 0

...does not work in macOS Sierra. I've found that if I set things up here they work great:

Maybe they changed the preference file location or something.

[hkdobrev]

I've played with that a bit. I think 0 is no longer allowed as a value, but you could use 1, 2 etc. It makes it awfully fast then though. So they might have changed the scale. If you set it to the fastest Key Repeat and shortest initial delay and then read the values on the command line you get 2 and 15.

[jdsimcoe]

Tried doing this:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 1

And here's what I get:

2016-07-14 13:51:07.168 defaults[8647:1323339] Could not write domain Apple Global Domain; exiting

[Tatsh]

Use diff to compare before and after the changes (quickly). I can't imagine Apple changed this to no longer use NSUserDefaults. Maybe it's not in NSGlobalDomain anymore.

[ktgvv]

@hkdobrev If it was just a matter of forbidden value, replacing -int 0 with -float 0.001 would have done the trick and been a better way than -int 1 [except if -float was forbidden too]. ;)

[mathiasbynens]

@kvpb Yeah, using float seems to work (as in, fast keyboard repeat is enabled by it after a reboot):

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -float 0.000000000001; defaults read-type NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat; defaults read NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat
Type is float
1e-12

[jdsimcoe]

@mathiasbynens That didn't seem to work.

[mathiasbynens]

@jdsimcoe It does for me on OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G31) when rebooting afterwards.

[jdsimcoe]

@mathiasbynens I'm on macOS Sierra and that setting has changed or something because neither works at all... they must have changed the value.

[mathiasbynens]

@jdsimcoe Could you do this please?

1. defaults read > a
2. Open system preferences and change the setting to some other value than the default.
3. defaults read > b
4. Post diff a b here.

[jdsimcoe]

when I do this defaults read NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat... I get 1e-12. When I do defaults read-type NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat I get Type is float.

[jdsimcoe]

When I change it in the Preferences slider to the fastest value I do defaults read NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat and get 2. And the type is integer.

[jdsimcoe]

@mathiasbynens defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 1 is the best I can do on macOS Sierra. The float just doesn't work.

[ktgvv]

I tried to take a wild guess, I don't have any Mac running macOS Sierra DP. If I get what @mathiasbynens and you @jdsimcoe say, my trick works for OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan but not macOS 10.12 DP4 Sierra. Maybe it actually is a matter of forbidden values.
If -int works, -float maybe works too. Have you tried to defaults read NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat with the slider put at different random values [not just the extremes and middle but some points here and there on the slider as well]? Right now, the question I'm asking myself is: did Apple reverse how it works [eg a bigger value means a higher rate] or just lock the values to a certain range [eg between 1 and 3]?, and if they did, does setting the slider's cursor to a point somewhere changes from an integer to a floating-point number [eg the extremes and middle at 1, 2 and 3, and the values between as 1.n and 2.n]?
What bugs me is that either the slider is locked to a range of integers such as one integer by stopping point [which would explain why floating-point numbers don't work], the slider is locked to a range of integers by can accept floating-point numbers within that range or something escapes me.

[wprater]

Im on DP 5 and cannot seem to get the float to increase to speeds I was experiencing prior. also, you may need to tweak the InitialKeyRepeat value if you're getting no key repeat at all.

[mickeys]

On macOS build 16a294a, after setting values through the prefs panel (and verifying that it works in the terminal), these are the values I see:

% defaults read NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled
0
% defaults read NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat
6
% defaults read NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat
25

[ktgvv]

@wprater InitialKeyRepeat's value is actually the time it takes for key repeat to initialize, that is how long you have to stay pressing the key before it automatically repeats. Maybe it needs to be set to a shorter value along KeyRepeat in macOS Sierra?

Also, I highly discommend setting InitialKeyRepeat lower than [ 7 ; 10 ]: hardly will you press a key that 2 or 3 characters will have been input; on my 2013 MacBook Pro, I can set it to 5 but I need to keep it around 10 on my 2010 MacBook. See my .osxmavericks for more.

[anhkind]

I can't find any command that works for macOS Sierra. Something must have changed ...

[knpwrs]

Same here. I just ugpraded to Sierra and I had to use... the GUI. And even then key repeat wasn't as fast as it was in El Capitan.

[danemacmillan]

@knpwrs I'm experiencing the same thing. They key repeat set from CLI appears to have no affect. Furthermore, after a reboot, the settings set from the GUI are lost, which means I need to set the preferences every time.

[kdeldycke]

For keyboards and mouse fine-tuning I'm exploring the use of https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ . Only thing is a rewrite of the app is in progress for macOS Sierra support at: https://github.com/tekezo/Karabiner-Elements

[jdsimcoe]

@anhkind @knpwrs @danemacmillan @kdeldycke If you want to close to 0 try this:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 1

It is as close as you can get on macOS Sierra.

[nuc]

For me:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 1
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 10

makes it blazing fast. Even a bit too much, maybe.

[blakeperdue]

This is sad, I really liked having blazing fast key repeat. Has anyone found anything faster than

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 1
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 10

?

[rjorgenson]

Nothing i've tried has been as fast as keyrepeat 1 and initialkeyrepeat 10 =/ I miss lightning fast, but I imagine i'll get used to this speed shortly.

[padi]

Leaving an update here. Using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 and it seems like
defaults write -g KeyRepeat -int 0 + logout + login now works, albeit too fast.

The scales have changed drastically, as @hkdobrev has previously stated. I've documented this behavior here:

Take note that while the GIF is indeed skipping frames, it really does skip some frames until I stop holding the repeating key. It's that fast. The terminal frame skips seem to happen, but they're more evident in my older MacBook, which means this is probably just dependent on how much text the terminal can handle given the limited resources of the laptop.

This behavior "works" on both my 11-inch Mac Book Air (2014) and my 13-inch Mac Book Air (2017). I've since set it to 1, but it 2 can be comfortable as well since the new 1 might be a little bit too fast for some people.

[ktgvv]

@mathiasbynens You could disable Slow Keys before setting key repeat, like so:

defaults write com.apple.universalaccess slowKey -int 0 # Disable Slow Keys.
defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool FALSE # Disable Press-And-Hold for keys.
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 10 # Set key repeat triggering delay to even shorter.
defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 3 # Set key repeat rate to even faster.

[hprobotic]

In case you guys found default ./.macos setting is too fast. Here is good setting:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 3
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 20

[a-x-]

It works for me:
sudo defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -float 0.000000000001

W/o sudo it does not work

[ktgvv]

wouldn't've thought to try sudo. Does it work for other broken commands?