Woodpecker is a Mac menu bar app that makes your keyboard sound like a real mechanical keyboard. Every key plays a recorded mechanical switch, and each key has its own sound: the space bar is deep, Return is heavy, and every letter is its own. Each key plays its press going down and its release coming up, panned by where it sits on the keyboard.

Key Features

22 switches: tactile, clicky and linear switches, Topre and buckling spring among them, with 12 of them recorded key by key. Tap one in the app to hear it before you choose.

Tone and Room: Tone goes from deep to bright, and Room adds a little of the space around a keyboard, from close to room.

Any keyboard: it works with the MacBook's own keys or a plugged-in keyboard.

Quiet when it should be: Woodpecker stays silent while your microphone is in use and silent in password fields, and Control-Option-K mutes it from anywhere.

Fast: on the MacBook speakers a key sounds in about 20 ms.

A try pad: the try pad inside the app plays without any permission, so you can hear the switches before you allow anything.

Privacy

macOS asks for Accessibility permission before any app can hear the keys you press in other apps. Woodpecker only listens: it cannot type, press or change a key, and it records nothing you type.

Use Cases

Get the feel of a mechanical keyboard on a MacBook, make long writing or coding sessions sound the way you like, or pick a deeper or brighter switch sound to match your mood, then mute it in one keystroke for a call.

Getting Started

Download Woodpecker (macOS 13 or later, Apple silicon and Intel), allow Accessibility when macOS asks, pick a switch from the menu bar, and start typing. A note on headphones: Bluetooth adds 150 to 250 ms between every app and your ears, which no app can remove.

Pricing and Plans

$4.99 once, with everything free for 24 hours from the first launch. One license covers up to 3 Macs. 7-day refunds. When the trial ends, enter a license key from the Woodpecker menu bar icon to keep the sound.