Ever been in a meeting where you’re taking notes, looking things up, or just surreptitiously Slacking with your co-workers? If so, you might want to hide the constant clacking of your keyboard. If you can’t keep yourself muted in such calls, you should try Unclack—a free Mac app that mutes your typing sounds.
The app is deceptively simple and does its job quite effectively. The moment you begin typing, it’ll mute the mic, and as soon as you’re done, it unmutes you. This is really convenient for those long online meetings, where it gets annoying to keep muting or unmuting yourself.
Setting up Unclack
Credit: Pranay Parab/Screenshot
Once you install Unclack, you’ll see it in your Mac’s menu bar. Click the app’s icon and select Configure keyboard access. This will open a pop-up, where you can click the keyboard permissions button. It’ll take you to your Mac’s accessibility settings page. You’ll have to manually add Unclack here by hitting the + button and selecting the app from the Applications folder in Finder. After this is done, Unclack will ask you to quit and reopen the app, and you’re good to get started.
When Unclack is working, you’ll see a red dot on its menu bar icon while you’re typing. This indicates that your mic has been muted. You can go to the app’s settings to customize the app a little. Unclack has a variable mute volume setting, which allows you to set a preferred mic volume while you’re typing. This helps if you don’t want to mute yourself entirely, but just reduce your mic volume when you type. It also lets you set the mic volume when you aren’t typing, which is good for people who prefer not to be too loud during online meetings.
With the app configured to your liking, you can fearlessly type as much as you want during your calls. If you wish to talk while you’re typing, click Unclack’s menu bar icon and select Pause Unclack. This will pause the app for a bit and allow you to type and talk at the same time. Be sure to reenable it to allow the app to mute you when you type.
Unclack works with all video conferencing apps and the your colleagues won’t be able to tell that you’ve muted yourself. The app will mute your Mac’s mic at the system level and that doesn’t impact the mic indicator on any video conferencing app that you use. You can keep yourself unmuted in Zoom: With Unclack running, your colleagues won’t hear your typing or see that your mic is muted.
