Support
Siesta is made by one person, and both addresses below reach him — there is no ticket system and no bot in front of either.
Get in touch
If you pick the wrong one, nothing is lost. Writing in a language other than English is fine; a translation gets used at this end and the reply comes back in yours.
Answers before you write
The Start button says it needs permission
Blocking input needs the Accessibility permission. Open the prompt the app shows, or go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, and switch Siesta on in the list. Then come back to the app — it notices by itself, with no restart and no second prompt.
If Siesta is already in the list but switched off, switch it on. If it is in the list and on but the app still says otherwise, remove the entry with the minus button and let the app ask again.
How do I end a clean?
Hold ⌘Esc for three seconds. The hold is deliberate — a cloth brushing the keys should not end the clean halfway through. That shortcut keeps working even while every other key is blocked.
I cannot get out
If ⌘Esc is not responding, hold it the full three seconds without releasing; a brush against another key does not cancel it. Failing that, anything that stops the app ends the block, because macOS releases the event tap when the process goes away: quitting Siesta from another Mac over screen sharing, or holding the power button to restart. Your input is back the moment the app is gone, and nothing stays blocked after a restart.
If this happens to you, please write — being unable to get out is the one bug in this app that matters more than any other, and we want the details.
My sound did not come back
Siesta remembers the output device and its volume state before muting and puts both back when the clean ends. If the app was killed mid-clean, it restores them the next time you launch it — open Siesta once and the sound should return. If it does not, your output device may have changed in between; set it again in System Settings → Sound.
Reminders are not arriving
Reminders need permission to send notifications, which macOS asks for when you first turn them on. If you declined, switch Siesta on in System Settings → Notifications. Reminders count from the last time you opened the app, not from a fixed date, so opening Siesta restarts the clock.
The Touch Bar option does nothing
That option only has something to block on a Mac that has a Touch Bar. On every other Mac it is harmless and does nothing. The Control Strip on the right belongs to macOS and stays put even on a Mac that has one — an app is not allowed to cover it.
External monitors are not dimming
Dimming external displays is its own option, separate from dimming the main one — check that it is switched on. The main display is whichever one macOS currently calls the main display, which is not always the built-in screen.
Which Macs does Siesta run on?
Any Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.
Refunds
Apple handles purchases and refunds for everything bought on the Mac App Store, and we cannot issue one ourselves. Requests go to reportaproblem.apple.com. If the reason is something Siesta did wrong, write to us as well — the refund goes through Apple either way, but we would like to fix it.
Reporting a bug
Anything you can tell us helps, and these four help most:
- Your macOS version and Mac model — both are in the Apple menu → About This Mac.
- Which protections were switched on.
- What you expected and what happened instead.
- Whether it happens every time or once.
Siesta keeps no logs and sends no diagnostics, so there is no report file to attach — your description is what we have to work with.
Security
If you have found a security problem, please write to the support address above — not the feedback one — before disclosing it publicly, and say so in the subject line. The privacy policy describes what the app stores and what each permission is used for.
Asking for a feature
That is what the feedback address above is for. Requests are read and they do shape what gets built. Siesta stays deliberately small, so the answer is sometimes no — but it will be an answer from a person, with a reason.