PowerToggle

macOS app, Apple Silicon

Switch your Mac's power mode from a keystroke, with sessions that restore it when you are done.

Objective

Make switching Low, Auto and High power on an Apple Silicon Mac as quick as a keystroke, without adding another icon to the menu bar or asking for a password every time.

The PowerToggle settings window with hotkey, session and start-at-login options — Settings: the hotkey, timed and conditional sessions, and start at login.

What it does

A global hotkey opens a small floating popup to pick Low, Auto or High power mode; the popup dismisses itself.
Timed sessions: keep a mode for minutes, hours, until a clock time, or indefinitely, then restore the previous mode automatically.
Conditional sessions: keep a mode while a chosen app is running or while a file is still downloading.
Start at login, with the hotkey fully customisable in Settings.
A free download for macOS 15 and later on Apple Silicon.

Design choices, and why

No menu bar icon

Most Mac utilities live in the menu bar and crowd it. PowerToggle appears only when summoned, as a toast-style popup, and gets out of the way.

Sessions that undo themselves

Switching to Low power for a long flight is easy to remember; switching back is not. Timed and conditional sessions restore the previous mode on their own, which is the feature people actually wanted.

Ask for permission once

Changing power mode needs elevated privileges. Asking for a password on every change would make the hotkey pointless, so the app installs a small helper once, on first launch, and never asks again.

Challenges and how we solved them

Power mode requires root, and the app must not run as root

macOS changes power mode through pmset, which needs elevated privileges. PowerToggle ships a small privileged helper daemon that handles only those calls, over a secure XPC connection, so the main app never runs as root and the helper's surface stays tiny.

A global hotkey that works in every app

Catching a keystroke from any application means Accessibility permission and careful handling so the hotkey never swallows keys another app needs. The app explains the permission on first launch and lets the combination be changed in Settings.

Where it stands

PowerToggle is a free download for Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 15 or later. It is a small product, and that is the point: it shows how we handle native platform work, privileged operations and a careful first-run experience.

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