Lives in your menu bar
Click the moon and toggle Prevent Sleep. While it’s on, the icon shows a slash through the moon, so you can tell at a glance that sleep is on hold.
StayAwake
Keep your Mac awake with one click
Freev1.0macOS 13+Universal
Toggle Prevent Sleep in the menu bar and your Mac won’t doze off in the middle of a long download, render, backup or presentation. Toggle it off, or quit, and macOS goes straight back to its normal sleep schedule.
- SHA-256:
1bdeffcc…5a384a - 388 KB ZIP · Unzip, drag to Applications, open.
- No account, no ads
- Free
- Ventura or later
- macOS 13+
- Apple silicon & Intel
- Universal
- network requests
- 0
Features
One switch. No surprises.
StayAwake does exactly one thing, and makes it obvious when it’s doing it.
Only what you asked for
StayAwake prevents idle system sleep and nothing else. Your display still dims and turns off on schedule, so jobs keep running without burning the screen.
Leaves nothing behind
No Dock icon, no helper process, no settings changes and no admin password. Quit StayAwake and the sleep block is released automatically.
Good to know
What StayAwake does, and what it doesn’t
While Prevent Sleep is on
- Your Mac won’t go to sleep because it’s idle
- Downloads, builds, renders and SSH sessions keep running
- The display can still dim and turn off as usual
- Quitting the app releases the block immediately
It won’t override
- Closing a MacBook’s lid
- Choosing Sleep from the Apple menu
- Low-battery or other system-enforced sleep
- Your Energy or Battery settings (it never changes them)
Under the hood
The same mechanism as caffeinate -i
StayAwake asks macOS for an activity with idleSystemSleepDisabled through Apple’s ProcessInfo API. That creates the same PreventUserIdleSystemSleep power assertion that caffeinate -i uses, with no Terminal window to keep open. To see it for yourself, run pmset -g assertions while it’s on and look for “StayAwake is enabled by the user.”
Specs
Requirements & details
- Version
- 1.0
- Requires
- macOS 13 Ventura or later
- Architecture
- Universal (Apple silicon and Intel)
- Languages
- English
- Price
- Free
- Download size
- 388 KB (ZIP)
- SHA-256
1bdeffcc7e373c15fdbf5294b3c24b6dd1d083bf0a556c97536f3704125a384a
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does StayAwake keep my screen on?
No. It only prevents idle system sleep. The display can still dim and turn off on its normal schedule while apps, downloads and network connections keep running.
Will my MacBook stay awake with the lid closed?
No. Closing the lid, choosing Sleep from the Apple menu, or system-enforced sleep (for example when the battery is critically low) can still put the Mac to sleep.
How do I install it?
Download the ZIP, double-click it to unzip, and drag StayAwake into your Applications folder. Open it and look for the moon icon in the menu bar. There’s no Dock icon or window. The first time, macOS asks you to confirm opening an app downloaded from the internet; click Open. StayAwake is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
How do I turn it off?
Untick Prevent Sleep in its menu, or choose Quit StayAwake (⌘Q). Quitting always releases the sleep block.
Can it start automatically when I log in?
StayAwake doesn’t have a built-in option for that. You can add it in System Settings → General → Login Items.
Does it work on Intel Macs?
Yes. StayAwake is a universal app: it runs natively on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs with macOS 13 Ventura or later.
Does StayAwake collect any data?
No. It contains no analytics and makes no network requests.
Blog
Related guides
How to keep your Mac awake (without changing your settings)
Stop your Mac sleeping during long downloads or builds with caffeinate, a menu bar toggle or System Settings, and see what's keeping it awake.
StayAwake
Keep your Mac awake with one click
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