Assistive technology on a Mac for students with physical disabilities
InputConfig is completely free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.
A student who cannot use a standard mouse or keyboard reliably can run a school Mac from switches, an adaptive controller, or a gamepad, with the Mac's own accessibility features and InputConfig, a free app with no account. The Mac's built-ins come first. InputConfig adds what they do not: each switch or button does exactly the job you give it, every time.
This guide is for special education teachers, occupational therapists, AT specialists, and aides whose school has Macs. It covers how switches and controllers reach the Mac, three classroom setups that work, and the practical part: getting the app onto managed school Macs, keeping student data private, and documenting the setup so it follows the student. I built InputConfig because my own hands do not work well, and there is nothing to buy and no account to create.
On this page
Steps
- Check what the Mac already has in System Settings, Accessibility: Switch Control, Voice Control, Dictation, the head pointer and the Accessibility Keyboard.
- Connect the student's device and press each control in InputConfig's Live Visualizer to see what reaches the Mac.
- Install InputConfig from the Mac App Store or through IT, and allow the Accessibility permission with admin rights.
- Start from one of the three classroom setups and give each row a note in the student's own words.
- Turn on Launch at login and list the student's apps so the preset switches on by itself.
- Put Emergency Stop where staff can reach it, and export the preset into the student's records.
Check what the school Mac already has
Check these first. They are built in, free, and IT has already approved them. All are in System Settings, Accessibility:
- Switch Control. Scans the screen, and a switch picks what is highlighted.
- Voice Control and Dictation. Voice Control runs the Mac by voice, and Dictation turns speech into text. On a student's own Mac, with no approval list to check, there is other dictation software for Mac, including YapToText, the free app I make, which runs on the Mac itself.
- Head pointer. Moves the pointer with head movement through the camera.
- Accessibility Keyboard. An on-screen keyboard, with Dwell for clicking by resting the pointer.
- Sticky Keys and Slow Keys. Help with modifier combinations and accidental presses.
Where a student can press a switch, move a stick, or hold a controller, InputConfig adds direct jobs on top of these, not instead of them.
Connect switches and controllers
Four kinds of device reach a Mac:
- Adaptive controllers. The Xbox Adaptive Controller takes 3.5 mm switches in its 19 ports and a USB joystick, and every port is a button out of the box. The PlayStation Access Controller has its own stick, a center button, eight sockets, and four expansion ports for switches. InputConfig reads every socket and port by name, and edits the controller's three profiles over USB-C, so no PS5 is needed. Both show up on a Mac as game controllers. See the Xbox Adaptive Controller guide and the PlayStation Access Controller guide.
- Game controllers. A DualSense, an Xbox controller, a single Joy-Con, or an 8BitDo pad, for a student who can hold one.
- USB switch interfaces. If the interface shows up as a gamepad or joystick, each switch is a button. If it shows up as a keyboard, the key it sends still types as normal, because InputConfig listens to the keyboard and does not block or remap the key itself, and every keyboard reports as one synthetic device id. Set such an interface to a key nothing else uses, such as F13 to F19, where it allows that, then give the key its job in InputConfig.
- MIDI pads. Sixteen large, soft pads under one hand, with no force needed.
- You: Open the Live Visualizer and press each control on the student's device.
- InputConfig: Lights each control that reaches the Mac.
- Check: If it lights up, it can be mapped. If it does not, the device or its profile is not sending it.
Start from one of three classroom setups
Pick the row that matches what the student can do:
| The student can | Setup | Start from |
|---|---|---|
| Move a joystick or stick, and press one or two big buttons | The stick is the pointer, slow near the center, with a deadzone for a resting hand. A big button clicks. A hold on it right clicks. Dictation on a second button. | The Adaptive Desktop layout in the Xbox Adaptive Controller guide, or the built-in Easy Browse preset on a standard controller |
| Press two switches | Switch 1: click, right click on a hold, Return on a double press. Switch 2: start dictation, Escape on a hold, Tab on a double press. Pair it with Switch Control or a joystick for the pointer. | The Two Switch layout in the switches guide |
| Present a slideshow | Next and previous slide, start and end the show, on any controller or two switches. | The built-in Presentation Remote preset |
Two additions help in most classrooms:
- Type Text on a hold. Types the student's name or school email in one press.
- Spoken feedback. Says each button's job aloud while the student learns the layout. Easy Browse ships with it on for the four face buttons.
Start from the closest ready layout and change one row at a time with the student.
Get it onto school Macs
This part needs someone with admin rights, or IT through device management, once.
Step 1: Install it
- You: Install InputConfig from the Mac App Store, or ask IT to deploy it the way it deploys other App Store apps.
- InputConfig: Runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs with macOS 14 or later.
- Check: It opens to the welcome screen.
Step 2: Allow Accessibility
- You: Switch InputConfig on in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility, or have IT grant it through device management.
- macOS: Lets InputConfig send keys and clicks.
- Check: The menu bar icon is not orange when a preset runs. Orange means the permission is missing.
App identifier: For IT, when granting the permission through device management.
com.inputconfig.appWhat happens: IT names InputConfig by this identifier when it allows the Accessibility permission in a device management profile.
Step 3: Build the student's preset
- You: Build the layout as a preset, and give each row a note in the student's own words.
- InputConfig: Keeps the preset in that macOS user account.
- Check: On a shared Mac, a separate macOS user account per student keeps each student's presets apart. A student who moves between Macs can take a single preset file, exported and brought back in with Import.
Step 4: Make it start for the lesson
- You: In Settings, General, turn on Launch at login. List the apps the student uses in the preset's Automation & Gaming Utilities panel, and turn on Switch presets when the front app changes in Settings, Advanced.
- InputConfig: Starts with no preset running, then switches the student's preset on when one of those apps comes to the front.
- Check: At the start of the lesson, the menu bar icon turns green. If not, start the preset from the menu bar.
Keep student data private
InputConfig makes no network connections, has no account, and has no analytics. There is nothing for a student to sign up for and no student data to review in a privacy agreement: presets, notes, and the Statistics sheet stay on that Mac. The source code is public under the MIT license, so district IT can read exactly what it does.
Document the setup so it follows the student
Write it down once, and the next teacher does not start from zero:
- Row notes. Every row has a note field, and each preset has a notes box. Write what each control does and why, so a substitute or next year's teacher can follow it.
- The preset file. Export the student's preset and keep the file with their assistive technology records. It restores the exact setup on any Mac.
- A full backup. Settings, Advanced, Data & storage, Export Backup saves every preset and setting on that Mac in one file.
Stop it safely in the classroom
If a layout ever gets stuck or the pointer runs away, the emergency stop turns the preset off and lets go of every key and click. Use whichever staff can reach first:
- Hold the controller buttons. Back and Start together for three seconds. The buttons and hold length are in Settings, General, Emergency stop.
- Press the keyboard shortcut. Control Option Command and the period key.
- Use the menu bar. Click the InputConfig menu bar icon and choose Emergency Stop.
For a switch user, put Emergency Stop on a hold of a switch that staff can reach. After a stop, nothing starts again by itself until someone starts a preset. Show every adult in the room the stop before the student starts.
What it cannot do
- Run on Chromebooks, iPads, or Windows. It is a Mac app and needs macOS 14 or later.
- Scan the screen. Switch Control does the scanning. InputConfig gives each switch fixed jobs, which suits a student who is faster pressing a known switch than waiting for a scan.
- Work at the login window after a restart. It runs after someone logs in, so the Mac's own options, such as the Accessibility Keyboard in System Settings, Lock Screen, Accessibility Options, are needed for that step.
- Type at the lock screen. A running preset still moves the pointer and clicks there but sends no keys, so a student cannot type into the password field by accident. While the Mac sleeps it sends nothing.
The short version
- Built-ins first. Switch Control, Voice Control, Dictation and the head pointer are already approved.
- Test the device in the Live Visualizer. Whatever lights up can be mapped.
- Start from a ready layout. Pick Adaptive Desktop, Two Switch, Easy Browse or Presentation Remote.
- Write notes and export the preset. The setup then follows the student to any Mac.
It is free, with no account and no network access, so there is nothing to approve except the one permission.
Questions
Is InputConfig free for schools?
It is free on the Mac App Store with nothing locked. There is an optional tip jar that adds no features, so there is no purchase order to raise.
Does it work on Chromebooks, iPads, or Windows?
No. InputConfig is a Mac app and needs macOS 14 or later.
Can InputConfig scan the screen like Switch Control?
No. Switch Control does the scanning. InputConfig gives each switch fixed jobs, a press, a hold, and a double press, which suits a student who is faster pressing a known switch than waiting for a scan.
Will it work in our learning platform in the browser?
It sends ordinary keys, clicks, and scrolling, so it works in any app or website that takes a keyboard and mouse, including web apps in Safari or Chrome.
Does it work at the login window?
Not at the login window after a restart: InputConfig runs after someone logs in, so the Mac's own options, such as the Accessibility Keyboard in System Settings, Lock Screen, Accessibility Options, are needed for that step. At the lock screen of a logged-in Mac, a running preset still moves the pointer and clicks, so the student can click that on-screen keyboard. It sends no keys there.
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