Custom hot corners on a Mac that run any shortcut or app
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.
To make a corner of the Mac's screen run any shortcut, app or Siri Shortcut, draw a screen region in InputConfig, a free app: when the pointer goes in, it runs whatever you bound. macOS Hot Corners give each of the four corners one action from a fixed list: Mission Control, Application Windows, Desktop, Notification Center, Launchpad (called Apps on macOS Tahoe), Quick Note, the screen saver, display sleep, and Lock Screen. They cannot press a keyboard shortcut, open an app you choose, or run a Siri Shortcut, and they only exist at the four corners. Most guides stop there and point to BetterTouchTool, which is paid.
A screen region is a rectangle anywhere on any display, a corner, an edge or a strip, and it can run a key combination, a macro, Open App, Open URL, a Siri Shortcut, or a system function such as Lock Screen. My hands do not work that well, and a flick of the pointer into a corner is easier for me than a three-key shortcut. That is why screen regions are in the app.
On this page
Steps
- Add a row with the input type Screen region.
- Pick the display and draw the area: a corner, an edge or a strip.
- Choose the output for the row.
- Press Activate.
Draw a region
- You: In InputConfig, add a row with the input type Screen Region and choose Edit screen regions in its menu, which opens the Screen part of the device's Regions card. Pick the display, or every display, and draw the area. Then choose the output: a key combination, a macro, Open App, a Siri Shortcut or a system function, and press Activate.
- InputConfig: Checks where the pointer is 60 times a second, but only while a preset with regions is running or the editor is open.
- Check: Move the pointer into the region and the output fires once. It works with no controller connected.
The built-in Cursor Regions preset is a ready example: the top-left corner opens Mission Control, the top-right Spotlight, the bottom-right Launchpad.
Ideas for a region
- Lock the screen. A corner with the Lock Screen system function.
- Open an app. A corner that opens Mail, or any other app, with Open App.
- Change Spaces. The right edge of the second monitor, switching to the next Space.
- Run a Siri Shortcut. A corner that starts a timer, or anything else a shortcut does.
How a region behaves
- Like a button. Pressed when the pointer enters, released when it leaves. It fires once on entry. Add turbo if you want it to repeat while the pointer stays.
- Whatever moves the pointer. A mouse, the trackpad, a controller stick or the macOS Head Pointer all fire it.
- One display or all of them. An every-display region sits in the same place on each screen, scaled to that screen's shape, and a region for the external monitor stays silent on the laptop screen.
- Survives unplugging. Displays are recognized by their hardware, so a region comes back when you plug the monitor in again.
One thing applies to any hot corner, built-in or not: if a corner touches another display in your arrangement, the pointer slides across instead of stopping there. Put that region on an outside edge, or make it a strip instead of a corner.
The same idea works on a controller's stick: a stick region, part of a ring around the center drawn in the device's Regions card in the editor, is a button of its own, so pushing a stick into one corner of its travel can run a shortcut too.
Different corners per app
Screen regions belong to a preset, up to sixteen of them, and a preset can switch itself on when its app comes to the front once Switch presets when the front app changes is on in Settings, Advanced. So the top-right corner can open Spotlight on the desktop and press a different shortcut in your editing app. See auto-switch.
Stop a corner firing by accident
A region fires the moment the pointer enters it, so its size and place matter. Climb this ladder, smallest step first:
- Make it smaller. Keep corners small.
- Move it off the beaten path. Keep regions away from places the pointer travels all day, such as the menu bar and the Dock.
- Add a held key. Open the row's Options, go to Second control, press Scan, and press a key such as Right Option. The region now fires only while that key is held: the same idea as the built-in modifier trick, but for any action.
- Turn off the built-in corner. If a built-in Hot Corner and a region share a corner, both fire, so set the built-in one to the dash.
What the built-in Hot Corners already do
Check the built-in feature first. It needs nothing extra. Open System Settings, click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar, scroll down, and click Hot Corners. Each corner has a menu: Mission Control, Application Windows, Desktop, Notification Center, Launchpad or Apps, Quick Note, Start Screen Saver, Disable Screen Saver, Put Display to Sleep, Lock Screen, or a dash for nothing. The bottom-right corner is set to Quick Note out of the box, which is why a note sometimes appears when the pointer drifts there.
Hold Command, Shift, Option or Control while you pick an action and that corner only fires while the same keys are held. That is the built-in cure for corners that fire by accident. If one of these actions is all you want, use the built-in feature. If a corner has stopped responding, see Hot Corners not working on a Mac.
Before you switch
- It has to be running. InputConfig must be open with the preset that holds your regions active, so turn on Launch at login in Settings, General, and turn off Show Dock icon if you would rather it lived only in the menu bar.
- One preset runs at a time. If you switch to a game preset, add the same regions to it or the corners go quiet.
- One permission. Working out where the pointer is needs no permission at all. Pressing the shortcut uses the one Accessibility permission macOS asks for when you first activate a preset.
- A way out. Control Option Command period stops everything at any time.
Compare the other corner apps
- BetterTouchTool. Runs actions from corners and edges among a great deal else, trackpad gestures and window snapping included. It is paid.
- SuperCorners. A smaller app made only for corners and zones at the middle of each edge, with its code on GitHub.
- InputConfig. Free and open source (MIT) on the Mac App Store. It draws a region of any size in any place rather than at fixed spots, and the same preset can also hold controller, MIDI, keyboard, mouse and Tap the Mac rows, so one app covers the corners and everything else you press.
If corners are all you want, BetterTouchTool or SuperCorners is a fair choice. The full comparison of mappers is in the best controller mapper for Mac.
The short version
- Built-in first. If an action on Apple's list is enough, Hot Corners in Desktop & Dock needs nothing extra.
- Regions for the rest. Draw a Screen region row in InputConfig and give it any output.
- Keep it deliberate. Small regions, away from the Dock, or a held key as a second control.
A region is a button the pointer presses, so anything a button can do, a corner can do.
Questions
Can Hot Corners run a keyboard shortcut on a Mac?
Not on their own. macOS offers a fixed list of actions. A screen region in InputConfig can run any shortcut, macro or Siri Shortcut.
Does it work on a second monitor?
Yes. A region can belong to one display or to every display.
Does it fire over and over while the pointer sits there?
No. It fires once on entry, like a button press. Turn on turbo for repeats.
Can a hot corner open an app on a Mac?
Not a built-in one: the list has no Open App. A screen region in InputConfig can open any app with Open App, or a web page or app link with Open URL.
Does it need a controller?
No. A region reads the pointer, whatever moves it: a mouse, the trackpad, a controller stick, or the macOS Head Pointer. A preset with only screen regions runs with nothing connected.
Does it work on a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or iMac?
Yes, on any Mac with macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon or Intel. Screen regions do not depend on a sensor the way Tap the Mac does, which was tested on M4 MacBooks and did not work on an M1 Pro in our testing.
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