How to use a Mac hands-free
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 Mac can be run without hands, and most of what makes that possible is built in: Voice Control for speech, the head pointer for moving the pointer with your head, and switch support for clicks. Most people end up with a mix, because a voice tires, a head pointer needs a way to click, and one switch does little on its own. I make InputConfig, a free Mac app, and its part is narrow: it turns any press your body can make, a foot on a pedal, a puff on a sip-and-puff switch, a chin on a button, into a click, a key, a command, or dictation. It does not track your head or your eyes.
On this page
Run the whole Mac by speech with Voice Control
Turn it on in System Settings, Accessibility, Voice Control. Then say what you want: "open Mail", "click Reply", "scroll down".
- Show numbers. Puts a number on everything clickable.
- Show grid. Reaches places with no label.
- Dictation. Text is dictated in the same session.
For many people it is all they need. Where it struggles: a noisy room, a voice that tires by the afternoon, and speech the recognizer has trouble with. That is where the other pieces come in.
Point by turning your head
System Settings, Accessibility, Pointer Control, Head pointer. The built-in or a connected camera follows your head and moves the pointer. Apple lets you click with Mouse Keys, with switches, including facial expressions, or with Voice Control.
This is the natural partner for InputConfig: the head points, and a pedal or switch mapped in InputConfig sends the click wherever the pointer is, plus a right click, Return, or dictation from the same switch. Clicking with head pointer covers every way.
Connect switches, pedals and mouth joysticks
Anything the Mac sees as a button can drive InputConfig. Press Scan on a row, press the switch, and it is bound.
- 3.5 mm switches. Sip-and-puff, head, chin, or foot switches plug into the ports on the Xbox Adaptive Controller or the PlayStation Access Controller, which the Mac sees as game controllers.
- USB switch interfaces. They show up as a keyboard or a gamepad, and either works. A keyboard-type interface still types its key into the app in front, because InputConfig listens alongside macOS rather than taking keys away, so set it to F13 to F19 if its own software allows.
- A foot pedal. A sustain pedal on any MIDI keyboard is a switch to InputConfig. The built-in MIDI: Knob Deck preset already makes it a left click.
- A mouth or chin joystick. One that presents as a game controller moves the pointer the same way a thumbstick does, with deadzones and a slow first stretch of travel to tune it.
Give one switch three jobs
Every row in InputConfig can do up to four things: a press, a hold, a double press and a triple press.
- You: On a foot switch's row, set the press to Left click, the hold to Right click, and the double press to Start Dictation. Make the hold and double-press windows long for a slow movement, short for a quick one.
- InputConfig: Tells the three apart by timing. With spoken feedback on, each switch says what it just did.
- Check: Press, hold, and double press in turn, and listen for the three different words.
The one to four switch guide has complete layouts to download. One reliable movement can do the work of three buttons.
Fire commands with no switch at all
A screen region is an area of the display that fires a command when the pointer enters it, whatever moves the pointer. With the head pointer, a strip along the top edge can open Mission Control, a corner can start dictation, another can lock the screen. Each one costs no switch and no word. How screen regions work.
What InputConfig does not do
- Head or eye tracking. Use the head pointer for the head. Eye-gaze control needs an eye tracker and its own software.
- An on-screen keyboard. It has none of its own. It works with the macOS Accessibility Keyboard, clicked by whatever moves the pointer.
- The login window. Nothing there, because it starts after you log in. System Settings, Lock Screen, Accessibility Options makes Switch Control, the Accessibility Keyboard, VoiceOver, or Zoom available there.
- Set itself up. It needs one click: the Accessibility permission, which a helper or Voice Control can make. After a restart, a preset has to be switched on again, or set to auto-activate when your apps come to the front, as the no mouse or keyboard guide explains.
The short version
- Speech. Voice Control runs the whole Mac.
- Pointing. Use the head pointer, or a mouth or chin joystick.
- Clicks, keys and commands. Use switches and pedals through InputConfig, with up to four jobs on each.
I would mix them, because each piece covers the moment another one tires.
Questions
Is there a hands-free mouse for Mac?
Yes, built in: the head pointer in System Settings, Accessibility, Pointer Control moves the pointer through the camera. Hardware head mice and mouth joysticks that present as a mouse work with no app. InputConfig adds the clicks and commands from switches and pedals.
Can you control a Mac with your eyes?
Not with InputConfig. Eye-gaze control needs an eye tracker and its software. For the clicks, a switch mapped in InputConfig works alongside whatever moves the pointer.
How do people with quadriplegia use a Mac?
Usually with a combination: Voice Control, a head pointer or mouth joystick to point, and a sip-and-puff, head, or chin switch to click. The right mix depends on the person. An occupational therapist or assistive technology specialist can help find it. The guide for OTs covers building a setup with InputConfig.
Can a foot pedal click on a Mac?
Yes. A MIDI sustain pedal through a MIDI keyboard, or a 3.5 mm foot switch in an adaptive controller, can be a left click in InputConfig, with a hold and a double press for two more actions.
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