A Mac utility to remap Caps Lock to the mute shortcut for Zoom, Teams, and Tandem. Because CapsLock is a large key and at your finger tips, it's much faster than clicking a button or pressing a combination of keys. It truly makes muting/unmuting muscle memory.
I had this idea when I was building @Tandem (a virtual office for remote teams) and saw how awkward it can be when someone can't mute themselves. We built the ability to mute a teammate, but I thought it would be even better if mute/unmute could become muscle memory...so I remapped caps lock to mute via @Karabiner .
It quickly became one of my favorite hacks - I think it's because Caps Lock is a large key, so it's much quicker to press than a combination of keys. Yay Fitts' Law!
When I got a new laptop and my Karabiner setup broke, I missed it so much I built a dedicated app - now others can use it!
I added a meeting app selector so you can change the keyboard shortcut to work with other meeting software.
I find myself using it all the time! - About to sneeze? -> Hit caps lock to mute. - Want to dictate a note via @Aqua Voice while on a call? -> Hit caps lock to mute - Child throwing a tantrum? -> Hit caps lock to mute - Loud car horns near your house? -> Hit caps lock to mute
Remapping mute to caps lock is more satisfying than: - backing into a parking space - changing your keyboard layout to Dvorak - customizing launcher shortcuts in @Raycast
It's absolutely crazy that laptops are still shipped with a Caps Lock key and not a mute toggle, given how much time most of us spend on video calls. If anybody knows a way to remap the LED to your mute state, that would be even better, but as far as I can tell, it's not possible on MacOS.
@rajiv_ayyangar Remapping Caps Lock to app-level mute is such a clean Fitts’ Law win; at scale the hard part is reliability across Zoom/Teams/Meet updates + making sure the mute state never desyncs.
Best-practice: read mic/app mute state (where APIs allow), add a tiny “you’re muted” HUD + optional haptic/earcon, and ship shortcut profiles w/ auto-detection per app.
Curious: are you planning a Meet shortcut profile + a failsafe that re-syncs if the meeting app loses focus or the shortcut changes?
My curiosity is high because this makes me wonder what other underused keys could become productivity heroes and I want to experiment immediately.
My meetings have survived sneezes, crying babies, and car horns thanks to this concept alone and I can’t stop thinking how much calmer my Zoom calls could be.
Hey, my coworkers are going to be jealous because I can finally mute without looking down or fumbling with a keyboard shortcut.
The simplicity hits me because my usual setups involve multiple tools or scripts, and having one dedicated app that does one thing extremely well feels refreshing.
Honestly shocked laptops still don’t ship like this by default. We spend more time on calls than typing in ALL CAPS anyway. This just makes sense. @rajiv_ayyangar
As a single-function tool, it runs steadily in the menu bar at all times, delivering a fantastic unobtrusive integration experience. Given that it needs to run in the background permanently, has any noticeable impact on Mac battery life been observed with long-term use?
The process from download to full installation really only takes a few steps, and the guidance to simply drag the app to the Applications folder is particularly clear. However, if the accessibility permission is accidentally declined on the first prompt, does the app provide a clear process to reset or reinitiate the authorization, or is the user required to manually locate the setting in the system preferences on their own?
Finally a real job for Caps Lock. I always miss the Zoom mute combo when the dog barks. Big key = easy. Going to try this. If you ever hack the LED to match mute state, that’d be perfect.
This is such a cool app @rajiv_ayyangar - I’m definitely going to try it. I can’t tell you how many times I fumble trying to hit that mute button 🤦🏻♂️ 🤣
The real struggle happens when you forget that you muted yourself and talk for one minute muted :D 😅
LOVE THIS! Congrats on the launch :)
I actually built something similar a while back but never launched it (I was trying to get too fancy with it). I love your approach of making it software specific vs trying to tackle it all at once.
@rajiv_ayyangar can you share a bit more on what you mean about remapping the LED to your mute state? Do you mean the caps lock LED light?
I had this idea when I was building @Tandem (a virtual office for remote teams) and saw how awkward it can be when someone can't mute themselves. We built the ability to mute a teammate, but I thought it would be even better if mute/unmute could become muscle memory...so I remapped caps lock to mute via @Karabiner .
It quickly became one of my favorite hacks - I think it's because Caps Lock is a large key, so it's much quicker to press than a combination of keys. Yay Fitts' Law!
When I got a new laptop and my Karabiner setup broke, I missed it so much I built a dedicated app - now others can use it!
I added a meeting app selector so you can change the keyboard shortcut to work with other meeting software.
I find myself using it all the time!
- About to sneeze? -> Hit caps lock to mute.
- Want to dictate a note via @Aqua Voice while on a call? -> Hit caps lock to mute
- Child throwing a tantrum? -> Hit caps lock to mute
- Loud car horns near your house? -> Hit caps lock to mute
Remapping mute to caps lock is more satisfying than:
- backing into a parking space
- changing your keyboard layout to Dvorak
- customizing launcher shortcuts in @Raycast
It's absolutely crazy that laptops are still shipped with a Caps Lock key and not a mute toggle, given how much time most of us spend on video calls. If anybody knows a way to remap the LED to your mute state, that would be even better, but as far as I can tell, it's not possible on MacOS.