Prevent your computer from going to sleep
I was looking for the same app like Caffeine, that wasn't updated since 2009. And it finally just lost its magic on mojave. – charlie137 Sep 26 '18 at 6:43 I believe, and could of course be mistaken, that Caffeine is just a GUI wrapper for caffeinate. Caffeinate can also be attached to other commands to prevent the Mac from sleeping while that given command runs: caffeinate commandtorun -arguments That causes the Mac to avoid sleep only as long as it takes to run the command provided, after which the normal sleep rules apply.
If you have problems with your PC locking or going to sleep, caffeine will keep it awake. It works by simulating a keypress once every 59 seconds, so your machine thinks you're still working at the keyboard, so won't lock the screen or activate the screensaver.
Caffeine App Mac Os
The icon is shown above - it's the leftmost one in the task tray, and this is all you see. Double-clicking the icon empties the coffee pot (that's what the icon is) and temporarily disables the program. Double-clicking it again refills the pot, and will keep your machine awake.
By default the app starts enabled, and works every 59 seconds. There are some command line switches you can use to alter this behaviour:
xx- where xx is a number which sets the number of seconds between simulated keypresses. This must be the first text on the commandline-startoff- application starts disabled.-exitafter:xx- application will terminate after xx minutes-activefor:xx- application will become inactive after xx minutes-inactivefor:xx- application will become active after xx minutes-appexit- terminates current running instance of application-appon- makes the current running instance of the application active-appoff- makes the current running instance of the application inactive-apptoggle- toggles the running state of the current running instance of the application-apptoggleshowdlg- toggles the running state, and shows dialog-replace- closes the current running instance, replacing it-noicon- does not show a task tray icon-useshift- simulate the shift key instead of F15-showdlg- shows a dialog indicating whether caffeine is active-ontaskbar- show a task bar button (use with -showdlg)-allowss- prevent sleep, but allow the screensaver to start-key:xx- simulate using virtual key code xx
Note: the codes on the linked page are in Hex, convert them to decimal for use with this parameter-keypress- simulate a full key press, not just a key up event-oldicons- use more colourful tray icons-darkicons- use icons which work better for dark-on-light colour schemes-watchwindow:xx- active only when a window with xx in the title is found-activehours:........xxxxxxxx........- put 24 . or x characters - which indicate from hour 0 to hour 23 of the day. Caffeine will be active only in hours with an x
Compatibility
Caffeine works by simulating an F15 key up event every 59 seconds. Of all the key presses available, F15 is probably the least intrusive, and least likely to interfere with your work.
- Operating Systems Mac OS X 10.9, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS X 10.10, Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.7, Macintosh, Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.3, Mac OS X 10.8 Additional Requirements None Popularity.
- You / you playing a game, sharing a screen, etc. Learn More about using OBS with Caffeine. Windows 8.1, or 10 64bit, i5 or greater CPU nVidia 750 or AMD 290 or greater GPU 5 Mbps upload or greater. OBS for Windows. Windows 8 or newer DirectX 10.1 compatible GPU.
However, Caffeine might interfere with some apps:
- PowerPoint uses the F15 keypress to pause video in a slide
- Google Docs/Sheets
- Smartsheet
- Terminal emulation, e.g. Putty
If you think any of these might cause you a problem, set the -useshift command line parameter.
Video
Caffeine user humancar2n has put together a short YouTube video showing how the app works.
Mac version
Do you need this functionality on your Mac? Lighthead Software have written a separate app, also named Caffeine, which can help you out.
Versions
v1.90 - October 2020
-darkicons command line option added
-activehours command line option added
Tooltip replaced with a new one which works more reliably
Menu appearance updated
v1.81 - May 2020
Bug with the -watchwindow command line fixed
v1.80 - January 2020
v1.64 - September 2017
Option for old icons added, 'cos not everyone likes the new ones
Download Caffeine Mac
v1.63 - February 2017
Icons updated slightly to show up better on a white background.
v1.62 - April 2016
New icons, designed by Rubén Gómez Radioboy
v1.61 - October 2015
Fixed bug with app not going active/inactive correctly when a timed period elapsedv1.60 - July 2013
New command line options:
-allowss-ontaskbar-apptoggleshowdlg-key:xx-keypress
Added menu items to go Active/Inactive
Type in About box corrected
-apptoggle will re-show the dialog if it was originally shown
v1.50 - November 2010
New command line options:
-inactivefor-showdlg-apptoggle
Simulated keypress changed from right context menu key to F15 as this is likely to be even less intrusive.
v1.40 - July 2009
New command line options:
-replace-noicon-useshift
Hovering over the tray icon now shows the status of the app
v1.35 - May 2009
Simulated keypress changed from shift to the right context menu key (at the suggestion of Kevin Kleinfelter) as this is likely to be less intrusive.
v1.30 - February 2009
Command line switches added to terminate the app after x minutes, disable the app after x minutes, and enable or disable the currently running instance of the app
v1.20 - March 2008
Command line switches added to set the interval and to start disabled