Aware is a macOS menu bar app that keeps your Mac awake by detecting your presence using the FaceTime camera.
Key Features
- Local & Private — No networking, telemetry, third-party dependencies, or even temp-directory writes. Captured frames are processed in memory and discarded immediately.
- Hardware-Accelerated — Uses Vision framework on Apple Silicon. Face detection runs on GPU or Apple Neural Engine, not CPU.
- Smart Presence Detection — Skips camera checks when you've used the keyboard or mouse in the last 30 seconds. Does not consume any power or resources during active use.
- Menu Bar Only — No Dock icon; runs quietly in the background with a simple person icon in the menu bar.
How to Use
- Download
Aware.dmgfrom GitHub Releases - Open the DMG and drag
Aware.appto Applications - Launch the app and grant camera access when prompted
- Click the person icon in the menu bar to enable
Requirements
- macOS 13+
- Camera access (requested on first launch)
Open Source
Aware is open source and available on GitHub.
