Describe the bug
Since recently, all my keyboard shortcuts configured in BetterTouchTool stop working after I start my Mac. I need to wait several hours after boot before they suddenly begin to work again, without any action from me.
Before this, everything worked immediately after startup.
Other triggers such as Groups & Top Level Triggers work correctly from the moment the system starts. Only keyboard shortcuts are affected.
I tried quitting and restarting BTT manually, but the shortcuts still remain inactive. Accessibility permissions are enabled, and I have no software like Karabiner that could intercept keyboard events.
This behavior is completely new — it used to work normally.
Affected input device (e.g. MacBook Trackpad, Magic Mouse/Trackpad, Touch Bar, etc.):
Keyboard shortcuts
Screenshots
(If needed, I can add some, but the issue is not visual.)
Device information:
- Type of Mac: MacBook Pro M1
- macOS version: Tahoe 26.1 (25B78)
- BetterTouchTool version: 5.750 (2025110502)
Additional information (e.g. crash logs, related issues, etc.):
No crash logs appear. The issue seems related to the keyboard shortcut module initializing extremely late after boot.
Keyboard shortcuts are initialized immediately after BTT starts (if a valid license for the version you are running is installed)
Maybe some app enables secure input on your machine? While secure input is activate various types of keyboard shortcuts will not be possible. BTT shows a warning about this when clicking its menubar icon:
Thank you for your reply. I have checked the behavior on my Mac and here is what I observe:
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After reading your message, BTT indicated:"Saisie sécurisée activée par : WhatsApp (PID : 1630). Fonctionnalités de raccourcis limitées."
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I closed WhatsApp. The message disappeared, but the keyboard shortcuts remained inactive.
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I restarted the Mac. At startup, the shortcuts worked normally.
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Then, I ran a shortcut (Shortcuts app) to open my work environment, and the BTT keyboard shortcuts stopped working again. This time, BTT shows:"Saisie sécurisée activée par : Thunderbird (PID : 1786). Fonctionnalités de raccourcis limitées."
The problem therefore seems to occur with different applications that enable Secure Input, and the keyboard shortcuts do not automatically reactivate after the initial application that triggered Secure Input is closed.
Is there a way for BTT to immediately reload the keyboard shortcuts after Secure Input disappears, without having to restart or wait several hours?
Thank you in advance for your help.
The name of the app that enabled secure input is unfortunately not always reliable (long standing macOS bug). Did you recently install some security software or similar that might enable secure input?
BTT already automatically reactivates shortcuts immediately after secure input is disabled. Make sure this option is not disabled:
Thank you for your reply. I had indeed disabled this option during my tests. I have now re-enabled it, and for the moment, everything is working correctly.
Thanks.