The Accessibility Keyboard and Dwell on a Mac: type and click without a physical keyboard

By Ryleigh Newman · Published October 9, 2026

The Accessibility Keyboard is the Mac's onscreen keyboard, with word suggestions, system buttons and custom panels. Turn it on in System Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard. Dwell, one of its options, clicks for you when the pointer rests on something, which makes it work with a head pointer or an eye tracker. Clicking letters is fine for a password, and slow for a page, so pair it with dictation.

I make YapToText, a free dictation app for the Mac, and InputConfig, a free app that turns any button, switch or controller into keys and clicks. I built both because my own hands do not work well. Apple's steps are from its Accessibility Keyboard and Dwell guides, read October 9, 2026.

This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.

On this page: 9 sections

1. Steps
2. Turn on the Accessibility Keyboard
3. Type faster with what it already has
4. Turn on Dwell
5. Write by voice, keep the keyboard for passwords
6. Keep Dwell from clicking while you talk
7. Fix what you said
8. The short version
9. Questions

Steps

1. Open System Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard, and turn on Accessibility Keyboard.
2. Click the info button next to it, go to Dwell, and turn on the Dwell toolbar.
3. Rest the pointer on a dwell action, then on the item you want to click.
4. To write, dwell on the capybara in the menu bar, then on Start Dictation, and talk.

Turn on the Accessibility Keyboard

1. Choose Apple menu, System Settings, then click Accessibility in the sidebar.
2. Click Keyboard. You may need to scroll down.
3. Turn on Accessibility Keyboard.

You can also open it from the Input menu in the menu bar with Show Keyboard Viewer. Close it with the button in its top-left corner. Drag a corner to make it bigger or smaller.

Type faster with what it already has

• Suggestions. Suggested words appear as you type. Click one to insert it.
• Automatic spaces and capitals. The Panel Options button, top right, then Typing, inserts and removes spaces and capitalizes sentences for you.
• Accents. Click Option or Option-Shift, then a character.
• Toolbars. Show Current Text to see what you are typing, or Suggestions for a word row.
• Custom panels. The Panel Editor, in the same settings, builds panels for the apps you use most.

Turn on Dwell

In Keyboard settings, click the info button next to Accessibility Keyboard, go to Dwell, and turn on any of these: a Dwell toolbar across the top of the keyboard and panels, a Dwell menu in the menu bar, and Always dwell in panels. Then pick an action and rest the pointer on a target for the dwell time:

• Left Click, Double Click, Right Click. Performed on the item you rest on.
• Drag & Drop. Rest on the item, then rest where it goes.
• Scroll Menu. Rest on scrollable content, then on a scroll arrow.
• Options Menu. Pick an action for one time only.
• Pause. Stop all dwell actions while you read or watch something. Rest on any dwell action to resume.

Dwell corners, in the same settings, can show the keyboard or run an action when the pointer rests in a corner of the screen.

Write by voice, keep the keyboard for passwords

Use the onscreen keyboard for what must be exact, and your voice for everything else. Passwords, codes and email addresses belong on the keys, or in the Passwords app with Touch ID. Messages, notes and documents go much faster spoken.

Three ways to start a YapToText dictation from the Accessibility Keyboard:

• Dwell on Start Dictation. Rest on the capybara in the menu bar, then on Start Dictation at the top of its panel. With Auto-stop after silence on, the dictation ends by itself when you stop talking.
• Click the backup shortcut. YapToText also starts on Control Option Space, and that shortcut works even without the Accessibility permission. On the Accessibility Keyboard, click Control, then Option, then Space. Modifier keys there wait for the next key, the way Option waits in Apple's accent example, so this should arrive as one shortcut. I have not tested it on every macOS version.
• A screen corner. InputConfig can draw a region in a corner that presses Right Command when the pointer enters. Resting there needs no dwell time at all.

Keep Dwell from clicking while you talk

While a dictation runs, the pointer is free to drift, and a dwell timer can click somewhere you did not mean. Choose Pause in the Dwell toolbar before you talk, or rest the pointer on an empty part of the desktop. YapToText's floating panel has pause, stop and insert, and cancel buttons, so you can also end a dictation by dwelling on one of those.

Fix what you said

Make your next dictation one exact phrase within 30 seconds: scratch that removes the last dictation and replace X with Y swaps a word. For more, select the text and use Regenerate in the menu bar panel, which rewrites a selection as any mode or with a one-shot action such as Fix Grammar & Spelling or Make Concise. It is all clicks, so Dwell can reach it.

The short version

• Turn it on. System Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard, Accessibility Keyboard.
• Dwell. The info button next to it, then Dwell. Rest the pointer to click.
• Write. Dwell on Start Dictation in YapToText's menu bar panel, or click Control, Option, Space.
• Exact text. Passwords and codes on the keys, never by voice.

If one of these steps behaves differently on your Mac, open an issue on GitHub. Every one gets read.

This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Related

• Eye tracking on a Mac: how the pieces fit, and how to write with it
• Mac accessibility features for hands and mobility, and how to write with each one
• Head pointer on a Mac: move the pointer with your head, and write without a hand
• Switch Control on a Mac: set up your switches, then write by voice
• How to control a Mac without a mouse or trackpad
• Hands free typing on a Mac: the setup I use every day
• The menu bar dictation icon: the capybara, and what he is telling you
• The floating dictation panel: your voice as a wave, your words as they form
• Dictate on a Mac with one key, a switch, or a pedal

Sources

• https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-the-accessibility-keyboard-mchlc74c1c9f/mac (checked 2026-10-09)
• https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-dwell-mchl437b47b0/mac (checked 2026-10-09)
• https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-keyboard-settings-for-accessibility-mchlae61a6de/mac (checked 2026-10-09)
• https://inputconfig.com/help/cursor-and-stick-regions (checked 2026-10-09)
• https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yaptotext/id6786382289 (checked 2026-10-09)

Questions