Sometimes you want to see the screen without letting anyone interact with it. A build is moving through its final steps, an export is progressing, or a terminal is showing output you want to keep an eye on. Leaving the keyboard active feels unnecessary, but hiding the desktop makes the information harder to check.
Warden handles this as an input lock for macOS. It blocks the keyboard, mouse, trackpad, and gestures together, with overlays across connected displays. The application underneath continues its work. You authenticate with Touch ID or your macOS password when you are ready to interact again.
The distinction from a normal screen lock is visibility. The built-in macOS lock presents a login screen; Warden is designed around keeping work observable. Its current lock-screen settings include blur styles and intensity controls, so preview the appearance that suits your desk. The screen-lock comparison explains the intended uses of each.
For example, imagine a laptop beside an external monitor, with a status window on one and a working document on the other. Locking just one application would leave the rest of the desktop interactive. Warden's input blocking applies across the setup. You can choose where to put the information you want to watch without treating the other display as a separate locking task.
Setup starts with macOS 15.2 or later. Install the app, grant its requested Accessibility permission in System Settings, and try a lock and unlock before relying on it during a longer job. The installation guide provides the steps and download options. Testing the return path while you are sitting at the desk makes the first real use familiar.
Accessibility permission has a specific purpose here: Warden needs to intercept input before applications receive it. Its privacy policy says intercepted keystrokes and pointer activity are neither recorded nor transmitted. The app uses network access for license activation and periodic validation, rather than for monitoring your desktop.
Warden locks the input devices together. If you want to disable only a laptop keyboard while continuing to type on an external one, this isn't that workflow. It is useful when the whole desk should stop accepting physical interaction for a while.
Visibility also determines where to use it. At a familiar desk, watching a progress window may be exactly what you want. When the screen contains something others should not read, use the built-in macOS screen lock. Choose based on whether the contents should remain observable, rather than assuming every kind of lock has the same purpose.
Once you've tried it, the routine is brief: arrange the windows, activate Warden, and authenticate when you return. If the application on screen is an agent working through a code change, read the Claude Code and Cursor workflow for how that pause fits around reviewing its work.