Support

A person answers. Usually the same day.

Email support@lidkeeper.com — we reply within two business days, usually much sooner.

Lost your licence key?

Enter the address your key was sent to and we'll email it again. For a gift, that's the recipient's address, not the buyer's.

No longer have access to that mailbox? Email support@lidkeeper.com from any address and tell us what you remember about the purchase — the approximate date, the address you used, and the Machine ID shown in Lid Keeper's Licence pane. We'll verify it against our records before changing anything. Knowing a licence key on its own is not proof of ownership, so we can't act on that alone.

Installing

Open the downloaded installer and follow the steps. Because keeping a Mac awake with the lid closed is a system-level setting, macOS asks for an administrator password once during installation. The installer is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without any security warning. Keep the lid open and the Mac on power during installation.

Activating

Open Lid Keeper after installation. On first launch, watch the short introduction, read the safety notes and choose Agree & Continue. Paste your whole licence key, including the hyphens, then choose Activate. There is no email field or account. When you're ready, click the notch or menu-bar icon and turn the switch on.

Activating connects to lidkeeper.com once, to register this Mac against your licence. After that, everyday use works offline: launching, engaging, waking and closing the lid never touch the network, there is no expiry, and nothing has to be renewed. A gifted key has no deadline — activate it whenever you're ready.

If activation can't reach us, your key hasn't been lost. Wait until you're connected and choose Activate again.

One licence, one computer

$2.99 buys a licence for one computer at a time, a Mac or a Windows PC. Two computers need two licences; you can buy the second one as a gift and send it to someone else.

If you paste your key on a Mac while it's activated on another one, Lid Keeper says This licence is activated on another Mac and offers to move it. It doesn't assume you're doing anything wrong — a new laptop is the usual reason.

Moving to a new Mac

You don't need the old Mac. It can be sold, broken, wiped or in a drawer.

1. Install Lid Keeper on the new Mac and paste the same licence key.
2. Choose Move licence to this Mac. We email an eight-digit code to the address that owns the licence — for a gift, the recipient's address. Lid Keeper shows you a masked version of it so you know where to look.
3. Type the code in and confirm. The new Mac is activated, and you should stop using Lid Keeper on the old one.

The code lasts 15 minutes from when you request it and works only on the Mac that asked for it: nobody can point it at a different machine. Asking for a code, getting it wrong, or changing your mind changes nothing — your current Mac keeps working. The licence key itself never expires.

Three moves in any rolling 30 days are automatic and free. Failed attempts don't count, and neither does reinstalling on the Mac you're already on. If you genuinely need another — a repair changed the hardware, or you've had bad luck with machines — email us and we'll add one.

Reinstalling, and Migration Assistant

Reinstalling can remember your settings and skip the introduction. That does not mean the helpers failed to uninstall. To watch the introduction again, choose Lid Keeper → Getting Started…. Your saved activation is kept.

Reinstalling on the same Mac with your activation still in place works offline, immediately. If the activation is gone, paste your key and choose Activate: you get the same licence back, with no code and no move used. A second macOS user account on the same Mac can activate the same key without using anything up.

Migration Assistant copies your activation to the new Mac, but an activation is tied to the hardware it was issued for, so it won't verify there. Lid Keeper keeps your key and offers the move instead of quietly activating.

Updates are your choice

Choose Lid Keeper → Check for Updates…. Lid Keeper does not check, download or install updates automatically. You choose whether to download and then install an available update. Downloading does not need a password; installing the package updates protected helpers, so macOS asks for administrator authorization. Your settings and activation carry over.

The code hasn't arrived

Give it a couple of minutes and check spam. Lid Keeper can send another after 60 seconds; each new code replaces the last. If nothing arrives at all, the owner address may be wrong — email us. A delayed or missing code never uses up a move.

It won't engage

Lid Keeper refuses to engage if it can't verify its safety requirements — for example if the lid is already closed, the battery is below 5% unplugged, or the Mac doesn't expose the lid, power or thermal telemetry it needs. Open the panel: it says which requirement is missing. If you're stuck, email us the message.

It stood down on its own

That is the safety system working. Lid Keeper returns the Mac to normal sleep under serious thermal pressure, at 5% battery unplugged, or if its helper stops responding. The panel shows which limit tripped. Let the Mac cool on a hard, ventilated surface before engaging again.

Uninstalling

Choose Disable and Quit from the Lid Keeper menu, then drag Lid Keeper from Applications to the Trash (macOS asks for your password, as it does for any installed app). Within about a minute Lid Keeper's watchdog notices the app is gone, restores normal closed-lid sleep, verifies it, and removes its own helpers and background services. Nothing else to run. Your activation record stays in your user library so a reinstall is still activated; delete ~/Library/Application Support/LidKeeper if you want that gone too. Removing it, or uninstalling, does not free your licence and does not reset your move allowance — moving is something you start on the Mac you're moving to.

Lid Keeper for Windows

Lid Keeper for Windows runs on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 laptops and uses the same licence: one licence covers one computer at a time, a Mac or a PC, and moving between them works exactly as described above. Download Lid Keeper for Windows.

Installing on Windows

Open the downloaded Lid-Keeper-Windows-…-Setup.exe. Because Lid Keeper for Windows is new, Microsoft Defender SmartScreen may say Windows protected your PC: choose More info, then Run anyway. Choose Install. Lid Keeper installs for your Windows account only, so it needs no administrator password, and it waits in the notification area near the clock — look for the eyes icon, which may be under the ^ arrow.

Activating and switching on

Read the safety notes and choose Agree and continue, then paste your licence key and choose Activate. If the licence is active on another computer, choose Email me a code, type the code we send to the licence owner and choose Move here. Then choose Turn on in the Lid Keeper window or from the eyes icon.

How it works, and staying safe

While it's on, Lid Keeper sets Windows' When I close the lid option to Do nothing and asks Windows not to sleep on its own. It puts your own setting back when you switch it off, quit, sign out or shut down, and a separate guardian process puts it back — and lets the PC sleep if the lid is already closed — if Lid Keeper stops unexpectedly. Lid Keeper also switches off and lets the PC sleep when the battery reaches your chosen limit (10% unless you change it), or when the PC reports through Windows that it is too hot or is slowing down to cool off with the lid closed.

Some PCs don't report their temperature to Windows. Lid Keeper then shows Not reported by this PC, and only the PC's own built-in protection watches the heat, so take extra care with ventilation. Keep the laptop on a hard, flat surface and never run it closed in a bag, a sleeve, on a bed or under covers.

It won't switch on

Lid Keeper says why: no licence on this PC, a battery at or below your limit, a PC that is already too hot, or a work PC whose lid setting is managed by your organisation — then Lid Keeper changes nothing. If your PC still goes to sleep when you close the lid while Lid Keeper is on, email us.

Updates and uninstalling on Windows

Choose Check for updates in the Lid Keeper window. Nothing downloads or installs unless you agree, and every update is checked against Lid Keeper's signature before it runs. To remove Lid Keeper, open Settings › Apps, find Lid Keeper and choose Uninstall: it puts your lid setting back first. Your activation stays in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Lid Keeper, so a reinstall is still activated; delete that folder if you want it gone too.

Refunds

30 days, no questions asked. See the refund policy. A refund ends your right to use Lid Keeper and stops the licence activating anywhere new. We can't reach into a computer that's already activated and offline, so we ask you to uninstall Lid Keeper: on a Mac, quit it and drag it to the Trash; on Windows, uninstall it from Settings › Apps.