Help

NoNap Help

Learn how NoNap keeps your MacBook running when you need it most.

Using NoNap

How to use NoNap's menu bar controls, modes, and shortcuts.

What you need

  • An Apple Silicon MacBook.
  • macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.

Install

NoNap is available on the Mac App Store. Download it, and it lives in your menu bar — no dock icon, no main window.

The menu bar icon

Click the NoNap icon (left-click) to open the control panel. The icon reflects whether idle-sleep or display prevention is active.

  • Idle — NoNap is off; your Mac follows its normal sleep policy.
  • Active — Timed or No Limit idle-sleep prevention is running.
  • Display on — the display is also being kept on for the current session.

Keep your Mac awake

Under Prevent Idle Sleep, a three-position switch controls idle-sleep prevention:

  • Off — nothing is prevented.
  • Timed — prevent idle sleep for a countdown. 2 hours by default.
  • No Limit — prevent idle sleep with no natural end.

In Timed mode, two buttons adjust the remaining time in ±30-minute steps, from a minimum of 30 minutes up to a maximum of 8 hours. When the countdown reaches zero, the system power policy is restored automatically — your Mac can idle-sleep again as normal.

Switching back to Off at any time also restores the system policy immediately.

Keep Display On

While Prevent Idle Sleep is active, Keep Display On appears below it. It keeps the screen lit for the same session. Turning it off does not end idle-sleep prevention; ending the session releases both protections.

Right-click the NoNap icon for a menu:

  • Settings — launch at login, and language.
  • About — version and product info.
  • Quit (⌘Q) — exit NoNap.

When you quit with an active session, NoNap restores the system power policy before exiting.

Frequently asked questions

What is NoNap?

NoNap is a native macOS menu bar app that prevents your Apple Silicon MacBook from idle sleep. It’s designed for specific, temporary situations — a long download, a build, a transcode, a remote session — where you need the Mac to stay awake without babysitting the settings.

It is not a permanent “never sleep” replacement for your power settings. You switch it on when you need it, and off (or let the timer expire) when you don’t.

What are the system requirements?
  • An Apple Silicon MacBook.
  • macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.

NoNap runs entirely in the macOS App Sandbox — it does not request network access and collects no data.

How is this different from the built-in caffeinate command?

macOS ships with caffeinate, a Terminal command that provides the underlying sleep assertions NoNap uses. NoNap turns those controls into a menu bar workflow: Timed and No Limit sessions, a visible countdown, an optional Keep Display On modifier, and automatic cleanup when a timer expires or you quit the app.

If you’re comfortable in Terminal and only need the basics, caffeinate works fine. NoNap is for when you want it one click away — or when you want the display-awake toggle without touching System Settings.