What Hedroom never touches
Before it relaunches, quits, pauses or slows any app, Hedroom runs a safety check. If the check says no, nothing happens and you are told why. This page explains the check in plain words, and where the full promises are written down.
This describes how Hedroom 1.0 is built. The app is not released yet. Each refusal below has its own test in the code, but that is not the same as months of use on other people's Macs.
The short list
- macOS itself. Anything signed by Apple, or living under
/System/,/usr/,/bin/,/sbin/or/Library/Apple/, can be explained but never paused, slowed or quit. That includeskernel_task,WindowServerandlaunchd. - Hedroom itself. It will not act on its own process.
- Your files. Nothing is deleted without your permission each time. Cleanup moves files to the Trash and you can put them back.
The full, plain list of promises is on What Hedroom never does. It is part of setup, and it is written as rules in the code, not as intentions.
When Hedroom says no, and the words it uses
The safety check has a fixed order. The first reason that applies is the one you see, shown beside the button instead of an error alert.
| The target is… | What Hedroom shows |
|---|---|
| Apple-signed, or a system path | "Hedroom never touches macOS's own processes." |
| On your never-touch list | "You asked Hedroom to never touch Slack." (with the app's name) |
| The app you are using right now, for a pause, slowdown or quit from a rule | "You're using it right now." |
| On a call: playing audio, using the microphone, or a call app while a camera is on | "Slack is on a call." |
| A backup app while a backup runs | "A backup is running." |
| Not known to handle being paused, when a rule would pause or quit it | "Hedroom only pauses apps that are known to handle it." |
| An app that may lose work if relaunched during critical memory pressure | "Relaunching could lose work in this app." |
If Hedroom cannot check something, such as whether a camera is on, an automatic action is refused. A click from you is allowed, but Hedroom first tells you what it could not check and asks.
The one exception, and who decides
Apple apps that you use yourself, such as Xcode or Pages, can be relaunched or quit, only when you click it. A rule can never do it, and Hedroom never pauses or slows them. Even then, Apple's own helper processes inside a third-party app are skipped, and logged as skipped rather than failed.
Even with a yes, you are asked
- Quitting asks first. No app is quit silently.
- Force quit needs a second, separate confirmation. Hedroom never offers it as a ranked fix.
- Rules start off. Each one is yours, and nothing automatic quits or relaunches an app unless you created that exact rule.
- A pause always ends. A paused app resumes when you switch to it, when Hedroom quits, and after 60 minutes at most. A small guard process resumes it even if Hedroom crashes.
Add your own never-touch app
- When Hedroom suggests something you do not want for an app, press Not now. After the third time for the same app, it stops notifying and offers Never touch with the app's name.
- Choose it. That app is then refused for every action and every rule, with the reason "You asked Hedroom to never touch" it.
- Today still shows what is happening with the app, so you stay informed. Hedroom only stops acting on it.
If this did not work
If you believe Hedroom touched something it should not have, check the action's receipt first. It says where the action came from, you or a rule, and See the rule opens it. To turn it off, switch the rule off in Rules. If a paused app seems stuck, quit and reopen Hedroom, which resumes everything it paused. For anything that looks like a safety bug, write to support@hedroomapp.com with your Hedroom and macOS versions and what you saw. Do not attach files or a license key.