Troubleshooting

macOS has a privacy feature called Secure Input. While it’s on, the system stops delivering keystrokes to other apps — including global shortcuts like Ambient’s Option + Space. It is turned on whenever a password field has focus, and some apps enable it on purpose:

• A password field in any app or web page (including the macOS login prompt)
• Password managers such as 1Password while unlocked or showing a password prompt
• Terminal or iTerm2 with Secure Keyboard Entry enabled (Terminal → Secure Keyboard Entry)

Apps are supposed to release it when you leave the field, but some don’t. To fix it, switch away from or close the app that holds it, or turn off Secure Keyboard Entry in your terminal. To see which process has it on, run:

ioreg -l -w 0 | grep SecureInput

The output includes kCGSSessionSecureInputPID — the process ID of the app holding Secure Input. Look it up with ps -p <pid> or in Activity Monitor. If nothing is listed, Secure Input is off. Locking and unlocking your Mac also resets it.

Ambient needs microphone access to hear you. If recording starts but nothing is transcribed, or the waveform stays flat:

• macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → turn on Ambient. Quit and reopen Ambient afterwards.
• Windows: Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone → allow desktop apps to access your microphone.
• Linux: make sure the right input device is selected in Ambient’s settings and in your sound settings (PipeWire / PulseAudio).

Also check that the right microphone is selected in Ambient → Settings.

On macOS, Ambient needs the Accessibility permission to listen for its global shortcut and to paste text into other apps.

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
2. Turn on Ambient. If it’s already on, turn it off and on again.
3. Quit and reopen Ambient.

After an update, macOS sometimes keeps a stale entry. If the toggle is on but the shortcut does nothing, remove Ambient from the list with the − button and add it again.

Ambient puts the transcript on the clipboard and sends a paste keystroke to the focused app. If you see the recording finish but no text appears:

• Click into a text field first — the text goes wherever the cursor is.
• On macOS, check the Accessibility permission above.
• Some apps (terminals, remote desktops, games) ignore the default paste shortcut. Try a different paste method in Ambient → Settings.
• The transcript is also kept in History, so you can copy it from there.
• On Linux, a paste tool may be needed — see Linux setup.

Email hello@tryambient.ai with your OS version, Ambient version and what you tried.