Ask HN: Why does macOS still lack focus stealing prevention in 2025?

4 pointsby joshuaka day ago4 comments

alphadatavaulta day ago
This is a perfect example of the tension between Apple’s HIG (which explicitly discourages focus stealing) and the actual implementation of AppKit. activateIgnoringOtherApps:YES is effectively a "selfish" API—it assumes the developer's intent is more important than the user's current context.
The fact that we have to rely on Hammerspoon or defaults write hacks in 2026 is a testament to the "black box" nature of WindowServer. It’s one of the few areas where macOS feels significantly less mature than Linux/X11, where "Focus Stealing Prevention" has been a standard toggle for decades.
al_borlanda day ago
WebEx is very guilty of this any time sharing is invoked or changes hands.
I usually just curse at it and call it names.
- joshuaka day ago
  This is the problem I suspect. I think it has a negative impact on tons of users but people just curse and move on.
  - al_borlanda day ago
    One of the big problems for me is that my company installs all kind of nonsense for security that makes the whole system behave strangely. For example, when I click on a window to activate it, it will often jump across the screen. In over 20 years on the Mac, I’ve never experienced this on my personal system. However, it happens almost every day at work. The hard drive on my desktop also randomly disappears and reappears, but only on the work Mac, and it’s happened constantly, everyday, for 6 years. It’s probably JAMF, but I can’t do anything about it. There is a bit of learned helplessness when dealing with my work Mac.
    Most of my focus issues are at work, so I have no idea what is a macOS issue and what is an issue with the stuff the company installed.
    On my personal Mac and phone, I submit feedback to Apple all the time when things annoy me, since those issues are more clear cut.
daviddever23boxa day ago
Windows may not steal your keyboard focus, but it will block the very thing you're trying to do with useless dialogue boxes.
Notifications should be non-blocking. ALWAYS.
bigyabaia day ago
I'm not sure, but if you've reached the point that you're sending AI-generated pleas to the community then you might as well switch to Linux or Windows.
- joshuaka day ago
  Thanks for your "not sure" comment. Very helpful. Perhaps I'm mistaken but I thought the formatting would make it more legible and scannable. I can see why that might come across as AI generated, but it isn't. I did use AI to reduce the formatting just now though. Do you find this more or less objectionable?