Filters · macOS
Track exactly what you want.
A block list to exclude sensitive apps, or an allow list to track only the ones you choose. Excluding an app even wipes its history — your private apps leave no trace.
Filters
Tracking mode
Blocked apps · 3
Messages
WhatsApp
Terminal
Pulse's real Filters view — block list and allow list.
Your password manager isn't a typing test.
Tell Pulse what to ignore — and it forgets.
What filters protect, and what they cost
A typing tracker that watches everything watches your password manager, your therapy journal, and the field where you paste a recovery phrase. Filters draw the line. They decide which apps Pulse measures and which it never sees — app by app, not one blunt on-off switch.
A block list is the default posture: Pulse measures everything except the handful of apps you name. That suits most people, because the apps worth excluding are a short, obvious list — 1Password, Messages, a banking app. An allow list inverts the logic for the cautious: Pulse stays silent until you explicitly add an app, so a new tool you install tomorrow is ignored until you say otherwise. Neither is more private; they are different defaults for different instincts.
Excluding an app does more than stop new tracking. Pulse deletes the history it already holds for that app, so the keystroke counts disappear from your statistics and your per-app breakdown as if they were never recorded. The same restraint runs deeper than filters: Pulse counts that a key was pressed and when, never the letters themselves, and the whole database lives on your Mac. Filters, paste detection, and the rest of what you can tune all serve one rule — the numbers should be your hands, and only your hands.
Frequently asked.
Can I stop Pulse from tracking certain apps?
Yes. Add any app to the block list and Pulse stops recording your typing there — and permanently deletes any history it already had for that app.
What is the difference between a block list and an allow list?
A block list tracks everything except the apps you add. An allow list flips it: Pulse tracks only the apps you add and ignores everything else.
Does excluding an app delete the data Pulse already collected?
Yes. When you add an app to the block list, Pulse not only stops tracking it but also permanently deletes the history it already had for that app, so it disappears from your statistics and per-app breakdown.