TapNoiseTapNoise’s Clean Mode temporarily holds keyboard and pointer input while leaving a visible countdown. It serves a different purpose from locking your Mac account.
Start a short hold
Open Settings › Keyboard › Clean Mode, choose 30 seconds, 1 minute or 2 minutes, then start. The menu also offers Clean my keyboard.
Save your work first and check the exit before using the feature. Hold Esc for two seconds to end early; otherwise input returns when the timer finishes. Clean Mode needs optional Accessibility permission.
Use it for the intended convenience
The feature helps prevent stray typing or clicks during a brief surface touch-up. It does not power down the hardware, make liquid safe or physically disconnect a keyboard.
Follow the maker’s cleaning instructions for the actual device. For damp cleaning, shut down and unplug as directed rather than treating an input overlay as a substitute.
Do not use it as a security lock
Clean Mode does not authenticate the person at the desk. Someone can wait for the timer or use its normal exit. If you step away, lock the screen with the Mac’s normal control instead.
See Clean Mode versus the lock screen for the distinction and safe keyboard cleaning for the physical precautions. Guard Mode is another separate tool: an alarm, with documented limitations, rather than an input hold.
Sources: TapNoise Clean Mode, Apple’s cleaning guidance.