aniKey

A native Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for macOS. Type on a paired Android phone and control its mouse pointer through a compact desktop app or command-line tools.

Version 0.1.0 (unreleased) · macOS 13+ · GPL-3.0-or-later

Features

• Mac keyboard input: letters, numbers, punctuation, modifiers, arrows, and function keys.
• Enter, Tab, Backspace, and Escape buttons.
• Clipboard text entry.
• Phone pointer movement, clicks, and click-and-drag from the pad.
• Two-finger vertical scrolling and sideways dragging.
• Back, Home, and Recents buttons; three-finger gestures stay with macOS.
• Adjustable pad size and a resizable window.
• Device picker and Connect, Cancel, and Disconnect controls.
• CLI text and key commands with configurable timing and dry-run output.

No phone companion app or third-party runtime is needed. Text and clipboard entry use US-layout ASCII. Android is the current target.

Build

Requires macOS 13 or later and Apple's Command Line Tools.

make
open -n build/aniKey.app

The build produces build/aniKey.app and build/anikey. After rebuilding, use open -n to start the updated executable; aniKey closes its previous app session.

Use

1. Pair your Android phone with your Mac through Bluetooth settings.
2. Open aniKey, select the phone, and click Connect.
3. After Input connected appears, click the typing area and use your Mac keyboard.

Allow Bluetooth access on macOS when prompted. Input goes to the phone's active field or screen. Type clipboard enters plain text from the Mac clipboard. ⌘⇧Esc returns keyboard focus to the Mac; ⌘ acts as Ctrl during keyboard forwarding.

Phone cursor

Move over the pad to move the phone's mouse pointer. Click to send a tap; hold and drag to move the pointer while the primary mouse button stays down. Release to let go.

Gesture	Action
Click and release	Send a primary-button click
Hold click and drag	Move the pointer with the primary button held
Two-finger vertical movement	Send vertical mouse-wheel scrolling
Two-finger sideways movement	Drag horizontally with the primary button held
Mouse wheel	Send vertical scrolling

Use Back, Home, and Recents for system navigation. Recents sends the Windows/Meta+Tab keyboard shortcut; phone firmware may handle it differently. A secondary click on the pad sends the secondary mouse button.

Use Pad size or resize the window to adjust the area. Leaving the pad or switching away releases held input. The local marker shows Mac input, not the phone cursor's exact position. Three-finger gestures remain with macOS; scroll momentum is not forwarded.

aniKey sends Bluetooth mouse and keyboard input, not touchscreen contacts. Android apps determine whether a mouse drag scrolls content or activates an item. Phone edge gestures, pinch-to-zoom, and touch-only interactions are not provided. Sideways two-finger movement is sent as a mouse drag.

Command line

Find the phone's address with list, then replace AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF below:

./build/anikey list
./build/anikey --version
./build/anikey --device AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF text 'Hello'
./build/anikey --device AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF key ctrl+a
./build/anikey --device AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF key enter
./build/anikey --dry-run key tab
./build/anikey --gui

Command or option	Purpose
list	List paired devices and addresses
text 'TEXT'	Type ASCII text
key CHORD	Send a key or chord, such as shift+tab, backspace, or F5
pin DIGITS	Type digits followed by Enter
check	Check the HID connection without keypresses
--delay-ms N	Key timing, 0–2000 ms; default 50 ms
--dry-run	Print packets without Bluetooth access
--help	Show commands and usage
--version	Print the application version

Options precede the command. Each input command opens a session, sends the requested input, and closes the session.

Single-file compilation

mkdir -p build
xcrun clang -fobjc-arc -Wall -Wextra -Werror -O2 \
  -mmacosx-version-min=13.0 Sources/Anikey.m \
  -framework AppKit -framework IOBluetooth -framework CoreBluetooth \
  -Wl,-sectcreate,__TEXT,__info_plist,Resources/Info.plist \
  -o build/anikey
codesign --force --sign - build/anikey

aniKey uses AppKit and public IOBluetooth APIs. The embedded plist supplies Bluetooth permission descriptions. CoreBluetooth handles permission and power state; keyboard input uses Classic Bluetooth HID.

CLI reference · Changelog · Protocol · Interface

License

Copyright © 2026 Anish Aryal. Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later).