Warden vs the macOS screen lock
Both stop someone typing on your Mac. Only one of them lets you keep watching what your Mac is doing.
7-day free trial · $8.99 once · No card to start
What is the difference between Warden and the macOS screen lock?
The macOS screen lock protects your screen; Warden protects your input. macOS hides the desktop behind the login window, so a build, render, or agent session becomes invisible the moment you lock. Warden blocks keyboard, mouse, and trackpad while leaving every pixel on screen.
Do apps keep running when a Mac is locked?
Yes. Locking the screen does not pause apps: builds, downloads, renders, and agents keep running behind the login window. What stops them is sleep. If your energy settings let the Mac sleep, everything is suspended until you wake it.
To keep a job alive you need to prevent sleep as well as lock. In Terminal, caffeinate -i blocks idle sleep for as long as it runs. Warden has sleep prevention built in, so one shortcut locks input and keeps the Mac awake.
Side by side
| macOS screen lock | Warden | |
|---|---|---|
| Screen stays visible | No — desktop is hidden behind the login window | Yes — everything stays on screen |
| Blocks keyboard, mouse, trackpad | Yes | Yes, at the macOS event-tap layer |
| Unlock method | Touch ID or password | Touch ID or password |
| Multiple displays | All displays hidden | All displays covered by a lock overlay |
| Keeps the Mac awake | No — sleep settings still apply | Optional sleep prevention while locked |
| Cost | Built in | $8.99 one-time, 7-day free trial |
When should you use the macOS screen lock?
If the point is privacy — you are leaving a laptop in a cafe, or your screen shows something nobody else should read — use the built-in lock. Hiding the display is exactly what you want, it is free, and it is part of the operating system.
When should you use an input lock instead?
Use an input lock when you need to keep watching work in progress. Then hiding the screen is a cost rather than a benefit. You cannot see whether the Xcode build failed, whether the 4K export is still encoding, or whether your AI coding agent is waiting on a prompt. An input lock keeps all of that in view while making the keyboard and trackpad inert.
This is why input locking pairs with sleep prevention: a Mac that sleeps mid-render has failed at the same job as a Mac that got a stray keystroke.
Can you use Warden and the macOS screen lock together?
Yes — they solve different problems and do not conflict. Lock input with Warden while you are nearby and want to keep watching, and use the macOS screen lock when you are actually leaving the machine unattended somewhere you do not control.