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Amphetamine for Mac: settings for closed-lid mode, and an alternative

Amphetamine is free and still the app most people are told to install. Here's how to make it work with the lid closed — and when it's worth looking elsewhere.

Updated · by Sasha Yakovlev, maker of Lidwork

Quick answer

Amphetamine (free, Mac App Store) can keep a MacBook awake with the lid closed via its Closed-Display Mode. On Apple Silicon that needs a separate helper, Amphetamine Power Protect, which installs a rule in /private/etc/sudoers.d/ and asks for your admin password or Touch ID once. As of Oct 2026 the last Amphetamine update is 5.3.2 from 10 Nov 2023.

Amphetamine has been the default answer to “how do I keep my Mac awake?” for years, and for good reason: it's free, it lives in the Mac App Store, and it has more session options than any other keep-awake app — durations, schedules, triggers based on apps, downloads, Wi-Fi and more. Tech sites still describe it as the gold standard.

The part that confuses people is the lid. Out of the box, Amphetamine prevents idle sleep. Keeping a MacBook awake with the lid closed and no external monitor takes extra setup, especially on Apple Silicon.

Step 1: understand Closed-Display Mode

Amphetamine calls lid-closed operation Closed-Display Mode. App Store apps run in a sandbox, and the sandbox doesn't allow the system-wide switch that overrides lid-close sleep. Amphetamine solves that with a companion tool outside the App Store.

Step 2: install Amphetamine Power Protect (Apple Silicon)

On Apple Silicon Macs, Closed-Display Mode without an external display requires Amphetamine Power Protect, a separate download from Amphetamine's developer. According to clamshell.dev's comparison (Oct 2026), it installs a script plus a configuration file in /private/etc/sudoers.d/ and asks for Touch ID or your admin password once.

That's a reasonable design, but know what it means: a sudoers rule lets a specific command run as root without a password. If you later stop using Amphetamine, remove Power Protect the way its developer describes rather than just deleting the app.

Step 3: allow sessions to continue with the display closed

In Amphetamine's settings, sessions have an option that allows system sleep when the display is closed. Turn that off for lid-closed use. The exact wording and location have moved between versions, so search the settings window for “closed” if you don't see it.

Step 4: test before you trust it

Start a session, start something visible (a large download, or ping 1.1.1.1 in Terminal), close the lid for a minute, then open it. If the download progressed and the ping log has no gap, you're set. You can also check the system log:

pmset -g log | grep -E "Sleep|Wake" | tail -20

Known issues worth knowing (as of Oct 2026)

  • No updates since 2023. The latest version, 5.3.2, was released on 10 November 2023. It still works for many people, but new macOS releases get no fixes.
  • Timed sessions and Closed-Display Mode. A user report on the project's GitHub (issue #19) describes a timed session that silently drops lid-closed protection after about 70 seconds, while the app still shows the session as active. We haven't reproduced it ourselves; if you rely on timed sessions with the lid closed, test yours.
  • Two pieces to manage. Amphetamine and Power Protect are installed and removed separately.

When Amphetamine is the right choice

  • You mostly keep the lid open and want rich automation (triggers, schedules).
  • You use a monitor at your desk — Apple's own clamshell mode then does the lid part for you.
  • You want a free App Store app and are fine with a one-time Power Protect install.

When an alternative fits better

If your main use is “close the lid, put the MacBook in a bag, keep an agent or a render running”, three things matter more than triggers: whether lid-closed mode works out of the box, what happens if the app crashes or is force-quit while sleep is disabled, and whether the menu shows the real state. Options as of Oct 2026:

  • Built-in: sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1 works and is free, but stays on until you undo it. See how to prevent your Mac from sleeping.
  • Clamshell ($9.99, Apple Silicon, macOS 14+): no helper and no password, per its vendor.
  • Keepresso (free, GPL-3.0): optional admin helper that restores settings after a crash.
  • Lidwork ($9.99 once, Mac App Store): no password, a small background part that turns lid sleep back on if the app dies (at once after a crash, within 30 seconds after a hang), a 10/20/30% battery cutoff, and a menu that says in plain words what it did.

The full, dated table is on Lidwork vs Amphetamine.

Removing Amphetamine cleanly

Quit Amphetamine, remove Power Protect following its developer's instructions, then delete the app. Finally make sure nothing left sleep disabled:

pmset -g | grep SleepDisabled   # should print: SleepDisabled 0
ls /private/etc/sudoers.d/       # look for leftover rules