HotkeyClash vs ShortcutDetective
ShortcutDetective is dead. This is what's next.
The little utility that told you which app stole your hotkey hasn't been updated since version 1.0 — and it crashes on Apple Silicon and macOS Sequoia. HotkeyClash does the same job, for every shortcut at once, and you can read its source.
What ShortcutDetective was
ShortcutDetective, by Irradiated Software (the Cinch and SizeUp developers), did one thing: you pressed a key combination, and it told you which app intercepted it. For years it was the answer to every “which app stole my shortcut?” thread on Stack Exchange and Reddit.
It was also never really a product. It stayed at version 1.0, was never ported to Apple Silicon, and on modern macOS it crashes on launch or fails to capture keys at all. The Reddit threads since mid-2025 asking for a replacement outnumber the ones recommending it.
Why HotkeyClash replaces it
HotkeyClash attacks the same problem from a better angle. Instead of testing one key press at a time, it inventories every registered shortcut on your Mac — the menu shortcuts of all running apps (via the Accessibility API), your Karabiner-Elements and skhd configs, and the macOS system shortcuts — and shows every combination that’s claimed more than once.
That’s a strictly broader diagnosis: ShortcutDetective could only tell you about the shortcut you already knew was broken. A HotkeyClash scan also finds the conflicts you haven’t tripped over yet, classified by severity — definite (two global hotkeys, guaranteed clash) or potential (a global hotkey shadowing some app’s menu shortcut).
One honest difference: ShortcutDetective’s live “press a key, see who grabs it” interception was useful for edge cases like apps that register hotkeys without exposing them anywhere. A live test mode of exactly that kind is on the HotkeyClash roadmap for v2.0. For everything else, the scan model covers more, faster.
Side by side
| HotkeyClash | ShortcutDetective | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Actively maintained, open source | Abandoned — v1.0, never updated |
| Apple Silicon | Native | No native build |
| macOS Sequoia / Sonoma | Supported (macOS 14+) | Crashes on launch for most users |
| Detection model | Scans all registered shortcuts, lists every conflict at once | Intercepted one pressed key at a time |
| Sources covered | Running apps + Karabiner + skhd + macOS system shortcuts | Only the key you pressed |
| Severity classification | Definite vs potential conflicts | None |
| Source code | GPL-2.0, fully public | Closed source |
| Price | Free forever | Free (was) |
Migrating in two minutes
- Delete ShortcutDetective.app (nothing to uninstall beyond the bundle)
- Download HotkeyClash and drag it to Applications
- Grant Accessibility permission — the same one ShortcutDetective needed — and scan
The workflow inverts: instead of pressing the broken shortcut and asking who took it, you get the complete clash list up front and press nothing. Read the full walkthrough in ShortcutDetective Is Dead. Here’s the Modern Alternative.
Retire the crashed detective
One scan replaces an afternoon of pressing keys and guessing. Free, open source, macOS 14+.
macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Free DMG download