AirPointer

Turn your AirPods case into a pointer for your Mac.
Move the closed case to move the cursor. Tap its front to click.

Before you use it

Effect	What happens
Case data	Ending a session uses up the diagnostic data stored on the case.
AirPods settings	Some AirPods connection settings stay as the session set them. We do not know yet if this change, or the case data change, lasts after the Bluetooth link resets.
Audio	Each connection drops the AirPods' Bluetooth link for a moment, and their audio stops. Do not connect during a call.
Microphone	During a session, the app keeps Mac sound and the microphone off all AirPods. It restores them when the session ends. After a force quit, it restores them when you next open the app, if the AirPods are still connected.
Silent audio	During a session, the app plays silence to the AirPods to keep their audio link active. You do not hear it.
Cursor size	A cursor smaller than 2× grows to 2× while you point. It returns to its size when you pause or disconnect. After a force quit, it returns when you next open the app. This uses a private macOS call.

Requirements

Item	Status
AirPods Pro 3, macOS 26, Apple Silicon	Tested on one Mac with one pair
AirPods Pro 2	Recognized, not tested
AirPods paired with your Mac	Required
Xcode	Required to build

Normal connect and disconnect have run many times on that Mac and pair. These cases have not been tested on purpose:

• Force quit during a session
• Sleep and wake during a session
• Bluetooth lost during a session
• Calls and audio during and after a session

Build and run

zsh ./build.sh
open AirPointer.app

The build also runs --self-test and the tap check. The other offline checks are under For developers. Do not build during a pointer session.

If AirPointer does not appear in the Accessibility list after a rebuild, run:

tccutil reset Accessibility local.airpointer

Set it up

The first time you open the app, setup has four steps.

1. Allow: Drag AirPointer into the Accessibility list. This lets it move the cursor and click.
2. Connect: Open the lid, close the lid, set the case down for a moment, and turn it upright.
3. Calibrate: Point at three dots to show the app where your screen is.
4. Tap: Tap the front of the case three times.

Use it

Press fn ⌃ in any app to connect. Press it again to pause or resume. To use a different shortcut, go to Settings.

On the tested AirPods, a session ends about 30 minutes after the lid closes. To continue, open and close the lid. See Known limitations.

The connect steps as a chart

flowchart TD
    Start(["Press Connect or fn ⌃"]) --> Open["Open the lid"]
    Open --> Close["Close the lid"]
    Close --> Saved{"Sensor offset<br/>saved?"}
    Saved -->|"No"| Hold["Set the case down"]
    Saved -->|"Yes"| Turn["Turn the case upright"]
    Hold --> Turn
    Turn --> Edges{"Screen edges<br/>saved?"}
    Edges -->|"No"| Dots["Point at three dots"]
    Edges -->|"Yes"| Pointing(["Pointing"])
    Dots --> Pointing
    Pointing -->|"fn ⌃"| Paused(["Paused"])
    Paused -->|"fn ⌃"| Pointing

Loading

Known limitations

Sessions end about 30 minutes after the lid closes. The app does not set this limit. At that point motion stops, and the AirPods stay unreachable until you open the lid. To continue, open and close the lid. In one test, reconnecting with the lid closed did not reset the limit.

The likely cause is timer 0x63 in the earbud firmware. We found it by reading rkof.bin (H2, version 9A348), the firmware image for the tested AirPods Pro 3:

Address	What it does
0x17d2a4	Builds a status mask. It starts the timer if the mask is nonzero, the state check passes and the timer is not already running. It cancels the timer if the mask is zero.
0x17d326	Loads the timer's length: 1,800,000 ms, or 30 minutes.
0x17d294	The state check: the firmware's dock state equals 6. This probably means docked with the lid closed.
0x17cddc	Runs when the timer ends. It checks the state again, then calls a fatal assert that does not return.

Measured sessions ended at the same time, about 1,805 seconds after the lid closed. This comes from reading the firmware and from those timings. No live capture has confirmed it yet.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
The app does not connect	Turn off Bluetooth on your iPhone. Your iPhone can hold the AirPods.
"Connecting" does not end	Open the lid and keep it open until the app tells you to close it.
The pointer lags or motion stops	Make sure no other app, such as OBS or a browser call, uses the AirPods as a microphone.
The pointer stutters just after you connect	This is normal for about 20 seconds.
"Set it down" takes a long time	Use a firm, flat surface and do not touch the case.
Taps do not click	Go to Settings > Teach Tap. Do this again if you change how you hold the case.

How it works

flowchart LR
    subgraph AirPods["AirPods Pro in the closed case"]
        Sensors["Motion sensors"]
    end

    subgraph Helpers["Helper programs"]
        Restore["ClosedCaseRestore<br/>brings the Bluetooth link up"]
        Motion["ClosedCaseMotion<br/>starts the sensors and<br/>keeps the case awake"]
    end

    subgraph App["AirPointer app"]
        Session["ClosedCaseSession<br/>runs the session"]
        Math["Orientation.js<br/>motion to screen position"]
        Tap["ClosedCaseTap<br/>finds taps"]
        Guard["AudioOutputGuard<br/>keeps sound off the AirPods"]
        UI["Window, menu bar,<br/>notch and setup"]
    end

    Mac["macOS<br/>moves the cursor and clicks"]

    Restore -->|"checks the link"| Sensors
    Sensors -->|"Bluetooth"| Motion
    Motion -->|"motion data, through a pipe"| Session
    Session -->|"heartbeat, every second"| Motion
    Session --> Math
    Session --> Tap
    Math -->|"cursor position"| Mac
    Tap -->|"click"| Mac
    Session --> Guard
    UI <-->|"state and commands"| Session

Loading

1. Connect: ClosedCaseRestore makes sure the AirPods' ordinary Bluetooth link is up. ClosedCaseMotion then reconnects them once, because the motion channel only answers just after a connection.
2. Stream: ClosedCaseMotion starts the sensors and sends paced requests to keep the closed case awake. It sends the motion data to the app.
3. Keep alive: The app sends a heartbeat every second. If the app stops, the helper stops the sensors and releases what it holds.
4. Point: Orientation.js calculates the case's orientation and converts it to a screen position.
5. Click: ClosedCaseTap looks for a sudden movement in the direction of a tap. If it finds one, the app clicks and plays a short sound on the Mac.

If motion stops for less than two seconds, the pointer stops and then continues. If motion stops for longer, the pointer pauses and continues when motion returns.

Project layout

Sources/
  AirPointer/          The app
    App/               Startup, the link to the windows, and the shortcut
    Session/           The session, motion math, taps, audio guard, cursor size
    Interface/         The window, menu bar, notch, setup and Tap Test
    Checks/            Window and pose checks; other checks sit beside their code
  ClosedCaseMotion/    The helper that talks to the AirPods
  ClosedCaseRestore/   The helper that brings the Bluetooth link up
Tests/                 Recorded taps and handling for the tap check
Assets/                Images, sounds and the 3D case model
Scripts/               Make the case and README images
Docs/                  The design system
build.sh               Builds AirPointer.app and runs the checks

Sources/ClosedCaseMotion/CaseSustainedRenewal.m lists the helper's exit codes at the top. Docs/DESIGN-SYSTEM.md has the rules for the interface. Assets/README.md explains the images and sounds.

For developers

Data on your Mac

The app keeps its data in ~/Library/Application Support/AirPointer/. It does not send any of this anywhere.

File	Contents
closed-case-target.txt	The AirPods to use
closed-case-grip.json	Saved screen edges
closed-case-sensor-calibration.json	Saved sensor offset, kept for one week
PointerSessions/	Logs from the newest ten sessions
TapTests.jsonl	Tap Test scores

During a session, the app's preferences also save which audio devices it moved. The saved names include the AirPods' Bluetooth address.

In a session's native.log:

• STEP lines show the time of each connection step.
• HOLD lines show the motion count so far and its delay, about once a second.
• tap lines explain each tap.
• The EXIT line shows why the session ended.

Tap Test

Taps are tuned on one person so far, so your score may differ.

Connect, then go to File > Developer > Tap Test. The test takes about 75 seconds and tells you when to tap.

To also save a session's raw motion, run this before you connect. The recording has no size limit. Expect roughly 20 MB for a 30-minute session.

defaults write local.airpointer recordMotion -bool true

Offline checks

These checks do not use Bluetooth. --check-home opens real windows, so run it on a logged-in Mac.

AirPointer.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPointer --self-test
AirPointer.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPointer --check-home
AirPointer.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPointer --check-pointer-settings
AirPointer.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPointer --check-closed-case-native
AirPointer.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPointer --check-audio-output-policy
AirPointer.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPointer --check-closed-case-tap Tests/TapFixtures.csv
AirPointer.app/Contents/Resources/ClosedCaseMotion.bin --self-test

Uninstall

Quit AirPointer, delete this folder, then run:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/AirPointer
defaults delete local.airpointer
tccutil reset Accessibility local.airpointer
tccutil reset BluetoothAlways local.airpointer

License

The code uses the MIT License. The license does not cover Assets/. Apple owns the AirPods model that the case images are made from, and the sounds have their own license. See Assets/LICENSE.md.