AltMap is a macOS app switcher that lives in the menu bar. Hold ⌥, press a key, and you are already in the app — no list to read, nothing to type, no overlay to wait on. ⌥ and a digit go straight to that position in your Dock; ⌥ and a letter go straight to whatever you mapped yourself. Forgotten what you mapped? Double-tap or hold ⌥ and a keyboard map floats up, every key labelled with where it now points.
Why ⌥ and not ⌘
The old convention for this kind of tool was ⌘ and a digit, and it was their worst design flaw — ⌘ with a digit switches tabs in a browser, views in Finder, and panels in nearly every IDE. Day one, you had to go and reconfigure it. ⌥ with a digit is almost untouched by macOS, so that is what AltMap uses by default, and it works the moment you install it. The cost is that the typographic symbols ⌥ and a digit used to produce (™ £ ¶ and the like) are no longer typed directly — nothing at all for most people, and if you happen to need those characters, those keys can be let through individually.
Features
⌥ and a letter, any app
Bind the editor to ⌥J and the terminal to ⌥K — wherever your hands already reach.
⌥ and a digit, follows the Dock
1 through 9 map to the pinned apps in your Dock, in Dock order, with nothing to configure.
A keyboard map on demand
Double-tap or hold ⌥ and a keyboard floats up, every key labelled with the app it points to.
Tune how it triggers
Change the activation key, switch between double-tap and hold, move the HUD, dial its opacity.
No cold start
Mappings are live before you ever open the keyboard map — the shortcuts work from the first press.
Keeps no record of you
It does not upload which apps you switch to, what you map, or how often you use it.
Who it's for
Keyboard-first people: developers who jump between an editor, a terminal, a browser and a chat window hundreds of times a day, and anyone who came from Windows or Linux with Win+1 still in their fingers. AltMap does one thing — from anywhere, one action, you are in the app. It does not search files, manage windows or remap keys; those belong to other tools.
Requirements
macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel. AltMap needs Accessibility permission to read the ⌥ chord globally and bring applications forward; macOS asks for it on first launch and you can revoke it at any time in System Settings. ⌥ with a digit and the keyboard map are free forever, with no account; the custom ⌥-plus-letter mappings are the paid feature — bought once, not a subscription, and you can try them first.