Intermittent macOS Secure Input problem

TidBITS Talk
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For weeks I’ve been seeing a recurring issue on an M2 MacBook Pro running macOS 26.5.2 (25F80). When it occurs:

  • Fn-E won’t open the emoji picker
  • Fn-Fn won’t start Dictation
  • Alfred snippets stop expanding
  • Keyboard Maestro typed-string triggers stop working
  • Sometimes the emoji picker opens, but clicking an emoji doesn’t insert it

Running:
ioreg -l -w0 | grep SecureInput

shows that Secure Input is active. Different processes have appeared as the owner, including Proton Mail, Capture One, and loginwindow. In one case, Proton Mail’s PID remained listed even after Proton Mail had quit.

The reliable workaround so far is to unlock 1Password. Immediately afterward, Secure Input clears, ioreg returns no result, and Fn-E, Dictation, Alfred snippets, and Keyboard Maestro all begin working again.

Restarting CharacterPalette, TextInputMenuAgent, TextInputSwitcher, SystemUIServer, Dock, and pboard did not fix it. Logging out and back in does.

Has anyone else seen Secure Input become stuck like this, particularly after sleep/wake? Any idea what might be causing it, or how to clear it properly without relying on 1Password or logging out?

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Here is a thread from the 1Password community https://www.1password.community/1password-at-work-58/secure-input-blocking-other-apps-event-taps-25015. It includes (from pitnikola) some diagnosis of the problem, how it has arisen and (in a general way) how it should be fixed by 1Password. The thread does include a “me too” from me which you can skip over!

For me, it is most often 1Password which is the reported holder of Secure Input. This is on an always awake iMac with macOS 15.7.7 and 1Password 18.12.28

I am not clear whether this is due to a) a change by 1Password, b) a change in underlying libraries used by 1Password, or c) an interaction with a recent security update to macOS 15 and 26.

The release notes for 18.12.26 (30th June) include “We’ve fixed an issue where 1Password could keep Secure Input enabled longer than intended”. Just maybe it made things worse.

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maybe just a useless data point, or maybe related, but I’ve got 1Password 6.8.9 on my M2 MBAir on 26.5.2. It is usually not running (as I’m switching to another app), and I’ve had its ‘mini’ element disabled for a while also.

But I’m running into oddities in recent months such as three-finger tap on a word in Apple apps no longer working as “look up…”. Two finger tap and select “look up…” does work. I’m not technically informed enough to know but thought it might be helpful.

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