Setup
Set up Face Kicker.
Six short steps, about five minutes. The one that matters is the third: until a calendar is connected, Face Kicker has nothing to alert you about.
2Learn the hold
The welcome window has a ring to practise on. Press and hold it for a second and a half. Then choose Try a Test Alert, or Test Alert from the menu: every display dims and the alert appears.
- Hold the ring, or the Space bar, to send it away. Letting go early starts the ring again.
- Join opens the meeting. On a test alert it opens a page that says it worked.
- Snooze sends it away once and brings it back a minute before the start.
Command-Q quits Face Kicker at any time, alert or not.
3Connect a calendar
Choose Settings from the menu, then Calendars. Each calendar reaches Face Kicker one of two ways, so pick one for each:
| Your calendar | Use |
|---|---|
| Already in the Calendar app on this Mac: iCloud, Google, or an Exchange server your organisation runs itself | Mac Calendar |
| Google, not in the Calendar app yet | Add it under Internet Accounts in System Settings, then use Mac Calendar |
| Microsoft 365 or Teams, even if it's in the Calendar app | Sign in with Microsoft |
| Reminders with a due time | Reminders |
Mac Calendar and Reminders
Turn on Mac Calendar events, choose Allow Access, and choose Allow when macOS asks. Reminders works the same way. Face Kicker reads them on your Mac and sends them nowhere.
Sign in with Microsoft
Choose Sign in with Microsoft. Microsoft's own sign-in page opens; sign in there, and Settings shows your account. Work accounts and personal ones such as Outlook.com both work. Face Kicker can read your own calendar and nothing else.
Use it for Microsoft 365 even if your work calendar is already in the Calendar app. Microsoft began switching off the connection the Calendar app uses for Microsoft 365 on 1 October 2026, and removes it on 1 April 2027. After that, those meetings stop updating on your Mac. Face Kicker's sign-in doesn't use that connection.
Some organisations ask an administrator to approve new apps. If yours does, Settings says so and offers Ask My IT Administrator. The page for IT admins has what they need to decide. Until then, Mac Calendar works only if your organisation runs its own Exchange server.
One way per calendar. A meeting that arrives through both Mac Calendar and Microsoft sign-in alerts twice.
4Choose when it alerts
The Alerts page in Settings holds three choices. The defaults suit most people, so try them for a few days first.
- Full alert: 1, 2 or 3 minutes before the start. The default is 2.
- Heads-ups: a quiet notice earlier that dims nothing and never takes your typing. 15 minutes before by default. Pick up to four times, or none.
- Dismiss a heads-up with: the same hold as the alert, or one click.
The Look page sets the alert's colour. Test Alert, at the foot of each page, shows it at once.
5Start it at login
On the General page in Settings, turn on Start at login. Without it, Face Kicker isn't running after a restart, and nothing alerts you.
6Check it works
Add an event to your calendar that starts in five minutes, then choose Check Calendars Now from the menu. The menu's first line should name it. Leave it be, and the alert arrives two minutes before the start.
Face Kicker looks at your calendars every five minutes and when your Mac wakes, so an event you add usually shows up within five minutes on its own.
If no alert came
- The menu says "Nothing coming up. Enjoy the quiet." No calendar is connected yet, or the event is more than a day away. Face Kicker looks about a day ahead.
- Settings says "Turned off in System Settings". macOS has Don't Allow on record. Choose Open System Settings and allow Face Kicker there.
- The menu says "Paused until". Choose Resume Now.
- You were in a call or presenting. With Teams, Zoom, Webex, Keynote or PowerPoint in front, the alert is a small panel in the top-right corner, so a call or a shared screen is left alone.
- The meeting was cancelled, or you declined it in Microsoft 365. Those never alert.
- Microsoft sign-in needs approval. See the page for IT admins. Mac Calendar is a way round only if your organisation runs its own Exchange server.
- One meeting alerted twice. It reached Face Kicker two ways. Turn one of them off for that calendar.
A meeting with no link still alerts. It has no Join button, because there's nothing to join.
Still stuck
Choose Send Feedback from the menu and say what happened. It adds your app and macOS versions, and a person reads it. The support page has the same form, and the known limits.