Install, switch and update
- Download the official DMG and run its setup app. Apple silicon and macOS 14+ are required.
- Add AetherKey Pinyin in System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit. Select it in the menu bar or press Control + Space.
- Type nihao; Space selects the first candidate and number keys select a candidate. Use minus/equals or the panel arrows to change pages. Option + Tab switches candidate layout.
- Choose Check for Updates from the menu or Preferences → Updates & Startup, then download, confirm and relaunch. Versions 1.0.1 through 1.0.7 can update directly to 1.0.8; users of 1.0.0 need a one-time manual installation of the current version. Dictionaries, pins, forgotten words and settings are retained.
- In Preferences → Updates & Startup, manage six-hour checks, view check times and enable login startup. If macOS requires approval, follow the link to Login Items. Checks are deferred while the Mac sleeps or the app is not running.
1.0.8: lexicon import/export and place names
In Preferences → Lexicon & Phrases → Backup & Migration, export your personal lexicon as a full JSON backup (including word frequencies, bigram context, custom phrases, pins and forgotten words) or a plain-text phrase table (code<Tab>phrase).
Import supports Merge and Replace modes, accepting AetherKey JSON backups, Rime .dict.yaml dictionaries and TSV/TXT word lists (either code-first or phrase-first, preserving the wubi86: Wubi namespace).
The bundled dictionary expands to 533,958 entries with optimized rankings across 34 provincial divisions, 300+ cities and districts, major tech hubs and CBDs, and railway stations and airports across full pinyin, shuangpin, abbreviations and Wubi 86.
1.0.7: Wubi 86
Choose Wubi 86 in Preferences → General → Input Scheme or from the input menu. Full pinyin remains the default. An active composition keeps its original scheme until committed or cancelled.
Examples: g → 一, wq → 你, vbg → 好, khlg → 中国. Space confirms, numbers and arrows select, and minus/equals change pages. A fifth key commits the highlighted candidate and starts a new code; invalid codes and edits in the middle do not trigger this.
Use z + pinyin for reverse lookup: znihao shows 你好 and code wqvb. In Wubi, v is a root key and does not open the calculator. Option + Left/Right edits codes; Return commits raw keys and Esc cancels.
Wubi learning, 1–4-key custom phrases, pins and forgotten words are stored independently. The pinned rime/rime-wubi table contains 136,076 entries; not every character has a code. This release supports 86 only, not 98 or New Century. All 59 automated regressions passed; real Wubi keystroke acceptance is still pending.
1.0.6: redesigned settings and A badge
Settings use sidebar navigation and grouped cards with system light/dark appearance on all four pages. Manage input layouts and habits, custom phrases, update checks and login startup, and grouped shortcut help.
The menu-bar icon is now a solid rounded A badge; the name remains AetherKey 拼音. If macOS temporarily shows an old cached icon, switch to ABC and back, or log out and back in to refresh input-source caches. Dictionaries and preferences are retained.
1.0.5: four-arrow candidate selection
Enable Four-arrow candidate selection in Settings → General. It is off by default to preserve existing Left/Right editing. When enabled, Left/Up choose the previous candidate and Right/Down choose the next; Space confirms. Continue moving across page boundaries and use Left to return.
Option + Left/Right still moves the pinyin caret by syllable for inline insertion and correction; Home/End jump to either end. Shortcut help follows the setting, and candidate appearance and caret following remain unchanged.
1.0.4: contextual candidates and punctuation
Preceding text guides local dictionary continuations across all layouts: 快捷 + jian → 键, 文 + jian → 件, 时 + jian → 间. Pins and custom phrases take priority; forgotten words stay excluded. If the host cannot expose surrounding text, recent commits are used only while the caret anchor still matches; otherwise normal ordering applies.
Enable English punctuation in Chinese mode in Settings → General; it is off by default. Ctrl + . toggles styles without committing pinyin or moving candidates. If another app such as Sogou globally captures this shortcut, resolve that conflict or use the setting/menu item.
All 52 regression tests passed. A Mac mini running macOS 27.0.1 verified 12 word sequences and five editing/shuangpin scenarios using real system keystrokes, plus paging and caret following. This is not an accuracy or performance comparison against other input methods.
Flypy and Microsoft shuangpin
- From 1.0.3, choose full pinyin, Flypy or Microsoft shuangpin in Settings → General → Pinyin Layout, or use the input-method menu. Full pinyin is the default. An active composition keeps its original layout until finished.
- Flypy examples: nihc → 你好, vsgo → 中国, jbtmtmqi → 今天天气. Microsoft: nihk → 你好, vsgo → 中国, p; → ping candidates such as 平. Microsoft zero-initial syllables use o, for example or → er.
- Sentence input, inline editing, Option + arrow syllable movement, partial selection and paging are supported. Learning, phrases, pins and forgotten words use standard pinyin and work across layouts. Enter full pinyin when adding custom phrases.
- In shuangpin v represents zh; v followed by digits still starts the calculator. Space selects a candidate; Return commits the raw keys.
Pinyin editing and candidate preferences
- Left/Right move within pinyin; Option + arrows move by syllable; Home/End move to either end. Backspace deletes the previous letter, Option + Backspace the previous syllable, and Forward Delete the next letter.
- Use Up/Down/Tab/Shift + Tab to select candidates, Space or number keys to commit, and minus/equals to page.
- Right-click to pin, unpin or forget a candidate. Control + Option + P/U/Backspace perform these actions on the highlighted candidate without committing the composition.
- Forgetting applies to one reading: it removes that word’s learned, custom and pinned entries and hides the candidate. Other readings and words remain. Add the reading and phrase in dictionary settings to restore it.
Names, uncommon characters and phrases
Type chen, jing and yi separately and page to 陈, 璟 and 逸. Add chenjingyi → 陈璟逸 in the dictionary settings for direct entry. Personal phrases stay local and are not distributed with the app.
Sources for input-method comparisons
Checked on 2026-10-24. Official Sogou materials document cloud input, dictionary sync, voice and skins. Apple documents built-in Chinese input, candidate settings and frequency adjustment. Rime documents customization, dictionaries and sync folders. AetherKey emphasizes account-free local full-pinyin and shuangpin input, compact native candidates and visual everyday word management; these are not claims that others lack local input or candidate controls. Functional checks do not establish superior accuracy, speed or resource efficiency.
Sogou Mac official page ↗Sogou Mac official changelog ↗Unicode Unihan 17 data ↗Apple Chinese input manual ↗Apple candidate and frequency settings ↗Rime customization guide ↗Rime user guide and dictionary sync ↗
Measurements and verification scope
Engine measurements for 1.0.2 on 2026-10-24: Apple M1 Max, macOS 27.0.1, Release-optimized compilation, 10 rounds of 20 pinyin inputs (200 warm queries). Median 0.457 ms, P95 2.042 ms, maximum 2.197 ms. Engine calls only, excluding key delivery, layout and display; not end-to-end latency or a Sogou comparison.
All 40 regression tests passed for 1.0.2. Real system-level keystrokes on the host and an isolated macOS VM verified editing, sentence commits, candidate management, paging and expansion. Rankings depend on dictionaries and local learning; functional regression checks are not a broad corpus accuracy study.
The following historical resource sample is from 1.0.0, not the current 1.0.4: Short resource sample in an isolated macOS 27.0 VM with 4 cores and 4 GB after installing a signed build: 15 idle samples at one-second intervals showed about 138 MiB RSS and 0.0% ps CPU. During 20 nihao/shijie entries, 20 samples showed 137.6–139.9 MiB RSS and a 68.8% peak ps CPU (single-core basis). RSS differs from Activity Monitor memory. This is not a sustained-load test or a resource-efficiency comparison with Sogou.
Uninstall and report issues
- Switch to another input source, then remove AetherKey in System Settings.
- Quit AetherKey and move ~/Library/Input Methods/AetherKey.app to Trash. Log out and back in if needed. The local dictionary is retained unless you remove it yourself.
1.0.3 shuangpin verification
44 regression tests cover layouts, ambiguous syllables, raw-key offsets, partial selection, inline editing and shared preferences. System-level keystrokes in TextEdit on isolated macOS verified Flypy, Microsoft, semicolon, zero-initial syllables, paging and caret following.