> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.minimalmacropad.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# App Profiles in MinimalPad Studio for Mac

> Create a profile for an app and MinimalPad switches its keys, its dial and its light colour whenever that app comes to the front.

A profile is a set of keys tied to a Mac app. While that app is in front, the pad uses the profile's keys. Bring another app forward and the pad goes back to Default. You set it up once and then forget about it.

<Note>
  App profiles need MinimalPad firmware **0.3.0 or newer**. Studio shows the pad's firmware version in the sidebar footer and can [install a newer one](/mac/updates) for you.
</Note>

## Create a profile

<Steps>
  <Step title="Choose New profile">
    Use **File › New profile** (⌘N), or the button in the sidebar.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick the app">
    Choose the app this profile should follow. Studio names the profile after it and suggests a light colour. For the 31 apps Studio has a [shortcut library](/mac/change-a-key#app-shortcuts) for, it suggests them here too.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the keys you want">
    Every key starts on **Inherit**, so the profile behaves exactly like Default until you change something. Change only the keys that should differ in this app — the rest keep doing what they do everywhere else.
  </Step>
</Steps>

That's it. Bring the app forward and the pad switches. Studio's menu bar icon shows which profile is active.

Every kind of key works on a profile, including a key that [opens an app](/mac/change-a-key#open-an-app) — so a Figma profile can have a key that brings Slack forward.

<Tip>
  Start small. Two or three keys that differ per app is usually more useful than a completely separate layout you have to memorise.
</Tip>

## Profile colours

Each profile can set one solid underglow colour while it's active. Open the colour control in the profile header and pick a named swatch, the suggestion for that app, or a custom colour.

* The colour is a **temporary override**. When Studio lets go, the pad's own colour and effect come back.
* It **won't turn the lights on** if you switched them off. It only changes the colour of lights that are already on.
* Choose **Use pad lighting** to clear it. Studio remembers your last colour so you can put it back.
* Colour changes are part of undo, like everything else.

<Note>
  The colour square in Studio shows what Studio is asking for, not a reading from the pad's LEDs.
</Note>

## Profile dial

A profile can turn the dial its own way: scroll a timeline in one app, zoom in another. Choose **Dial** in the profile header — see [The dial](/mac/change-a-key#the-dial). A profile you don't give a dial of its own uses Default's.

## Pause switching

Click the menu bar icon and choose **Pause switching** to stop the pad following apps. The card then says **Switching paused** and names the layer the pad is on.

Pausing releases a profile Studio is holding right away, so the pad returns to Default and its own lighting. A layer you turned on yourself with a key is left alone. The pause survives reconnects and window changes until you choose **Resume** or quit Studio.

## Delete a profile

Right-click the profile in the sidebar, or use the **Edit** menu, and choose **Delete profile…**. Studio removes its layer from the pad, and the app goes back to Default.

## Reading the menu bar

The pop-out tells you what the pad is actually doing, not just what Studio asked for:

| It says               | What that means                                                                      |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| A profile name        | The pad confirmed it's on that profile                                               |
| **Default**           | No profile is active; the pad is on its base layer                                   |
| **Pad layer**         | A layer you switched to yourself with a key                                          |
| **Switching paused**  | You paused; Studio is following nothing                                              |
| **Unavailable**       | The pad's profile channel isn't there — check the connection or the firmware version |
| **Checking the pad…** | Studio is reading which layer is active                                              |

## When the pad doesn't follow

Studio says so in words rather than failing quietly. The usual causes:

* **The pad is sending its keys to another computer.** Profiles only switch on the computer the pad is currently typing into. Switch the pad's output back to this Mac and it resumes.
* **The firmware is too old.** The sidebar footer says **Update needed**. See [Updates](/mac/updates).
* **A profile needs repair.** Its layer was renamed, removed, or reordered — often by editing the pad in the browser version. Studio flags it, never switches to it, and offers to fix it. See [Layers](/mac/layers).

More in [Limits and known issues](/mac/limits).