Setup guide
Set up the input method
Your keypad sends kana instructions that only the Furikku input method understands, so the software half has to go on first. Ten minutes, one logout.
Before you start
You'll need:
- A Mac running macOS 15. macOS 14 and 26 will probably work but aren't verified.
- A Furikku keypad with the firmware already flashed.
- A USB-C cable that carries data, not just power.
- About ten minutes, including one log out and back in.
The input method is a pre-release fork of azooKey. Expect rough edges, and don't make it your only Japanese input method yet.
Download the input method
Furikku's input method ships as a standard macOS installer package.
Run the installer
Open the .pkg and follow the prompts. It installs the input method into /Library/Input Methods, so it will ask for your password.
An alpha build may not be notarized, in which case Gatekeeper blocks the first launch. Right-click the .pkg and choose Open, then confirm — or go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway next to the blocked-app message.
Log out and back in
This step is not optional. macOS only picks up newly installed input methods at login. Until you log out and back in, Furikku will not appear in the input source list in the next step and you'll think the install failed.
Apple menu → Log Out, then log back in. A restart works too.
Add it as an input source
- Open System Settings → Keyboard.
- Under Text Input, click Edit… next to Input Sources.
- Click the + button at the bottom left.
- Choose 日本語 — Japanese in the language list, select azooKey, and click Add.
- Click Done.
Switch to it
Click the input menu in the menu bar (the flag or あ icon) and choose azooKey. If the input menu isn't showing, turn on Show Input menu in menu bar in the same Keyboard settings pane.
Furikku only works while this input source is the active one. Switching to ABC or to Apple's Japanese IME turns the keypad into gibberish — see troubleshooting below for why.
Plug in the keypad — into the right port
The keypad has two USB-C ports and they are not interchangeable. Only one of them can act as a keyboard. The other exists to flash firmware and print debug output, and it will never send a keystroke no matter what you do.
Plugged into J1, the keypad still powers on, still shows the keyboard, and still responds to your taps. It simply types nothing, and macOS reports no error at all. If nothing appears when you type, suspect the port before anything else.
The port numbers are printed on the board. If you can't read them, plug into one, try typing, and move to the other if nothing happens.
Check it works
Open a plain text field — Notes, or a browser address bar — and make sure azooKey is the selected input source. Don't test in a password field; macOS blocks input methods there. Then:
- Tap あ. You should get あ.
- Press あ and drag upward without lifting. An amber arrow appears and the key's glyph becomes う. Lift, and you get う.
- Tap 改行 to commit what you've typed.
If all three work, you're set up. The full flick chart is here →
Troubleshooting
Nothing types at all
In order of likelihood: you're plugged into J1 instead of J2; the cable is charge-only rather than a data cable; or azooKey isn't the selected input source.
To confirm the Mac can see the keypad at all, open Terminal and run system_profiler SPUSBDataType with the keypad connected. A keyboard device should be listed. If nothing shows up, it's the port or the cable — not the input method.
I get Latin letters or garbled characters instead of kana
A different input source is active. The keypad doesn't send romaji for an IME to guess at — it sends direct kana instructions encoded as modified keystrokes that only the Furikku input method decodes. Any other input source reads those as meaningless key combinations.
Switch to azooKey in the menu bar input menu and try again.
azooKey doesn't appear in the input source list
You almost certainly haven't logged out and back in since installing. macOS only registers new input methods at login.
If you have logged out and it's still missing, check that /Library/Input Methods/azooKeyMac.app exists. If it doesn't, the installer didn't complete — run the .pkg again.
Flicks register as taps, or the wrong character comes out
A flick has to travel about 20 pixels before it registers as a direction, and it snaps back to the base kana if your finger returns near where it started. Short, deliberate drags work better than fast flicks.
Dragging off the key entirely cancels the press and types nothing — that's intentional, so you can back out of a mistake.
Updating to a newer build
Download the newer .pkg and run it over the top. You don't need to remove the input source, but you do need to log out and back in again for the new version to load.
If the update seems not to have taken, quit the running input method (search for azooKey in Activity Monitor and quit it) — macOS restarts it automatically.