About fidgetkey

A small collection of toys for idle hands: things to pop, flick, press and type on, each with a sound worth making.

Why it exists

Some people click pens. Some tap desks, roll a coin across their knuckles or type a little harder than necessary because the keys sound nice. fidgetkey is a place to do that on a screen without installing anything, signing up for anything or sitting through an ad first.

How the sounds work

No sound on this site is a recording. Each toy has a short recipe: a few tones that ring and fade (a plate, a case, a plastic dome) and a few bursts of shaped noise (a crack of air, the rub of a switch). When you press something, your browser follows the recipe and produces the sound on the spot. Because no audio files are fetched, the toys start instantly and keep working when you are offline. Because every press uses slightly different numbers, two pops never sound exactly alike.

House rules

• No ads, no paid extras, no sign-in.
• Nothing you type, tap or pop is sent anywhere. Settings and counters live in your own browser only.
• No chat, no comments, nothing social. It's fine for children to use.
• No promises about focus, anxiety or sleep. These are toys.

Building blocks

The pages are plain HTML with a small amount of our own JavaScript and the Web Audio API built into every modern browser. The site uses no third-party code libraries in the browser; the licenses file lists what is used to build and host it.

Questions or ideas for a new toy: get in touch.