Active on Teams without touching the mouse
Manual tricks, why they don't hold, and the fix that actually works.
It's not you: Teams watches your inactivity
There's no magic button in Teams to "stay active". Its presence depends on how long you've gone without moving the mouse or keyboard, so once you spend ~5 minutes reading or thinking, it flips to Away on its own.
Setting your status to Available by hand doesn't last: Teams reverts it when it detects inactivity. And raising your system lock timeout isn't enough either, because that prevents sleep, not presence.
Let the mouse move on its own
- Download KeepOnDuty and pick an interval below 5 minutes.
- Press Start: it makes real micro-movements that reset inactivity.
- The moment you touch the mouse it steps aside; when you leave, it resumes.
- Schedule your work hours so it only runs when you need it.
Frequently asked questions
Can you stay active on Teams without moving the mouse manually?
Yes, with an app that generates that movement for you, like KeepOnDuty. Doing it by hand isn't reliable because Teams reverts the status.
Does manually setting Available work?
Only temporarily. Teams sets you back to Away as soon as it detects system inactivity.
Start for free
Download it, press Start and forget about being marked away. No account, no cost.
Free and no account · macOS 11+ and Windows 10/11. First time on Mac: right-click → Open.