WhatPulse 6.1 introduces dynamic keyboard heatmaps, Geek Window formulas, faster updates, and a redesigned login flow. This release is packed with improvements that make your stats more accurate, your overlays more flexible, and your updates less disruptive.

Dynamic keyboard heatmap​

The keyboard heatmap now detects your keyboard layout and adjusts automatically. Whether you're using AZERTY, QWERTZ, Dvorak, or something custom, the heatmap will reflect the keys you actually use. The predefined layouts are still there, but you won't need to select the correct one anymore.

That means:

• AZERTY, QWERTZ, Dvorak, and other layouts are reflected correctly
• Key positions and labels match what you actually type
• No more limit to the five predefined layouts

For now, non-alphabetic input methods (like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) fall back to QWERTY. Proper support for those is something we're working on.

Heatmap automatically adapting to a Turkish layout

Geek Window formulas​

The Geek Window just got a lot more flexible.

You can now use formulas inside labels using {= expression }, which lets you calculate and display custom values directly in your overlay.

A few ideas:

• Combine multiple stats into one metric
• Show ratios (clicks vs keys, productivity splits, etc.)
• Create your own "score" for the day

It turns the Geek Window from a display into something you can actively shape. If you're a power user who likes tweaking your setup, this is where things get interesting.

Find more information and syntax details in the help center.

Faster, quieter updates​

This release introduces a new patch-based update system to make updates faster and less disruptive.

• Smaller downloads
• Faster installs
• Less disruption

On Windows, updates are now one click. On macOS, updates are now zero click.

Redesigned login wizard​

The login and onboarding flow has been redesigned to be clearer and more helpful.

Key improvements:

• Better explanation of account states
• Clearer paths for logging in vs creating an account
• Prominent restore options if backups are available

If you've ever reinstalled WhatPulse or switched machines, this should feel much smoother.

Other improvements & fixes worth noting​

A few smaller changes that improve day-to-day usage:

• Mouse heatmap exclusions now respect your app exclusions, so you can hide mouse activity in specific applications
• Smarter sync timing avoids delays when frequently restarting your computer
• Fixed duplicate application entries caused by versioned install paths
• Resolved an issue where the realtime network chart could loop
• Around 30 edge-case fixes to reduce crashes and improve stability

How to update​

You can upgrade to WhatPulse 6.1 by using the "Check for Updates" option inside the app, or grab WhatPulse from the Downloads page.

Happy pulsing!

— Martijn & the WhatPulse team

WhatPulse has been collecting your computer usage data for years. Keystrokes, mouse movements, application screen time, network bandwidth, website visits. All of it stored locally in a SQLite database on your machine. Until now, exploring that data meant opening the WhatPulse app and browsing the dashboards we built for you.

Today we're releasing something different: a skill file that lets AI coding agents query your WhatPulse database directly. You type a question in plain English, and it writes the SQL, runs it against your local database, and gives you the answer.

When we shipped 6.0, we also introduced a new issue reporter, which turned out to be one of the most important changes in the release. Apart from Web Insights, of course. 😉

Within days, we started receiving detailed crash data across different platforms, hardware setups, and edge cases that are nearly impossible to reproduce in-house. That visibility made a big difference.

6.0.1 is the direct result of that.

This release focuses almost entirely on stability: fewer crashes, smoother shutdowns, safer background processing, and better handling of platform quirks.

WhatPulse 6.0 is a major release, with Web Insights bringing website activity into your stats for the first time. Alongside that, this release delivers a more flexible UI, improved exports, and a long list of stability and performance improvements, especially on Windows.

This version lays the groundwork for deeper insights into how you actually use your computer, while making the core app more robust and pleasant to use day to day.

Web Insights: website activity tracking​

Web Insights introduces website-level activity tracking through new browser extensions, integrating your browsing activity directly into WhatPulse.

With Web Insights enabled, you can:

• Track time spent and activity on websites, including keys, clicks, scrolling, and mouse movement
• View website activity alongside applications inside the WhatPulse app
• Associate website stats with profiles to separate work, personal, or other contexts
• Export your website activity data for deeper analysis or reporting

Websites and applications side by side in the WhatPulse app

If you're reading this, you've probably pressed a key to get here. In fact, you press keys thousands of times a day. But what actually happens between your finger hitting plastic and a letter appearing on screen?

Turns out, quite a lot.

Every keystroke is a chain reaction that unfolds in about 5 to 25 milliseconds: a spring compresses, metal contacts bounce against each other (and need to be filtered), a matrix circuit scans for which key was pressed, a microcontroller translates that into a scan code, wraps it in a USB HID packet, and sends it across the cable to your computer — where your operating system processes it and delivers it to the right application.

I've been wanting to understand this pipeline for a while. How does a matrix actually detect key presses? Why do some keyboards ghost? What's in those 8-byte USB packets? Where does latency come from, and what can you actually do about it?

So I went deep and built howkeyboardswork.com, an interactive guide that walks through the entire journey of a keystroke from switch to screen.

It's not a wall of text. Every concept has a hands-on demo:

• Watch a keystroke travel through the complete pipeline, from physical switch to application
• Click keys in a virtual matrix to see row-by-row scanning, and toggle diodes off to trigger ghosting
• See contact bounce in a waveform and compare debouncing strategies
• Build a live USB HID report byte by byte, and hit the 6-key rollover wall
• Explore scan codes across keyboard layouts: same physical key, same code, different character
• Tweak latency parameters and watch milliseconds add up across the stack

Whether you're into mechanical keyboards, curious about low-level hardware, or just like understanding the tools you use every day, I hope this scratches that itch.

Check it out: howkeyboardswork.com