CursorIME is a macOS utility that shows an "あ" badge next to the mouse cursor while Japanese input is active. When you switch back to Roman input the badge disappears, so a glance at the cursor tells you which mode you are in.
It reads the current input mode through the Text Input Sources API, so it works with Japanese IMEs such as Kotoeri, ATOK, and Google Japanese Input without extra setup.
Launch the app. It runs as a menu bar item with no Dock icon. The badge follows the cursor only while Japanese input is on.
The menu bar icon has these items:
- Launch at Login toggles starting CursorIME when you log in.
- Hide Menu Bar Icon removes the icon. Click the app in Finder or Launchpad again to bring it back.
- About shows the standard about panel.
- Quit exits.
macOS shows its own input mode indicator near the text caret when you switch input sources. To avoid a double indicator you can turn it off:
defaults write kCFPreferencesAnyApplication TSMLanguageIndicatorEnabled -bool falseLog out and back in for it to take effect. To restore the default:
defaults delete kCFPreferencesAnyApplication TSMLanguageIndicatorEnabledCursorIME does not change this setting for you. The key lives in the global preferences domain, which a sandboxed app cannot write, and the change only applies after a re-login, so it is left as a one-time manual step.