Magic
The world's thinnest, most advanced production mechanical keyboard. A superlative typing experience in a strikingly slim design. Made for Mac, with a magnetically detachable M-Dial, haptic feedback, and a backlight that helps you sleep better. An unbelievable device in an unbelievably small package.
The world's thinnest mechanical keyboard. Designed for Mac.
M-Dial: A swappable, portable, clickable magnetic dial.
Crisp, expressive haptic feedback.
A fully native macOS app written in Swift.
An amber-red backlight that preserves night vision and circadian rhythm.
Plastic made from 100% recycled fishing nets.
Mechanical
Amazing feel. Thanks to breakthrough engineering, Altar II houses a fully mechanical switch inside a tiny chassis. This means best-in-class key feeling with satisfyingly responsive and accurate typing.
Demolishes the competition. With the brilliant typing feel of a much larger mechanical keyboard, and the frame of a non-mechanical membrane keyboard, Altar II pushes the limits of what's possible and stands head and shoulders above the competition.
Operating life
20
million
Key presses
Durable. Steel construction means an incredibly durable mechanism with an operating life of more than 20 million cycles.
Altar II switches consist of a steel butterfly switch design, with a preloaded tension spring connecting dual stainless steel wings. The spring is arranged laterally rather than the vertically enabling a vertical travel depth of only 1.8mm.
At a sleek 4.75mm, Altar II is the thinnest production mechanical keyboard ever created.
Altar II
4.75mm
Fully Mechanical
Apple Magic Keyboard
10.09mm
Non-Mechanical
Logitech MX Keys
20.50mm
Non-Mechanical
NuPhy Air75
21.00mm
Fully Mechanical
Keychron K2
30.00mm
Fully Mechanical
IBM Model M
50.00mm
Fully Mechanical
M-Dial
Intuitive. Twist for volume adjustment, single click for play/pause, double click for skip, triple for back. Press and hold for Siri.
Detachable. M-Dial snaps off quickly and easily for travelling or stowing Altar II away.
Swappable. Swap to the included low-profile variant of M-Dial, or choose from additional shapes and sizes.
BYO(M)D. Design and 3D print your own M-Dial. 3D files, drawings and specifications will be published publicly online.
Customisable. All M-Dial functionality is completely customisable using the Altar II companion app.
Haptic Feedback
Harmonic Synthesiser enables new ways to interact with your computer through gentle, delightful haptic feedback. It enhances the typing experience and is engineered alongside M-Dial for real-time simulated ticks. It also gives tactile feedback about the state of Altar II, like when it wakes and connects to your computer.
Novel interactions. Holding a modifier key gives a smooth, oscillating hum, and a gentle pop lets you know when a shortcut has been completed.
Subtle real-time feedback. Altar II taps you when you receive notifications, reminders, or alerts from your Mac.
Fully configurable. Tune intensity and behaviour of haptic feedback in the EMO app.
Audio
A high fidelity speaker built into Altar II enables subtle audio feedback — like wake sounds, and charging chimes.
Native macOS App
Fully native. A lightweight, delightfully designed app, written in Swift and crafted specifically for macOS.
You're in control. Customise Altar II by changing key bindings, M-Dial behaviours, backlight, haptic and audio levels.
App-specific shortcuts. Create your own shortcuts for Figma, DaVinci Resolve, Visual Studio Code, or whatever app you like.
A deeper feeling. Haptic feedback for system events like notifications, alerts, and reminders thanks to deep integration with macOS.
Grab'n'go. All your settings live on Altar II. Take them with you anywhere, on any computer or OS — no app needed.
Backlight
Here when you need it. NiteLite™ only activates in low ambient lighting conditions, such as at night.
Visible light spectrum
630nm
NiteLite™ wavelength
Sleep better. The warm, long wavelength amber-red light won't affect your body's circadian rhythm, meaning you can sleep better at night.
See clearly. NiteLite™ reduces eye strain and preserves your eyes' natural night vision.
Dampening Field
Floating foundation. The dampening system is composed of dual layers: A silicone membrane between the logic board and monobody, and an oversize elastomer footpad below. This system suspends the typing platform for total acoustic and vibration isolation.
Microphone
Distance
Position
BG SPL
Gain
Surface
KHz
Bit dep
Proc
Zoom H5
30cm
Overhead
30db
-12db
30cm plywood
48
24-bit
None
Design
ESPtype™. The breakthrough EMO typing system denotes different regions of the keyboard by key shape, making touch typing effortless.
Battery casket. A purpose-designed chamber housing a high-density battery, speaker, and precision electronics.
Typography. GT Flexa and Tobias form the typographic foundation of Altar II.
Mac layout. Command, Option, Control, Function — right where you expect them.
Compact Footprint. A 75% layout with complete function row and full-size arrow keys.
Colours. Comes in any colour. As long as it's black.
Ergonomics
Altar II
0deg/4.75mm
Reduced wrist flexion. With a sub 5mm thin chassis, wrist flexion is minimal, keeping your wrist in a neutral position, and reducing likelihood of carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injuries.
Technology
Spacebar. Multiple technologies are housed under the spacebar, including the Haptic Synthesiser, proximity sensing system, LED matrix driver, wireless antenna, and central processing unit.
M-Dial plinth. The M-Dial plinth interior is exceptionally dense, containing integrated circuits for the ambient light sensor, fast charging, and Hall Effect sensor array that powers M-Dial.
Battery casket. Housing dense technology in tight spaces — combined with vertically expanding the battery casket — creates space for the largest, highest density battery possible.
Sustainability
REGEN™ polymer. Plastic in Altar II is made from 100% recycled fishing nets.
Recyclable aluminium. A chassis machined from a single block of infinitely recyclable aluminium.
Plastic-free, compact packaging. Packaging made entirely from paper and biodegradable sugarcane pulp. Minimised packaging volume means more devices per pallet, and fewer shipping trips overall.
Incredible power efficiency. Best-in-class power management means less energy drawn, and less total charge-time.
Power
Up to
2 days usage
in 2 minutes
of charging‡
‡ when charged with standard USB-C port.
Up to
30 days
battery life with typical use†
† Based on a typical 8 hour work day, including 30 minutes of backlight-on time per day, according to our in-house developed KBLS 1.0 testing suite.
Accessories
Desk mat, XXL. Made from 100% recycled, discarded plastic bottles.
M-Dial pack, supplementary. A collection of swappable M-Dials in strange shapes and sizes.
Sticker pack, battery casket. Customise your Altar II battery casket with the included micro-sticker pack.
Carrying case, hardshell. A slimline transport case for Altar II.
In the Box
a
b
c
d
f
Typical contents: ○ 1pcs Altar II keyboard ○ 1pcs coiled USB-C to USB-C cable, ○ 1pcs M-Dial, standard issue, ○ 1pcs M-Dial, low profile, ○ 1pcs field manual (front), decorative print (reverse), ○ 5pcs EMO stickers.
ALTAR II
M-Dial
Harmonic Synthesiser
Dampening field
ESPtype™
REGEN™ Polymer
Fast charging
NiteLight™
Native Mac app
Ultra thin
Fully mechanical.
Altar II
Waitlist
No spam. Only information on Altar II, pricing, availability, and when Altar II goes on sale. Unsubscribe at any time.