Switch profiles automatically based on the app you use

Before you start

You need CYPAD on Windows 10 or 11 and a Pro licence: automatic switching is part of Pro, like extra profiles. The Free plan includes a single profile, so there would be nothing to switch between.

Prepare the profiles you want to use. Pro allows up to 12, each with its own grid. Give them clear names: Game, Stream, Editing.

Find the process name of the app you want to detect. In Task Manager, Details tab, you will see the executable: obs64.exe, chrome.exe. If you prefer window detection, a fragment of the title is enough.

• Pro active: rules and extra profiles are Pro features
• Two or more profiles created
• The process name or a fragment of the target app title

Step by step

Open Settings and go to Functions. The "Switch profiles automatically" panel controls everything below. Changes save on their own, with no need to restart CYPAD.

• 1. Create the profiles you need and fill each one with its buttons. Pro allows up to 12.
• 2. Turn on "Detect the active application".
• 3. Set "Respect a manual switch for": the seconds CYPAD waits after a manual switch before applying rules again. Ranges from 0 to 60; 10 by default.
• 4. Click "Add rule", pick the target profile and the match type: Process or Title.
• 5. Enter the pattern. For a process, the executable name (obs64.exe); for a title, a fragment with wildcards (*Photoshop*). Both * and ? are accepted.
• 6. Repeat for every app. You can create up to 20 rules.
• 7. Use priority when several rules could match: rules are evaluated from the lowest number up, and the first match wins.
• 8. Mark one rule as Default for a fallback profile when nothing else matches.
• 9. Bring the app to the foreground and check the profile switches. Repeat with the rest.

How CYPAD decides

CYPAD watches the foreground window in the background. When the process or title matches an active rule, it switches to the linked profile. Rules are sorted by priority, from the lowest number up, and the first match wins.

If no rule matches, the one marked Default applies. If there is none, CYPAD stays on the current profile.

The cooldown protects manual switches

If you switch profiles by hand — through the "Switch profile" action, a hotkey or the profile bar — CYPAD respects that choice for the configured time and applies no rules. Setting it to 0 turns the protection off.

This helps when you want to stay on another profile while using an app that has no rule of its own.

Manual switches and hotkeys

Any button can carry the "Switch profile" action pointing at the profile you choose, and you can also move through profiles from the top bar.

With global hotkeys enabled, Ctrl+Alt+1–9 fire the first nine buttons of the active profile, and a profile switch button with its own hotkey lets you jump between profiles from any app. Global hotkeys require Pro.

If a rule does not fire

Check that it is marked Active and that the pattern really matches. Case does not matter, but the pattern must cover the whole value: for the process obs64.exe, typing obs is not enough. For partial values, use wildcards: *obs*, *Photoshop*.

With several possible rules, check the priority: the first one can hide the one you expected. Check the cooldown too: after a manual switch, CYPAD waits the configured seconds.

CYPAD has to be running, even minimised to the tray. If a rule points to a deleted profile, create it again.