On a Mac, connections won't stick and I get a keyring error written for Linux

You try to connect Microsoft 365 inside Booked Solid, and a red error comes back: "This computer has no unlocked OS keyring to hold the Microsoft sign-in. Install or unlock your keyring (on most Linux desktops: gnome-keyring or KWallet), then try again." The same block stops a Google Calendar link or an email account from saving on this computer too, in wording of its own. One performer put the obvious objection better than we could: "I'm using an Apple Mac Air laptop... I'm on a Mac, so this Linux guidance doesn't apply." He was right, and that wording was our bug. This article explains what is actually blocking the connection, how to clear it on a Mac, and what to do on Windows and Linux.

The rest of it usually sounds like this: "Both Google Calendar and Microsoft 365 are already connected on my claude.ai account, I can see the green ticks there, but the app can't save the permission, my assistant still reports not granted, and approving it repeatedly doesn't stick." There is a specific reason for that, and it has its own section below.

What the error means

To connect a service, Booked Solid saves that sign-in in your computer's secure store: the Keychain on a Mac, DPAPI on Windows, and gnome-keyring or KWallet on Linux. If the app cannot write to that store, it refuses to keep the sign-in and shows the keyring error rather than pretend it saved something. Your Booked Solid account and license are fine, and so are your Microsoft and Google accounts.

Why you get a keyring error on Mac at all

Two separate things went wrong here, and you need both answers, because fixing one does not fix the other.

The wording was wrong. Older builds hard-coded the Linux keyring sentence and showed it to everyone, Mac and Windows users included. That was a copy bug on our side. It is fixed and shipped in version 1.11.20, which gives guidance for the operating system you are actually on. The app updates itself quietly, but you have to quit Booked Solid fully and reopen it for the update to be picked up. If you would rather not wait, the latest Mac build is at booked.kivimedia.co/download/mac, and it installs over your existing copy without touching your work. If the update refuses to land at all, work through Which version am I running - and why the app says "you're up to date" when it isn't.

The update on its own does not fix the connection. This is the part worth reading twice. Version 1.11.20 corrects the message and nothing else. Whatever is stopping the sign-in from being stored is version-independent, so do the Mac steps below no matter which version you are on. The performer whose ticket produced this article was on 1.8.4, and if he had only updated he would have hit the same failure with better wording on it.

One dead end to skip while you are here: there is nothing to install. Almost everyone reads the error and goes hunting for a Mac equivalent of gnome-keyring or KWallet. There isn't one, because macOS has the Keychain built in and it is always present. That search costs an evening and finds nothing.

Fix it on a Mac

The real problem is that the app cannot reach the macOS Keychain to store the sign-in. On a Mac that is almost always one of two things. Both are worth doing regardless of your app version, and in this order.

1. The app is running from the disk image or Downloads (App Translocation)

macOS has a security behavior called App Translocation. When you open an app straight from a mounted disk image or from your Downloads folder, macOS quietly runs it from a throwaway read-only copy somewhere else on the disk, and that copy is cut off from your Keychain. The app looks and behaves completely normally, which is why this is so hard to spot. It simply cannot save anything secret. Naming it matters, because otherwise nothing about the symptom makes sense.

1. Quit Booked Solid.
2. Drag the Booked Solid app into your Applications folder.
3. Eject the disk image. Do not skip this step. If the image stays mounted, it is easy to open the app from it again by accident, and that re-triggers translocation and puts you straight back here.
4. Open Booked Solid again from Applications. Not from the disk image, not from Downloads.
5. Try the connection again.

2. Your login keychain is locked

1. Press Cmd and Space, type Keychain Access, and open it.
2. Find the login keychain in the list on the left.
3. If there is a small padlock beside it, double-click it (or right-click and choose Unlock) and enter your Mac password.
4. Go back to Booked Solid and try the connection again.

The green ticks on claude.ai are a different connection

This is the single fact that resolves the confusion, so it gets its own heading. The Google and Microsoft 365 connectors on your claude.ai account and the connection Booked Solid makes on this computer are two different things. Seeing green ticks on claude.ai does not hand the app any permission, which is exactly why approving them there over and over never makes the app's keyring error go away. You are re-approving something the app was never reading.

Approving again on claude.ai is the second dead end in this article. Skip it. For Otto to read your calendar and email reliably, and especially to do it in the background while you are not watching, use the app's own connection on the Connections tab, the one that threw the keyring error. The claude.ai account link is not dependable in an unattended shift. What each badge on that screen actually promises is covered in "Linked" or "couldn't confirm" doesn't mean broken: what each Connections badge means, and how to really test a connection.

Reconnect, once the Keychain is reachable

1. Open the Connections tab and find Mail & calendars.
2. For Microsoft 365, choose Sign in to Microsoft. The app shows you a short code. On any device, open microsoft.com/devicelogin and type that code there. No password is ever typed inside Booked Solid, and the app notices on its own the moment you finish. There is nothing to paste back.
3. Then set up Google Calendar in the same Mail & calendars section. The supported path in the app is the calendar's own private ICS link, which feeds Otto's agenda and date conflict checks directly.

With the Keychain reachable, these hold instead of bouncing you back to the same error.

One reconnect after switching builds is normal

When you move from an old build to a new one, a connection you had already saved can come back once asking to be reconnected. That is expected. Re-approve it the single time and it sticks. It is not a sign that the fix failed or that the keyring problem has returned.

Fix it on Windows

Sign in to Windows with your normal user account, not a temporary or guest profile, then try the connection again.

Fix it on Linux

Install or unlock your keyring. On most desktops that is gnome-keyring or KWallet. Then try again. On Linux this really is the right advice, which is why the message says it.

Good to know

Until the secure store is writable, saved keys stay locked and connections keep asking you to reconnect, however many times you approve them. Once you have done the step for your computer, connect the service again from the Connections tab and it will hold.

If it still will not connect

Do not spend an evening fighting this one. On the Connections tab, click Copy diagnostics: it copies exactly what the app read when it decided those statuses, including your version and platform, and it contains no keys or passwords. Email that to bookedsolid@kivimedia.freshdesk.com along with the exact wording on your screen and whether the app is now running from Applications, and a person will pick it up.