diff --git a/src/focus.ts b/src/focus.ts
index b84029f..0c6be80 100644
--- a/src/focus.ts
+++ b/src/focus.ts
@@ -151,6 +151,14 @@ function getMacOSActiveWindowId(): string | null {
 }
 
 function getMacOSFrontmostAppName(): string | null {
+  // Detect frontmost app regardless of activation policy
+  // (apps excluded from Dock and App Switcher)
+  const lsappinfo = execWithTimeout(
+    `lsappinfo info -only name \`lsappinfo front\` | sed 's/.*="\\([^"]*\\)".*/\\1/'`
+  )
+  if (lsappinfo) return lsappinfo
+
+  // Fallback to System Events if lsappinfo is unavailable
   return execWithTimeout(
     `osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to return name of first application process whose frontmost is true'`
   )