Transient activation

Transient activation (or "transient user activation") is a window state that indicates a user has recently pressed a button, moved a mouse, used a menu, or performed some other user interaction.

This state is sometimes used as a mechanism for ensuring that a web API can only function if triggered by user interaction. For example, scripts cannot arbitrarily launch a popup that requires transient activation ⁠—it must be triggered from a UI element's event handler.

See Features gated by user activation for examples of APIs that require transient activation.

See the UserActivation.isActive property to programmatically access the current window's transient activation state.