diff --git a/src/App.swift b/src/App.swift
index 12a0b99d..772e3e7b 100644
--- a/src/App.swift
+++ b/src/App.swift
@@ -307,13 +307,6 @@ class App: AppCenterApplication {
     static func showUiOrCycleSelection(_ shortcutIndex: Int, _ forceDoNothingOnRelease_: Bool) {
         let session = SwitcherSession.current ?? {
             let new = SwitcherSession()
-            // Read the cached value rather than querying NSWorkspace (which is a blocking IPC)
-            // on this hot path. AX activation notifications can be in-flight when the user invokes
-            // the switcher right after activating an app, so this can be momentarily stale. In that
-            // race, the modifier release is redelivered to the previously-foreground app instead of
-            // the real initial app — a spurious but benign modifier-state update for that app, and
-            // the destination is still shielded from receiving the release.
-            new.initialPid = Applications.frontmostPid
             SwitcherSession.current = new
             return new
         }()
@@ -328,7 +321,6 @@ class App: AppCenterApplication {
             }
             session.isFirstSummon = false
             session.shortcutIndex = shortcutIndex
-            session.holdMask = ControlsTab.shortcuts[Preferences.indexToName("holdShortcut", shortcutIndex)]?.shortcut.modifierFlags ?? []
             // Hide instantly so the rebuild for a different shortcut (Appearance change, layout
             // recalc) is invisible. `TilesPanel.show()` flips alpha back to 1 once everything is
             // in its final state. No-op on first summon (panel was orderOut'd with alpha=0).
diff --git a/src/events/KeyboardEvents.swift b/src/events/KeyboardEvents.swift
index c7d023dc..fbdb8d43 100644
--- a/src/events/KeyboardEvents.swift
+++ b/src/events/KeyboardEvents.swift
@@ -22,23 +22,13 @@ class KeyboardEvents {
         case .flagsChanged:
             // TODO: it would be great to shortcut matching and trigger on the background thread
             // it would enable us to set App.shared.isBeingUsed here, and could stop tasks on main when they check the flag
-            let modifiers = NSEvent.ModifierFlags(rawValue: UInt(cgEvent.flags.rawValue))
-            // When the hold-shortcut mask transitions out of fully held during a session,
-            // redeliver the real event to the initial app's PID and absorb the system-routed
-            // copy so the destination app doesn't receive the release. Posting first (before
-            // the main-thread async that drives focus switching) gives A's run loop a head
-            // start over the focus change.
-            var absorb = false
-            if let session = SwitcherSession.current, let pid = session.initialPid,
-               !session.holdMask.isEmpty, !modifiers.isSuperset(of: session.holdMask),
-               let copy = cgEvent.copy() {
-                copy.postToPid(pid)
-                absorb = true
-            }
             DispatchQueue.main.async {
+                let modifiers = NSEvent.ModifierFlags(rawValue: UInt(cgEvent.flags.rawValue))
+                // TODO: ideally, we want to absorb all modifier keys except holdShortcut
+                // it was pressed down before AltTab was triggered, so we should let the up event through
                 handleKeyboardEvent(nil, nil, nil, modifiers, false)
             }
-            return absorb ? nil : Unmanaged.passUnretained(cgEvent)
+            return Unmanaged.passUnretained(cgEvent)
         case .keyDown:
             // Issue #5585. Esc only — absorb when AltTab is using it and a shortcut binds it. cghid is
             // the earliest tap point; absorbing here preempts macOS 26 Game Overlay's hook on `⌘⎋`.
diff --git a/src/switcher/SwitcherSession.swift b/src/switcher/SwitcherSession.swift
index 1aa02f97..9d409c90 100644
--- a/src/switcher/SwitcherSession.swift
+++ b/src/switcher/SwitcherSession.swift
@@ -21,13 +21,4 @@ final class SwitcherSession {
     var hoveredIndex: Int?
     var selectedTarget: String?
     var searchQuery: String = ""
-
-    /// PID of the app that was frontmost when this session started. The `cgEventHandler`
-    /// in `KeyboardEvents` redelivers the hold-modifier release event to this PID via
-    /// `CGEventPostToPid`, so the initial app sees a release matching the press it saw
-    /// when the user invoked the switcher.
-    var initialPid: pid_t?
-    /// Modifier mask of the active hold shortcut. The trigger event is the `flagsChanged`
-    /// where the current modifiers no longer fully satisfy this mask.
-    var holdMask: NSEvent.ModifierFlags = []
 }