diff --git a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoawindow.mm b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoawindow.mm
index 667db88a91..af490d49b5 100644
--- a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoawindow.mm
+++ b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoawindow.mm
@@ -1212,9 +1212,17 @@ void QCocoaWindow::windowDidBecomeKey()
         QWindowSystemInterface::handleEnterEvent(m_enterLeaveTargetWindow, windowPoint, screenPoint);
     }
 
-    if (!windowIsPopupType())
-        QWindowSystemInterface::handleWindowActivated<QWindowSystemInterface::SynchronousDelivery>(
-            window(), Qt::ActiveWindowFocusReason);
+    QNSView *firstResponderView = qt_objc_cast<QNSView *>(m_view.window.firstResponder);
+    if (!firstResponderView)
+        return;
+
+    const QCocoaWindow *focusCocoaWindow = firstResponderView.platformWindow;
+    if (focusCocoaWindow->windowIsPopupType())
+        return;
+
+    // See also [QNSView becomeFirstResponder]
+    QWindowSystemInterface::handleWindowActivated<QWindowSystemInterface::SynchronousDelivery>(
+                focusCocoaWindow->window(), Qt::ActiveWindowFocusReason);
 }
 
 void QCocoaWindow::windowDidResignKey()
diff --git a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qnsview.mm b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qnsview.mm
index bd7e10e2c7..471fa368c3 100644
--- a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qnsview.mm
+++ b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qnsview.mm
@@ -310,8 +310,27 @@ QT_NAMESPACE_ALIAS_OBJC_CLASS(QNSViewMouseMoveHelper);
         return NO;
     if ([self isTransparentForUserInput])
         return NO;
-    if (!m_platformWindow->windowIsPopupType())
+
+    if (!m_platformWindow->windowIsPopupType()
+            && (!self.window.canBecomeKeyWindow || self.window.keyWindow)) {
+        // Calling handleWindowActivated for a QWindow has two effects: first, it
+        // will set the QWindow (and all other QWindows in the same hierarchy)
+        // as Active. Being Active means that the window should appear active from
+        // a style perspective (according to QWindow::isActive()). The second
+        // effect is that it will set QQuiApplication::focusWindow() to point to
+        // the QWindow. The latter means that the QWindow should have keyboard
+        // focus. But those two are not necessarily the same; A tool window could e.g be
+        // rendered as Active while the parent window, which is also Active, has
+        // input focus. But we currently don't distiguish between that cleanly in Qt.
+        // Since we don't want a QWindow to be rendered as Active when the NSWindow
+        // it belongs to is not key, we skip calling handleWindowActivated when
+        // that is the case. Instead, we wait for the window to become key, and handle
+        // QWindow activation from QCocoaWindow::windowDidBecomeKey instead. The only
+        // exception is if the window can never become key, in which case we naturally
+        // cannot wait for that to happen.
         QWindowSystemInterface::handleWindowActivated([self topLevelWindow], Qt::ActiveWindowFocusReason);
+    }
+
     return YES;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/auto/widgets/kernel/qwidget/tst_qwidget.cpp b/tests/auto/widgets/kernel/qwidget/tst_qwidget.cpp
index 1ec296211f..6e304f2152 100644
--- a/tests/auto/widgets/kernel/qwidget/tst_qwidget.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/widgets/kernel/qwidget/tst_qwidget.cpp
@@ -5685,6 +5685,16 @@ void tst_QWidget::moveChild()
     parent.showNormal();
     QVERIFY(QTest::qWaitForWindowExposed(&parent));
 
+    if (QGuiApplicationPrivate::platformIntegration()->hasCapability(QPlatformIntegration::WindowActivation)) {
+        // On some platforms (macOS), the palette will be different depending on if a
+        // window is active or not. And because of that, the whole window will be
+        // repainted when going from Inactive to Active. So wait for the window to be
+        // active before we continue, so the activation doesn't happen at a random
+        // time below. And call processEvents to have the paint events delivered right away.
+        QVERIFY(QTest::qWaitForWindowActive(&parent));
+        qApp->processEvents();
+    }
+
     QTRY_COMPARE(parent.r, QRegion(parent.rect()) - child.geometry());
     QTRY_COMPARE(child.r, QRegion(child.rect()));
 
@@ -8029,6 +8039,17 @@ void tst_QWidget::hideOpaqueChildWhileHidden()
 
     w.show();
     QVERIFY(QTest::qWaitForWindowExposed(&w));
+
+    if (QGuiApplicationPrivate::platformIntegration()->hasCapability(QPlatformIntegration::WindowActivation)) {
+        // On some platforms (macOS), the palette will be different depending on if a
+        // window is active or not. And because of that, the whole window will be
+        // repainted when going from Inactive to Active. So wait for the window to be
+        // active before we continue, so the activation doesn't happen at a random
+        // time below. And call processEvents to have the paint events delivered right away.
+        QVERIFY(QTest::qWaitForWindowActive(&w));
+        qApp->processEvents();
+    }
+
     QTRY_COMPARE(child2.r, QRegion(child2.rect()));
     child.r = QRegion();
     child2.r = QRegion();
diff --git a/tests/auto/widgets/widgets/qopenglwidget/tst_qopenglwidget.cpp b/tests/auto/widgets/widgets/qopenglwidget/tst_qopenglwidget.cpp
index ccd8d0ec05..099a099c13 100644
--- a/tests/auto/widgets/widgets/qopenglwidget/tst_qopenglwidget.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/widgets/widgets/qopenglwidget/tst_qopenglwidget.cpp
@@ -364,6 +364,16 @@ void tst_QOpenGLWidget::asViewport()
     widget.show();
     QVERIFY(QTest::qWaitForWindowExposed(&widget));
 
+    if (QGuiApplicationPrivate::platformIntegration()->hasCapability(QPlatformIntegration::WindowActivation)) {
+        // On some platforms (macOS), the palette will be different depending on if a
+        // window is active or not. And because of that, the whole window will be
+        // repainted when going from Inactive to Active. So wait for the window to be
+        // active before we continue, so the activation doesn't happen at a random
+        // time below. And call processEvents to have the paint events delivered right away.
+        QVERIFY(QTest::qWaitForWindowActive(&widget));
+        qApp->processEvents();
+    }
+
     QVERIFY(view->paintCount() > 0);
     view->resetPaintCount();