Photoshop: Patch Tool does not deactivate even if another option selected

"time WASTER" not "water."  %#&$# autocorrect! Sorry.

> You have to manually go back and deselect the Patch Tool, and then redo everything you just did before you noticed the Patch Tool was still active. >

It seems to be working here perfectly (Mac on High Sierra). If I have an active selection and I switch to another tool, the selection remains active, but I can select with any selection tool and then use the Patch tool with that selection, so I'd expect the selection to remain active. If I click outside, of course, it goes away. The tool, however, is not active when I select another tool and doesn't interfere with that tool's functions.

Maybe you should try resetting the tool itself in the Options bar, and if that doesn't work, you might have to try deleting Preferences and starting fresh (be sure to save custom presets you've not already saved). And if that doesn't work, let us know what OS you're working with. I gather from a lot of messages here that there are still problems with both Mojave and maybe even Windows 10—I heard they just came out with an update to their OS, so I don't know where things stand there.

Thanks for your suggestion.  I tried resetting but no avail. I am running Mohave, but somewhat irrelevant since PS has always had this quirk going back many years and many versions.  My point is that for the patch tool is easily activated or left in an activate state, and often as a tiny dot that's not easily visible. Unless I work very slowly, and meticulously look over the screen to see if it's still accidentally still active somewhere  - which is a time waster and interrupts the work flow - I can be working on a host of other tools - none of which are blocked from choosing - but the active patch tool will block the effects of those tools.  (If you are working say, with a brush tool at 5%, well, it's easy to get quite far in your process before you notice that there is no effect from your work...) For example, if you accidentally activate the crop tool, and don't crop, you can't move on to another tool.  You get a message saying "Crop? Yes? No" and that's great.  I don't waste any time working on some area with another tool that won't register.  But it happens all the time with just patch tool.  There has to be some way for it to automatically deactivate if you choose another tool.  If not, there should be a setting in the preferences to "automatically deactivate on selection of different tool" or something like that....

>  If not, there should be a setting in the preferences to "automatically deactivate on selection of different tool" or something like that....>

That could be helpful. I believe they simply have treated a selection as a selection, not as a patch tool selection or a lasso selection or a quick select selection. So they'd have to put in a lot of code to change that, I fear. And for that I wouldn't hold my breath.

Whenever a tool doesn't have any effect where I think it should, the first thing I do is think the app is broken. Next I think my computer is broken. Then I try deselect all, but that's because I'm very used to screwing up and forgetting I've hidden the selection, or not noticed I'd made one accidentally.<G>

Sorry, but this is a terrible idea. The patch tool selection is not the patch tool, it's a selection. Many of us spend a lot of time making very specific selections and would never want Ps to be automatically deselecting anything when tool switching. 
The best advice i can offer you is to get in the habit of hitting cmd/ctrl-d after using the patch tool.

The patch tool and the selection it uses are two separate things. For example, you can use the polygonal lasso tool, or any other selection tool, and then switch to the patch tool to patch the selection you just made. Yes, the patch tool itself can make a selection too, but only as a lasso tool so that is rather limited. For this reason it makes sense that the two are not connected, and that selecting another tool will not deselect the selection.

OK.  I appreciate the detailed responses/explanations and I guess I get it (why it's not a good idea.)  The suggestion to "get in the habit of hitting "cmd-ctrl-d" is appreciated (although I probably won't ever get into the habit of such an awkward maneuver) and I will check to see if there's another option, like simply "esc" or something.  Anyway, thanks all for the response.