Break reminders that know when to shut up
Look away every 20 minutes, stand up every hour — as a quiet island in the notch. Notchy drops the nudge entirely when you are in Focus, on a locked screen, sharing your screen, or already away from the desk.
It says what the break is
“20 seconds, 20 feet away” and “stretch for a minute” — not a bell you have to decode. The rule is on the island, so following it takes no thought.
Dropped, never queued
Locked, in Focus, or screen-sharing means the reminder is skipped for good. Queueing them turns a lunch break into a pile-up of nudges the second you come back.
Idle counts as a break
Away from the keyboard longer than the interval? The timer restarts. You already did the thing it was going to ask for.
Separate from Pomodoro
The Pomodoro timer is a session you start; break reminders run all day on their own. Your Move, Type and Focus rings track the result, stored on your Mac.
Versus a blocking break app
Stretchly and Time Out fade or cover the screen so the break is not optional, and both are good at it. Notchy trades that enforcement for never being in the way — full comparisons on the Stretchly and Time Out pages.
Everything Notchy does, for free
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
- Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
- AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
- Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
- Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
- Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
- Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
- Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
- On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
- Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
- App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
- Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
- One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
- Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
- System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
- Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
- Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
- Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
- Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
- Open GitHub PR count in the notch (Keychain-stored token)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Privacy Indicator — pill when any app's camera or mic goes live
- Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
- Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
- Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
- Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
- Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
- Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
- Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
- Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
- Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
- Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
- Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
- USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
- Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
- macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
- Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
- System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
- Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
- AirPods connection manager & battery
- Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
- Quick notes & Calendar widgets
- Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
- Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
- Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
- Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
- Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
- 133 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple Silicon
Break reminders on Mac — FAQ
What is the 20-20-20 rule?
Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It is the standard advice for screen eye strain, and Notchy's eye reminder says exactly that on the island rather than making you remember what the timer meant.
How often does it remind me?
Eyes every 20 minutes and posture every hour by default — Apple's own ergonomics guidance. Both intervals are adjustable, and either can be turned off on its own.
Will it interrupt a presentation or a call?
No. A reminder due while the screen is locked, while a Focus mode is on, or while the screen is being shared or recorded is dropped, not queued. That last part matters: a queue means eight nudges at once when you unlock, which is worse than none.
What if I already took a break?
If you have been idle longer than the interval, the timer restarts instead of firing. Coming back from lunch should not be greeted by a reminder to stand up.
Does it black out the screen to force a break?
No, and that is a real difference from apps like Time Out. Notchy shows the nudge on the notch and lets you keep working. If you want to be made to stop, a blocking app is the better fit.
Is this the same as the Pomodoro timer?
No. Pomodoro sessions are something you start and watch; break reminders run in the background all day and must never take over. Notchy has both, and they are separate features.
Is it free?
Yes — Notchy is free with no trial, licence key or subscription, and runs on macOS 13 Ventura and later.