macOS has no break reminder. Screen Time can schedule downtime and cap apps, but nothing on a Mac tells you to look away every 20 minutes or stand up every hour. For that you need an app. Free ones such as Stretchly and Time Out do the basics well. The difference between a reminder you keep and one you turn off after two days is in the details: a warning before the break, no break in the middle of a sentence, and no break while you're on a call or sharing your screen. Bodybreak, the break tool in Toolnotch, is built around those details.

What macOS has built in

Screen Time (System Settings › Screen Time) offers Downtime, App Limits, Always Allowed, Communication Limits and Content & Privacy (Apple's guide). Downtime blocks apps on a schedule, for example after 10 pm. App Limits cap an app category per day. Neither one interrupts you to rest your eyes.

Screen Distance, the Screen Time feature that warns you when a screen is too close, works on iPhone and iPad with Face ID only. It isn't on the Mac.

A timer. You can set a 20-minute timer and restart it after each break. It works for a day. It doesn't know when you're in a call, it rings mid-sentence, and it stops when you forget to restart it.

What a good break reminder does

From building one and using it every day, these are the things that decide whether you keep it on:

  • A heads-up. A break that lands without warning feels like being cut off. A few seconds' notice lets you finish the thought, or push the break back.
  • Waiting for your hands. If you're typing, the break should wait until you pause.
  • Staying quiet during calls, recordings and full-screen video. A break card over a screen share is the fastest way to get an app uninstalled.
  • Counting time away. If you just spent ten minutes at the coffee machine, you don't need a break when you sit down.
  • An easy way out. Skip and Snooze, one click each.
  • Some choice about how firm it is. Some people want a nudge; others want the screen taken away.

Apps that do it

At the time of writing:

  • Stretchly is free and open source, for Mac, Windows and Linux. By default it gives a 20-second mini break every 10 minutes and a 5-minute long break every 30 minutes.
  • Time Out by Dejal has normal and micro breaks. Its core features are free, with optional supporter packs.
  • LookAway is paid, and also pauses during meetings, video and screen recording, with posture and blink reminders.
  • BreakTimer is open source and cross-platform.

The rest of this guide covers Bodybreak, because that's the one I build and can describe exactly.

How Bodybreak's smart pauses work

It warns you. 30 seconds before a break, an island under the notch says « Break soon · Tap to snooze 5 min » with a countdown. One tap pushes the break back five minutes.

It waits for your typing. When the break comes due mid-sentence, it waits until your keyboard has been still for a couple of seconds, one minute at most. The mouse doesn't count: reading and scrolling are fine moments to stop. Then the card drops: « Look at something 20 feet away », a 20-second ring, and Skip.

It pauses during calls. When the microphone or a camera is in use, breaks wait. Bodybreak only checks that they're in use; it doesn't listen or record. If a break comes due during the call, a quiet island says « Break deferred · In a call » for three seconds. When the call ends, the break comes two minutes later. After a call of five minutes or more with a break overdue, the notch says « Call over » with how long you've gone without a break, and offers Break now or Later.

It pauses during other things you shouldn't be interrupted in:

  • presentations, when Keynote, PowerPoint, Zoom, FaceTime, Teams or Webex is full screen;
  • videos, when an app keeps the display awake to play one;
  • screen recordings, when a known recorder (the macOS screenshot toolbar, OBS, Loom, CleanShot X and others) is recording;
  • games, full screen or not; nothing at all is drawn over a game or a recording;
  • deep-focus apps you pick yourself.

It counts time away. If you've been away from the keyboard for two minutes when a break comes due, that counts as your break, and the next one is a full interval later.

It doesn't hold breaks forever. A paused break comes back once the call or video ends. If a microphone or a video player stays on, breaks resume after two hours anyway, so a stuck sensor can't switch them off for good. Games are the exception.

The settings

Everything lives in Settings › Bodybreak, in six groups:

  • Rhythm. Break every 15, 20, 25, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, for 10 to 60 seconds. Optionally only during working hours, so no breaks in the evening or on your days off.
  • Mode. Gentle (the default): « A small card drops from the notch. Nothing is dimmed and your typing goes on. » Moderate: « You keep working. The screen's edges tint and the break counts once your hands are off. » Strict: « A curtain on every display until the break ends. Skip is the only way out. »
  • During a break. Start and end sounds, « Wait for a pause in typing », « Time away counts as a break », and the library of messages the card shows (« Stand up and stretch », « Drink some water », « Roll your shoulders »…), which you can edit.
  • Long breaks and posture. A five-minute guided long break every 90 minutes of work (stand up, neck rolls, shoulder shrugs, look out a window, drink water), and an optional « Sit tall · shoulders back » nudge.
  • Automatic pauses. One switch each for calls and presentations, videos, screen recordings, games and your deep-focus apps. « Suggest a break before meetings » is off by default; turned on, it asks for calendar access and offers a break a few minutes before a meeting if one would land in it.
  • Weekly report. A summary of your week in the notch on the day you choose.

From the hub (⌃⌥N, or a click on the notch) you can take a break now, snooze, or pause breaks for an hour.

Limits

  • Bodybreak can't tell whether you looked away. Gentle mode trusts you; Moderate counts only the time your hands are off.
  • Recording detection is best effort: it knows the common recorders, not every one.
  • Video detection relies on the player keeping the display awake while it plays, as Safari, Chrome, QuickTime Player, IINA, VLC and the TV app do.
  • Toolnotch needs macOS 15 or later. On a Mac without a notch, the card hangs from the middle of the menu bar.

For why the breaks are 20 seconds every 20 minutes, and what studies say about them, read the 20-20-20 rule and eye strain. You can try the break card in the home page demo, or see pricing.

FAQ

Does Screen Time on Mac have break reminders?

No. It has Downtime, App Limits, Always Allowed, Communication Limits and Content & Privacy. Screen Distance works on iPhone and iPad only.

Does Bodybreak record my calls?

No. It only checks whether the microphone or a camera is in use. Nothing is recorded or sent.

Will a break interrupt a screen share?

No, as long as the call app is using the microphone or a camera, or the presentation is full screen. Each of those pauses breaks.

Can I make breaks harder to ignore?

Yes. Moderate tints the edges of every display and only counts time when your hands are off the keyboard; Strict puts a curtain on every display until the break ends.