“Take a break after writing this paragraph.”
This sentence is probably familiar to you when working in front of a computer. There is another paragraph after one paragraph of text, and after correcting one problem, another one is discovered. By the time I finally think of doing some exercise, a long time has passed.
The Break Reminder app is made for moments like this. There are already many options on the market, and the scheduled reminder itself is not a new feature. But when making Tick Rest, I still have several requirements that I care about: it should be lightweight enough to run in the background for a long time; the code should be public, so those who are willing to study can see its implementation; the rhythm of rest and the appearance of reminders should also be left to the user to decide.
Thus, there is now Tick Rest: a free, open source macOS native rest reminder application. If you want to read the product introduction or download and install it first, you can directly visit the Tick Rest official website, or you can go to the GitHub repository to read the instructions and install it.
Let me use this article to talk about my requirements for this gadget, and also introduce what it can currently do.
Stay in the background and take care of your own expenses first
There’s a thing about the Break Reminder app: you might not open its settings all day long, but have it running in the background all day long.
Most of the time, it just requires timing and then showing the reminder when the time is right. For such a tool, I would be particularly concerned about its own burden. Whether the package body is streamlined and whether there is unnecessary overhead in operation are all worthy of careful consideration during development.
Here we can briefly talk about several desktop application practices. Like Electron, Chromium and Node.js will be packaged together, and the interface will be built using web technology to facilitate developers to reuse code between different systems. The price is that the application also needs to bring this operating environment. Even if it does not have many functions, the installation package still has a basic burden.
Tauri makes a different choice: it uses the WebView provided by the system, which is WKWebView on macOS. It does not need to package a browser engine with the application, so it has more advantages in controlling the package body. However, its interface is still presented through web technology, and corresponding communication mechanisms are also needed between the interface and the underlying functions.
Tick Rest is developed using Swift, SwiftUI and AppKit, and the interface is directly handed over to the native framework of macOS. It doesn’t need to bundle a browser engine, nor does it need to run a web interface for reminder cards and settings windows. For a tool that has clear functions and resides in the background for a long time, this implementation is more straightforward: it reduces extra dependencies and running links, and leaves the package body and running overhead to the functions that are actually needed as much as possible.
Of course, native development does not mean that it is faster in all cases, and the actual performance depends on the specific implementation. But for Tick Rest, the streamlined distribution volume and direct use of the system interface and window capabilities are real benefits. The trade-off is that different platforms need to be developed and maintained separately, and I’m willing to make that trade-off for this little tool.
Native implementation is also reflected in the details of daily contact. The interface supports light and dark appearances, and the menu bar allows you to view countdowns, take a break now, or pause reminders. After adjusting the settings, you can close the settings window and continue doing your own thing.
For a resident tool, this state is very good: it usually runs quietly and can be easily found when needed.
Open the source code to make the implementation well-documented
In addition to native development, I also chose to make the Tick Rest code completely public.
For an application to remain on the computer for a long time, users have a reason to understand how it works. How to calculate the rest time, what to do after leaving the table, and where to save the records. The answers to these can be found in the source code.
Of course, most people won’t read the code first in order to install a gadget. But for those willing to study, open source provides a basis for verification and discussion. If you encounter problems, you can submit an Issue, you can also check the implementation directly, contribute to fix it, or modify and build it yourself according to the open source license.
Tick Rest requires no account registration, no ads, and settings and rest records are saved locally. Open the app, select a plan, and start using it.
As a personally maintained project, I also hope that GitHub can become a place for continuous communication. Specific to why a certain reminder did not appear and whether a certain setting met expectations, open discussion is often more helpful than a general statement of “good to use” or “not easy to use.”
Project address: fthux/tick-rest-macos.
You can choose the pace of rest by yourself
Everyone has different needs for rest reminders. Some people just want to look away from the screen for a while, some need to be reminded to stand up, and some are used to the Pomodoro Technique.
Tick Rest has prepared several rest plans, which can be selected directly or modified on this basis.
Rest plan page: After selecting the preset, you can continue to adjust the interval and duration.
The default scheme puts short and long rests together. After every 20 minutes of working, you will be reminded to take a 20-second break; after a total of 60 minutes of working, another 5-minute break will be arranged. Short breaks will not clear the accumulated time of long breaks. The two reminders have their own division of labor: the former is suitable for briefly looking away, and the latter allows time to get up and move around.
If you just want to keep reminders of regular distant views, you can selectEye protection plan. It defaults to a reminder every 20 minutes for 20 seconds, and is easy to set up.
50/10 planThe rhythm is easier to remember: 50 minutes of work, 10 minutes of rest. If you are used to arranging writing, reading or other work into more complete time periods, you can try this plan.
pomodoro techniqueIt is arranged according to rounds. By default, each round is focused for 25 minutes, with a 5-minute short rest between rounds, and a 15-minute long rest after completing 4 rounds. People who are accustomed to using Pomodoro to advance tasks can directly use the familiar rhythm.
These solutions can also be viewed together:
| plan | Default arrangement |
|---|---|
| Tick Rest Default | Take a short break of 20 seconds every 20 minutes of work, and take a long break of 5 minutes for a total of 60 minutes of work. |
| Eye protection | Every 20 minutes of work, 20 seconds of rest |
| 50/10 | 50 minutes of work, 10 minutes of rest |
| pomodoro technique | Focus for 25 minutes each round, take a short break of 5 minutes, and take a long break of 15 minutes after 4 rounds |
Presets are just a convenient place to start. After using it for a period of time, if you feel that reminders are too frequent, breaks are too short, or your work habits are not suitable for neat time segments, you can adjust the interval and duration and save it as a custom plan. How long to delay and how many times the delay is allowed can also be set together.
When switching rest plans, the reminder style, language and other preferences that have been selected will be retained and there is no need to reconfigure them again.
You can also stop the reminder outside of working hours. Tick Rest supports setting working periods and provides absence detection: when enabled, it will estimate whether to leave the office based on the idle status of the keyboard and mouse, and then adjust the timing accordingly. After the leave time reaches the conditions of the selected plan, the corresponding rest period will be reset. This feature can also be turned off, such as when you often read for long periods of time and do not operate the keyboard and mouse.
Working hours, absence detection and full-screen suspension reminder can be set separately.
The appearance of the reminder should also be decided by you.
After choosing how often to take a break, the next step is: how to remind you when the time is up?
Tick Rest provides two modes: small window and full screen. The difference between the two is intuitive, and which one you choose depends on how obvious you want the reminder to be.
Small window reminder is suitable for people who want to keep the current working screen. When the time is up, a reminder card will appear on the screen showing the rest content and countdown. It comes in three sizes: standard, small, and mini, and can also be folded to reduce obstruction of the work area.
If you feel that a normal reminder is easy to ignore, you can use the standard size; if screen space is tight, or you only need a brief reminder, small and mini will be more suitable.
Standard size small window reminder, you can view the countdown, skip or postpone it.
A full-screen reminder would be more direct. When the break begins, a reminder interface covers the selected screen, drawing attention away from the window at hand. If you often ignore small windows, you can try this more obvious reminder method.
You can choose a solid color, gradient, or picture for the full-screen background. If you like simplicity, you can use solid colors; if you want the picture to be softer, you can use gradients; you can also choose a favorite picture as the background.
You can preview the effect of the picture background in the settings before deciding whether to use it.
The actual reminder effect of the full screen picture background.
This part provides appearance choices because it will appear repeatedly in daily use. Since you are going to see it often, it is necessary to choose something that looks comfortable to you. The application also supports multiple monitors, and the reminder display method can be adjusted according to the actual configuration of the desktop.
When the reminder comes, the matter at hand may not come to an end. For example, if there are only the last few sentences of a paragraph, or an operation is in progress, you can choose to postpone it and take a rest later. You can also pause reminders from the menu bar or start a break in advance.
For scenarios where the app is used in full screen, Tick Rest also provides the option to snooze reminders. You don’t need to study all these settings when you open them for the first time. Just choose a plan and a style first, and then slowly adjust them according to actual use.
If you want to know more details, you can go to the official website, or you can go to the GitHub repository to read the instructions and source code. You are more welcome to install Tick Rest directly and use it to try which rest plan and reminder style suit you. Here’s how to install it.
Starting from installation, put rest into daily life
Tick Rest supports macOS 13 Ventura and newer versions, and also provides Apple Silicon, Intel versions and universal versions.
Tick Rest is a free open source project maintained by individuals. Given the annual fee for the Apple Developer Program, I am not yet a member of the program, so the app has not been signed with a Developer ID certificate or notarized by Apple.
It is recommended to install through Homebrew. If Homebrew is already installed on your computer, execute:
brew install --cask fthux/tap/tickrest
You can also go to GitHub Releases to download the ZIP installation package, unzip it and drag Tick Rest into the “Applications” folder. Apple Silicon Choice arm64Intel Select x86_64，universal It is compatible with both.
Since it has not been signed and notarized yet, when opening it for the first time, macOS may prompt that the developer cannot be verified and prevent startup. After confirming that the application comes from this project, you can go to “System Settings → Privacy and Security”, click “Open Anyway” and confirm. For specific operations, please refer to Apple’s official instructions.
The first startup will guide you to choose a rest plan and reminder method. Once selected, you can let it start timing. You can change the rest of the settings when you need them; you don’t have to configure them all at once.
About Windows
If you primarily use Windows,Tick Rest’s Windows native application is also under active development. There will be a version that can be used in the future, and I will introduce it again.
Tick Rest will continue to improve. If you try it, you are welcome to leave the problems you encountered on GitHub, and you are also welcome to talk about your rest habits: which plan is easier to stick to, whether the reminders are too frequent or not obvious enough, and what aspects are not smooth. Of course, blowjobs are also welcome.
I hope this small tool can remind you when you think about “resting after work” again: you have been busy for a while, get up and take a walk.
