Yet another break time reminder app
Native experience · Compact bundle · High performance
Take regular breaks from your computer to rest your eyes, relax, and walk around.
- Native experience — Developed with Swift, SwiftUI, and AppKit.
- Compact bundle — No bundled browser engine or extra runtime from frameworks like Electron, keeping the app lightweight.
- High performance — Native compilation and rendering minimize overhead for excellent performance.
- Mult choices of break schedules — Built-in presets include eye care, 50/10, and Pomodoro, with customizable break intervals, durations, and snooze options.
- Flexible reminders — Choose windowed or full-screen reminders. Full-screen mode supports multiple displays and lets you pick a solid color, gradient, or image as the background.
- Flexible settings — Set your working hours, enable idle detection, and defer reminders while using full-screen apps. Pause reminders or start a break at any time from the menu bar.
- Private by design — No account required and no ads. Your settings and break history are stored locally on your Mac.
- A familiar interface — Supports light and dark appearances and is available in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Looking for a Windows version? I’m building a native Windows app for Tick Rest. Stay tuned!
Tick Rest is a free, independently maintained open-source project. To keep annual costs manageable, I have not joined the Apple Developer Program. The app is therefore not Developer ID–signed or notarized.
Homebrew (recommended):
brew install --cask fthux/tap/tickrestManual installation:
Download the ZIP file for your Mac from the releases page, unzip it, and drag Tick Rest into your Applications folder. Choose arm64 for Apple Silicon or x86_64 for Intel. The universal build works on both.
Important
The first time you open Tick Rest, macOS Gatekeeper may prevent it from opening and display a warning that the developer cannot be verified. After checking that your copy came from this project's releases page, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, click Open Anyway, and confirm that you want to open the app. See Apple's guide for details.
- Open Tick Rest and choose your break schedule and reminder style during the initial setup.
- You're all set!
- To personalize your experience, adjust your preferences in Settings.
Choose from three sizes—Standard, Small, and Mini—or collapse the reminder so it takes up less space on your screen.
| Standard | Small | Mini |
|---|---|---|
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Collapsed
Use a solid color, gradient, or image as your break background. Full-screen reminders support multiple displays.
| Solid Color | Gradient | Image |
|---|---|---|
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See how long until your next break, take a break right away, or pause and resume reminders—all from the menu bar.
| General Settings | Break Schedules | Working Hours |
|---|---|---|
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| Windowed Reminders | Full-Screen Background: Gradient | Full-Screen Background: Image |
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| Display Settings | Break Statistics | About Tick Rest |
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- Notifications (optional): Get a heads-up before a break and a notification when an app update is complete. Tick Rest works normally even if you don't allow notifications.
- Launch at login (optional): If you turn this on, macOS may ask you to allow Tick Rest to run at login in Login Items.
Requires macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. Runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.