Every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
Gazewell lives in your Mac's menu bar and gives your eyes the break they need. It waits for a pause in your typing and stays out of your calls.
Free. Version 1.0.1 for macOS 13 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel.
Seven themes. Pick one and this whole page changes.
Each theme recolours the app and plays its own scene on the break screen: a tree that grows, stones that stack, water that rises.
Built to stay out of your way
- A heads-up before every break
- A card appears 30 seconds ahead. Start now, or push the break back 1, 5 or 15 minutes. A small countdown follows your cursor so nothing catches you off guard.
- Strict or relaxed, your call
- Casual lets you skip any time. Balanced unlocks Skip after five seconds. Hardcore takes the button away. Set a daily snooze limit and choose what pressing Esc twice does.
- Quiet during calls
- If your microphone or camera is on, Gazewell skips the break instead of interrupting. It also holds off during screen recordings, video playback and fullscreen apps.
- Waits for you to stop typing
- A break never lands mid-sentence. And if you step away from the keyboard for as long as a break lasts, the timer starts over.
- Your hours, your schedule
- Limit reminders to office hours and days. Add fixed breaks like lunch, and a longer break every few rounds.
- Reminders that fill the screen
- Posture, blinking, water and stretching each get a full-screen animation in your theme, and clicks and typing pass straight through.
- Make it yours
- Seven themes, a font for the title, subtitle and countdown, your own messages, sounds and break-screen backgrounds.
- See how it's going
- Breaks taken, skipped and snoozed today, a seven-day chart and your streak.
- Keys and automation
- Global shortcuts start, skip or pause breaks from any app. A Shortcut or AppleScript can run when a break starts or ends.
Four reminders that fill the screen
Posture, blinking, water and stretching nudge you for a few seconds, then fade away. They never block what you are doing.
Everything lives in the menu bar
Get Gazewell
With Homebrew
brew tap dhri-yama/tap
brew trust dhri-yama/tap
brew install --cask gazewellRecent versions of Homebrew ask you to trust a third-party tap before installing from it.
As a download
Open the disk image and drag Gazewell to your Applications folder.
Download Gazewell 1.0.1See all releases and the changelog.
The first time you open it
Gazewell isn't notarized by Apple yet, so macOS may stop it at first launch. Open System Settings, choose Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. After that it opens like any other app.
Questions
Is Gazewell free?
Yes. The source code is public on GitHub, and if it helps you, you can buy me a coffee.
Does it connect to the internet?
No. Gazewell makes no network connections, has no account and no analytics. Your settings and stats stay on your Mac.
Which Macs does it run on?
macOS 13 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel.
Why does macOS say it can't verify Gazewell?
The app isn't notarized by Apple yet. On first launch, open System Settings, choose Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. You only do this once.
Will it interrupt my calls?
No. While your microphone or camera is in use, a due break is skipped and the timer starts over. If you'd rather delay it until the call ends, there's a setting for that.
Does it work with more than one display?
Yes. Breaks and reminders cover every connected display.
How do I remove it?
Quit Gazewell from the menu bar and drag it out of Applications, or run brew uninstall --cask gazewell.