Time Out - Break Reminders App Reviews

Simple, basic, straightforward - just about perfect.

I was looking for something simple, just to force me to pay attention to how much time had passed since the last break. This app has two types of breaks, which is one more than I was looking for. I use them both, one to remind me to fix my posture and the other to get up and stretch and do anything I need to away from my computer. It is so customizable. I set how long and how often the breaks are. It also has a setting to not interrupt apps that I select not to interrupt. Oh, the skip and postpone break buttons are the icing on the cake. If I need to finish a task or getting ready to stop working, it is easy to do so with one click.

I wanted this so i could take breaks from lengthy video tutorials. Unfortunately, it wont pause or even let me press pause on my tutorials so I cant use it. Would be perfect if it let gave me the option of actually pausing what Im doing so I can take a break.

The app is very helpful. It lets you set the amount of work time and break time, to the minute. Allows you to postpone a break and the fact that it darkens your screen during the break really forces you to get up from your computer. Two things that would make it the perfect app for me is: if it could be controlled in the menu bar and if it showed how many minutes of work time are left before the break. This way you are not surprised by breaks.

The app is great, but it would be super useful to have timer for long breaks on the top, near Mac’s menu, where is the time and other icons. It woul be transperent, how much time before long break, like down time counter.

I just installed v1.6.5 on Yosemite. I was optimistic about the functionality of the app, but the break timer settings plainly didn’t work. I set to 30 minutes break, it ignored it and kept popping up every 10. I tried tweaking and restarting, but to no avail. I can’t have an app installed that dims my screen every 10 minutes when I’m trying to actually work. Aside from this bug, which could be easily fixed, a number of small usability things got on my nerves. While not critical, the overall UX is substandard. - The app runs in the dock, not in the background, and has no menubar icon. I’d expect a background app like this to have a menubar item, and not to take up space on the dock and command-tab menus - Preferences are kind of hidden. You have to click in the dock, then hit command-semicolon. It should just come straight up, as the app has no other UI when it’s switched into - The UI of the break screen as well as the preferences window are pretty ugly and I shudder when they come on screen - I raised the transparency of the background to 95%. So much so, that I didn’t realise for a while that the app was (again) telling me to go on a break. It’s not just the bg that goes transparent, but everything! Including the buttons to skip the break. So for a while, I thought my UI was totally broken. Bad. Overall this could be a great app, but needs a bunch of tweaks to the UI/UX to make it something people enjoy. I’ve seen a bunch of other positive comments, so obviously others seem to like it more than I did.

I was using customized sounds in the old version, but when I installed "2.0" I couldnt figure out how to restore my customized sounds from the previous version in this new version, so I immediately reverted to the old version and restored my sound preferences. If I just missed them, someone please point the way. If they are really missing in the new version, someone please confirm. Thanks.

After this update it now goes thru the setup process each time I login. Very annoying.

This review is for a Mac mini late 2012 running Yosemite 10.10.5 with a SSD as as main hard drive. A previous reviewer said there were no sounds and wanted help. Here ya go Buddy. I just got an email from the Developer. Click on the “Normal” break > side window shows up, select “Appearances” > in the “Theme” drop-down menu select “Reveal Themes” > a window will pop up that has 4-folders. Open the “Sounds”. You can add your custom files there in the .aiff format or use the TimeOut’s (TO) or System sound files. Here’s how: Click on the “Actions” next to the “Appearance” we just went to. Under “Actions” click the “+” button and select “Play Sound”. When the action appears, choose a sound > select some seconds, select when you want the sound to play. You can customize a different sound for each and every action that TO does (eg: before/after fade in, etc) I love the falling leaves and being able to adjust the background color. This version of TO (v2) really works well for me. I haven’t added or tried the text feature, but it’s easy to set up and do. And most important of all, this developer is very responsive and helpful. Seriously, if you can’t figure out something, just email the developer. I wanted to have a normal work between breaks for 45-minutes. I couldn’t figure out how to set that up. The Developer got back to me quite quickly saying: Under “Schedule” just click the units, select minutes and the now appear under the menu drop down. Awesome!

The app is great, but since the new update the break screen becomes unresponsive a *very* significative fraction of the time, not allowing you do anything during the amounted time. Terrible bug to have, which made me give up completely on this new version. Probably sticking with the older version until they fix it.

Graphical errors, previous configurations lost. Wish never updated. I hope i can figure out a way to go back. installed the old version from Time Machine. The idea is simple reminders. No need with the new look and subscription service. I’ll keep the old version tyvm.

I have been using Time Out for a few years now, and its gentle reminders to take a “Time Out” have become an essential part of my work day. Version 2.0 offers some significant improvements, both in content and interface. The same core of customizable break reminders remains, but now the interface is much more powerful, is easier to use, and includes more options for customization. I particularly like the new “falling leaves” effect, which I use for my longer breaks. (By the way, I have had none of the issues with installation and functionality reported by others.)

I spend many hours each day on the computer. If I sit for hours, I end up with lots of tension and soreness at the end of the day. If, however, I take a few minutes every hour to get up, get water, and walk around, I feel much better. Time Out has helped me remember to get up every hour I’ve been on the computer since about 2010. While it’s possible to customize the break schedule of this app quite a bit, I’ve always stuck with a 10-minute break every hour, and only showing the “Postpone 10 Minutes” and “Skip Break” buttons. The app works well. I’ve found that it takes some discipline to observe the break timer, and not endlessly press “Postpone.” You simply have to get in the habit of pausing what you’re working on when it’s time for a break. I have used other break timer apps on different platforms: Workrave on Windows, and the built-in Typing Break option in Gnome on Linux. Those both work well, and I recommend them for when you’re not on a Mac, but Time Out is my favorite break timer app. TIme Out got an overhaul recently, with several new optional features (such as not appearing in the dock and adding a menu bar icon); several of these features require an in-app purchase to enable permanently, which I gladly paid for. However, a bug in Version 2.0 prevented my purchases from being recognized. Dejal Systems was very fast getting back and addressing my issue (it’s fixed in the latest update). Good support!

This app is essential for anyone who spends lots of time on the computer. I have it set-up so that I am reminded every 5 minutes to take a deep breath. This really helps me to stay relaxed while working. The options to customize this app are incredible. The customer support is very quick to response and provide support and offer advice. I have looked at many similar apps…but this is BY FAR the best one on the market. And it’s only getting better!

I’ve had a real problem with RSI over the years and recently it’s gotten to the point where I’ve had to really change up my practices and take good breaks. Without something to force me to stop, I’ll just keep going; I lose track of time and suddenly it’s three hours later and my wrists hurt. There are only a few good contenders for applications that force breaks, and Time Out is clearly the best. First, none of the others I found seemed to support multiple break types. Time Out comes with two by default and more with the IAP. I use the short breaks to get up and stretch, and I use the long breaks to go for a quick walk or fix some lunch. Sometimes I’m in the middle of something and I really can’t stop, so I just tap the “postpone 5 minutes” button. I really like ability to edit everything about the breaks, including their spacing, duration, timing, and appearance among other things. Several other apps I tried didn’t dim out all of my monitors, just the main one. Time Out dims all of them, though i wish it would also put the images, UI, and animations on all of them instead of just the primary. I very much recommend this app. I think it’s helped me keep better posture, stay more focused, and stay healthier.

Look at the 5-star ratings, the download count, and the reviews. Yes, the product is clean, useful, easily configurable, and above all, diligently maintained by the developer.

It’s quite easy to lose track of time and get rooted to that sitting posture at your desk when you’re caught up in an immersive project. Time Out was recommended to me by a colleague and after using it for a few days I’ve found it indispensable for reminding me to take those all too valuable mini-breaks to maintain a healthy work lifestyle. I would love to see an additional feature which is a limit on the total number of times a break can be postponed.

Time Out has become invaluable for me. Its the key part of my strategy to not hurt myself while being at the computer all day. Having a couple of different timers has turned out to work really well. Great program!

Thanks to the function of this application I have been able to reduce the amount of eyestrain I get from staring into a monitor by a generous amount. Just set the break times and how often they happen and you are set to go. EDIT: After having gone through an update recently I would have to say the functionality has suffered a bit. Not by much, but still by a noticeable margin. The main thing I’ve noticed is that this application now uses more resources than normal (especially when a break is about to start), and for an app that needs to run consistently throughout the day it really needs to be able to run as light as possible so this is not a good direction for it to go. It still works fine as is, but in order for me to expend the least amount of CPU possible I myself would want to go back to the last version and stick with that until the current version shows some improvements.

The interface is busier but it doesn’t help me use the app better. The icon and sound from my previous version was perfect. Now it is not available. To be sure there are some great other icons/animations you can use - at a price. All-in-all, I plan to do downgrade back to my previous version.