I made a calm little app that your eyes will thank you for
This is Screen Rest. It's a calm, beautiful eye care app for Mac. It makes your eyes feel noticeably less fried by dinner. You just leave it running in the menu bar, and every 20 minutes it gently fades your screen out for 20 seconds so you can look at something far away. Or just enjoy the tiny countdown in your menu bar, ticking down to your next breather. Problem: Be honest. You've felt it. The 4pm headache. The weirdly dry eyes. The "why does my face feel like it's been microwaved" feeling after a long day on your Mac. Turns out it has a name*(Computer Vision Syndrome)* and it hits more than half of us, whether you're staring at screens for work, for Netflix, or for that one Reddit thread you can't stop reading. Eye doctors have a fix called the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Simple, except nobody actually remembers to do it. I tried every existing app. They were either 200 MB of Electron sludge, looked like a Windows XP control panel, or popped up in the middle of a Zoom call like a complete sociopath. So I built Screen Rest to be the version I actually wanted: a tiny, native Mac app that nudges you to rest your eyes, but only when it's polite to do so. Comparison: Most eye-break apps treat you like a kid who needs a forced timeout. Screen Rest is the opposite: Your eyes feel better, fast. The breaks are calming and low-stim, timed long enough for your eyes to actually refocus instead of just yelling at you to stand up. It never embarrasses you on a call. Smart pause detects fullscreen apps, an active microphone, and known meeting apps like Zoom, Meet, and Teams, then politely waits its turn. Breaks you'll actually look forward to. Five full-screen themes (Classic, Midnight, Aurora, Forest, Sunset) with animated countdown rings. They feel more like a pretty screensaver than a popup. A friendly nudge, not a nag. Snooze 15m / 30m / 1h, skip with two taps of Esc, take a break instantly from the menu. It bends around your day, not the other way around. A bit of extra care. Guided box breathing, posture and blink reminders, and a weekly eye-health report so you can watch your habits improve. I made it simple to use, with a calm aesthetic that feels more like a reading lamp than a productivity app. Would love to hear your feedback and feature requests! Pricing: Launch price is just $9.99 one time for lifetime access. Every future update included. Trust/Transparency: I'm Shrenik, a solo developer. My last app, couldn't be finished due to eye strain so I built this instead. The app runs completely locally and is Apple notarized. Download: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screen-rest-blink-break-timer/id6762893008
已收集讨论
does it track eyes via camera? E.g. if I look away pretty often - will it turn off for next 20 mins?
I wanted to add eye tracking, but that added more privacy concerns than benefits. In such a case, you can simply tap Esc twice and it skips the break. Or you can also choose skip break from the menu bar directly.
double escape is genius
How does the 20-second fade feel in practice compared to f.lux or Iris? Does it properly pause for full-screen apps and video calls, or do you need to manually skip often?
The 20-second break reminds you to look 20 ft away for 20 seconds. There are multiple themes including a breathing technique that can calm you down in between high-stress work. (video shows how the break screen looks) Yes, it pauses itself with full-screen and meeting apps automatically and resumes only after the app is closed/meeting is over. (There's also a 'do not break' list in settings, you can add any app you don't want to rest between and it will pause itself when those apps are being worked on)
How does it know not to run (I assume by looking if camera is in use)? How about if I use Google Meet in another tab, without camera (so it is basically in the small window)?
how is it different from lookaway app?
Taking care of your eyes should never feel expensive, 5 licenses of that app will cost you $145 for one-year of updates and a yearly fee to stay updated. With Screen Rest, if you're logged in with the same Apple account, it will be only $9.99 for all your devices with lifetime updates. Regarding the app, Screen Rest also has different break messages and multiple themes so you never get bored looking at the same break screen, and a lot more cool stuff on the roadmap.
这条评论已在来源处删除。
Thank you so much! Your feedback made my day. Glad you're enjoying the app, I have a lot of ideas for different themes and improvements, you will see regular updates coming in making the app better constantly!
Looks useful
Thank you! While everyone puts sleepless nights and hustle first, thought it's equally important to bring out a gently reminder to protect your eyes while doing so. 😄
Sorry, bit i didn't get the use case.
No worries! I think the calculator is a little distracting. The thing is your eyes get tired of looking at the Mac screen constantly for long hours. Doctors suggest taking a 20 sec break every 20 mins could prevent eye strain and drain so Screen Rest reminds you to take that break to protect your eyes.
I've been using deskrest for a while now and it's quite polished and works as expected. More competition is always good though and I do also still get annoyed at break screens popping up at the wrong moment, so I think there's always room for innovation. I'd definitely need an immediate skip button though, as I always want to be in control in case the app pops up at the wrong moment 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! Absolutely, knowing when not to break is very important. Immediate skip is available, 5sec skip pause can be turned off in the settings. It will be turned off by default in the next update! 🙂
Can't decide if it's genuinely useful or annoying? 😛 Eye rest is important, yes, but I'm not sure if I want to be interrupted in the middle of writing a paragraph, etc. As I understand, it has exceptions for full-screen apps, microphone use, and others, but what if I'm in the middle of an email, for example? Or does it wait for a brief period of inactivity - say, a few seconds - before engaging?
I did initially experiment with adding delays when typing but aren't we almost always typing something? The site URL, some email or a comment? Is that email really more important than your eyes and can't wait 20 seconds? And for the rare times, when it is, just double tap Esc and you're back in the flow. 🙂
https://lookaway.com
Look away is good but I feel taking care of your eyes should be more affordable and not subscription bound*(one-year of free updates)*. When there's no AI or server or heavy management costs, a simple lifetime version should feel like a better offering.
I tried every existing app. They were either 200 MB of Electron sludge, looked like a Windows XP control panel, or popped up in the middle of a Zoom call like a complete sociopath. Idk which apps you've tried but there's some really well designed existing apps that don't look anything like a Windows XP control panel or pop up in the middle of anything. https://deskrest.com/ https://lookaway.com/
I think you should add AI based answer so it's even better!
ooooo good shout. second this!
sorry but if i need a number this app will only make me want to smash my screen even more.
get a laptop , close the lid save your self some cash. Why do all the Mac apps seem to be copies of other apps. Is it just that you AI app writers , can only say "make me a copy of a that app that seems popular"