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Show HN: LookAway, a Mac break reminder that knows when not to interrupt

70 points by _kush ago | 23 comments
Hello, I'm Kushagra and I am the indie developer behind LookAway (I've posted about it earlier but it has received quite a lot of updates since the last time so I am posting it again).

LookAway is a native break reminder for macOS that doesn't interrupt. I built it because I work from home and I spend a lot of time in front of my screens. It's very easy for me to get lost in the flow and I can end up sitting for hours. Due to this, I started facing issues like eye strain and back pain by the end of the day.

The solution to this was simply taking enough breaks throughout the day. But remembering to take breaks was difficult, especially when I was in the flow. I tried some reminder apps but the problem with those was that they always interrupted me at the worst moments. So I ended up not using them.

LookAway is designed not to interrupt. It gives enough heads up before a break so that you're not caught off-guard. It's also context-aware and it automatically pauses when you go into a meeting, start watching a video, record screen, and much more. It even waits for you to finish typing or dictating when a break is due.

One thing worth mentioning is the free iOS counterpart LookAway Mirror. When your Mac goes on a break, your iOS devices can also mirror the same break so you don't end up scrolling your phone screen during the Mac break.

I've spent a lot of time in making LookAway the least annoying break reminder app and I would love to know your thoughts. It's a native Swift app so it doesn't take much resources (150MB RAM and <1% CPU when idle).

It's available to download from the website (lookaway.com), Setapp, and the App Store. Thank you!

Kovah |next [-]

I've been using it as part of my Setapp subscription, and it's a love-hate relationship. On the one side I appreciate the posture hint and the app nudging me to take a break. But ever so often I am in deep focus and get really annoyed when the "long break starting in 1 minute" notification pops up. Most of the time I am in the middle of writing when the break starts, and I click it away fast to not loose my thoughts. A feature recognizing active writing to push the break a minute would be helpful I guess.

_kush |root |parent [-]

LookAway does pause if you're in the middle of typing or dictating when a break is due (during the last 10s). It's off by default and you can enable it in Settings → Smart Pause → Don't show breaks while I'm typing, dragging, or dictating.

telman17 |next |previous [-]

I've found the posture and blink reminders have been really helpful. I do find myself having to postpone the breaks because they like to pop up when I'm in deep focus. Thing is, I never really mark when I'm in deep focus because I honestly don't realize it when it happens, so it's hard to provide a constructive solution for this app around that.

I haven't seen it in the settings but some "drink water" reminders or just customizing those would be great.

_kush |root |parent [-]

Appreciate the feedback! I am currently working on figuring out how to reliably detect deep focus patterns (less idle stretches, low app switching etc) and not annoy during those moments to make LookAway even less annoying. For now, the idea behind break reminders before the break was to inform you subtly about the upcoming break without disrupting your flow and give you actions whether to take a break now or snooze it in case you're working on something important.

Custom wellness reminders is already on the roadmap and it's the most requested feature so you can expect it in the next few updates.

telman17 |root |parent [-]

Good to hear! Looking forward to the updates. Thanks for making a simple, non-invasive app.

crossroadsguy |next |previous [-]

Few alts for other platforms

https://workrave.org/ (not mac)

https://github.com/hovancik/stretchly (everywhere)

Both are open source.

Then there’s this https://www.dejal.com/timeout/ (only mac) - used this one as well.

tedmiston |root |parent [-]

Time Out is okay but extremely annoying in that it always seems to pop up and take over the screen at the worst possible times even with configuration to make it less interruptive. I stopped using it in favor of just closing my laptop for a bit with that.

It could be a lot better if it understood the focus context better, but it doesn't do that today. Hopefully LookAway is better at that.

trinix912 |next |previous [-]

Two things regarding the website:

- scrolling is so extremely laggy that the website is almost unusable on Firefox on macOS on an idle MacBook Pro (even if it seems smooth at first, scrolling up and down a few times slows it down significantly)

- I assume the code editor screenshot should actually be some sort of animation, it doesn't seem to work (although right clicking shows options like Pause, Loop...).

_kush |root |parent [-]

Thank you for reporting these. Which version of firefox are you on? I tried reproducing but for me it's not laggy and the animation plays automatically

sosodev |next |previous [-]

The license scheme makes me sad. It reads like a subscription pretending to be a one-time purchase.

_kush |root |parent [-]

Hi, I am sorry for not explaining it correctly on the website but it's strictly not a subscription.

The license gives you lifetime access to LookAway - you can keep using it forever. You only pay for updates after a year if there's something new you may want to use.

nickv |root |parent [-]

I think this is totally a fair way to do this. I know HN sometimes grumbles about this type of pricing, but totally get it. You’re not taking anything away, you’re just charging for new features after 1 year they paid. They don’t lose access.

(It’s like back when we had Photoshop 5 and then Photoshop 6 came out).

As long as you mention that security updates will be free, I think this is a good plan. It’s how you get indie devs paid to keep working on products.

_kush |root |parent [-]

Yes the patch updates are free beyond the one year gate. Will mention it on the website as well - thank you!

HSO |next |previous [-]

on macos, you can also just set a timer on the Clock app that comes for free on macos.

i use a 47 min timer to remind me of getting up and shaking out and a tiny Keyboard Maestro macro to set or cancel it with a hotkey.

once it runs, there is a timer in the menu bar.

totally sufficient

Waterluvian |next |previous [-]

Curious to hear from anyone with long term success: do these kinds of apps actually work or do they more just make you feel like you’re doing something about it?

tedmiston |root |parent |next [-]

They work in that they induce taking more breaks (20/20/20 rule) but they're also annoying in that they interrupt deep focus. If the latter can become a bit smoother about not interrupting deep focus context, then they'll be more helpful.

redbackthomson |root |parent |previous [-]

I used to suffer from pretty chronic eye pain when I was looking at the computer every day for work for 5+ hours. Consciously taking a breaks every 20 minutes has completely the symptoms altogether. Just being aware of how long it’s been without resting my eyes was eye opening (pun intended)

dheera |next |previous [-]

> knows when not to interrupt

I wish all forms of pop-up notifications knew this.

If I log into a security camera interface after an event triggered, that's not the time to tell me about a software update.

If I log into a news website because of a local crime, that's not the time to tell me about your fancy newsletter.

If I log into a brokerage during trading hours, that's not the time to tell me about your new interface.

I click all of these things away reflexively because they appear at the wrong time.

anitil |root |parent [-]

And sometimes you click a permanent action ('ignore' or 'accept' or 'decline') out of muscle memory or an imprecise click. Just this morning I _think_ I allowed some telemetry on a system I use (but don't want telemetry on) because by the time I had registered the text I'd already clicked it and now I can't work out which setting I need to toggle back

fosterfriends |next |previous [-]

Looks really clean!

hailtothechimp |next |previous [-]

Looks nice, but hate that pricing.

holistio |next |previous [-]

Distilled, this would be a nice macOS or Raycast feature, but I don't see myself giving up either $29 or 150MB RAM.

ifer47 |root |parent [-]

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VaporJournalAPP |next |previous [-]

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frankzero |next |previous [-]

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dagni132 |next |previous [-]

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JDK111 |next |previous [-]

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Ozzie-D |next |previous [-]

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Cider9986 |previous [-]

This app was good but I ended up disabling it and they forgot to turn it back on.

How much trouble do you have with piracy? I notice there's a DMCA on Macked.app forcing one to sign in to download it. Do you contact sites manually or pay someone?

Do you think that people that pirate would pay if it wasn't cracked? Perhaps adding a crypto payment integration would allow more people to buy it.

For me, I will very rarely pay for software unless it accepts crypto, for privacy and convenience reasons.