TouchGrass
Context-aware break reminders without invasive permissions
Start new thread

TouchGrass - Context-aware break reminders without invasive permissions

by
•
TouchGrass is a context-aware break reminder built for macOS. Most break reminders only know one thing: time. TouchGrass waits through meetings, calls, media playback and screen recordings, counts time away from your Mac as a completed break, and reminds you to blink, improve your posture and rest after long typing sessions. Everything runs locally, never asks for Accessibility permission, and respects your workflow. 7 day free trial, then a one time purchase of $3.99 with lifetime updates.

Add a comment

Replies

Best
Maker
📌

Hi everyone! I'm Saran, the solo developer behind .

Like a lot of people, I had installed a break reminder before... and eventually trained myself to ignore it. Not because I didn't need breaks. Because reminders always seemed to appear at the worst possible time:

  • In the middle of a meeting.

  • While watching a tutorial.

  • During a screen recording.

  • Right when I was deep in flow.


So I built TouchGrass to do the opposite.


Instead of interrupting you on a timer, it waits for the right moment. It automatically pauses during meetings, media playback and screen recordings, counts time away from your Mac as a completed break, and includes blink, posture and typing reminders.


One thing I cared about from day one was privacy. TouchGrass never asks for Accessibility permission, and everything runs locally on your Mac.


It's my first commercial macOS app, built over months of evenings and weekends. It's currently available with a 7 day free trial, then a one time purchase of $3.99 with lifetime updates.


I'd genuinely love your feedback. I'll be here all day answering questions and taking notes for future updates.

Website:
Download:

Thank you for checking it out, it really means a lot.

 Quick question: what’s one simple, low-friction way you’d recommend new users try TouchGrass for a week so they actually form the habit? For example, which settings do you set first, how long do you let “time away” count as a break, and any tips to avoid re-disabling it when deep in flow?

Maker

 I'd actually recommend leaving the defaults on for the first week. They're tuned to be pretty low friction. Time away feature is configurable, but by default a short idle just pauses the timer, while a longer idle counts as a completed break if TouchGrass is confident you've naturally taken one. My biggest tip is to resist tweaking things for a few days. Once you stop thinking about it and it quietly fits into your workflow, that's when it works best.

 Congrats on the launch today! I really love the concept but sadly, I'm not a cool Mac user - any plans for us PCers?

Maker

 Thanks! A Windows version is something I'd love to build in the future.

There should be longer breaks to make us go outside for longer time :)

Maker

 Yes, TouchGrass handles that. After every 3 short breaks, it tells to take a long break (10 mins by default). All these options are configurable.

 Weekends should be dedicated to several hours breaks :)

Maker

 I like that idea! We're actually working on presets, so you'll be able to create different profiles for things like weekdays, weekends, study sessions and deep work, each with its own settings. Hopefully we'll roll that out over the coming weeks.

Hi)
How exactly does the app detect that a call or screen recording is happening, given that it deliberately never requests the Accessibility permission?

Maker

 TouchGrass queries CoreAudio's running state and process ownership metadata. All these information are provided by Apple. Along with that we have some logic which helps in detecting better.

Hi, congrats launch, What’s the biggest product decision you’ve had to reverse so far — and what did it teach you about how people actually take breaks versus how they say they want to take breaks?
Maker

 Great question! The biggest change was realising people do not need more reminders. They need reminders at the right time. I started with a traditional timer, but it felt just as interruptive as every other app. That is when making TouchGrass context aware became the core idea

The tagline mentions context-aware break reminders without invasive permissions, which raises a practical question: what kinds of context can TouchGrass safely use without asking for broad access? Is it more about local activity signals, calendar/focus state, or something else? That boundary would be helpful to understand for teams that are cautious about productivity tools watching too much.

Maker

 Great question! TouchGrass only uses Apple provided system APIs to observe privacy friendly system signals such as idle time, media playback, sleep/wake events, screen recording status, and whether the system microphone is currently in use (the same status shown by the macOS microphone indicator).

It does not access your calendar events, meeting details, call details, screen contents, browser tabs, browser history, browser content, keystrokes, typed text, microphone audio, camera, or Accessibility APIs. Everything runs locally on your Mac because privacy was one of the core design goals from day one.

The privacy tradeoff feels well judged. How does TouchGrass distinguish a long thinking or reading session from an actual break without using Accessibility data?

Maker

 It doesn't rely on a single signal. TouchGrass combines several privacy friendly system signals to build confidence before deciding whether you've naturally taken a break, all without needing Accessibility permission. I'm also continuously improving the algorithm to make those decisions even smarter over time.

 Smart approach. Keeping it privacy-friendly while improving accuracy is the right balance.

IOS App?

Maker

 This is available only for macOS for now.

Funny name 😅 I usually get annoyed by break reminders, ignore them and end up focusing even harder. So checking whether I’m actually deep in something, or whether I wasn’t even at the computer, already sounds much better. Congrats on the launch!
Maker

 Thanks! 😄 That's exactly what I was aiming for. I wanted break reminders to feel helpful instead of something we instantly dismiss.

I think this app is definitely something I would not use because I have this habit already and I am pretty healthy BUT easily good for highly productive people that have 10+ years of experience in tech or working for corporate. Another pool of people that would love this is students like medical or PhD people.

Maker

 Thanks! I actually agree with you. If someone already has healthy habits and naturally takes breaks, TouchGrass probably isn't something they'll think about much, and that's a good thing.

I need this so badly, with coding agent I can stay locked in for hours without even realizing!

Let me try it out and provide feedback, but the only issue I can see without trying right now is that timing needs to match when I am done giving the prompts in all pending sessions and they are all firing up, that would be a great time for me to "TouchGrass"

Will provide more feedback after my actual usage, but this is awesome, I am excited to try this out.

Maker

 Thanks! That's exactly the kind of workflow I built it for. Looking forward to hearing what you think after trying it!

12
Next