Breaks
A quiet Pomodoro that lives in your menu bar.
142 followers
A quiet Pomodoro that lives in your menu bar.
142 followers
A small, focused Pomodoro app that lives in your Mac menu bar. Free, open source, sandboxed. Focus journal, streaks, global hotkeys, optional Calendar export, and on-device AI weekly review powered by Apple Intelligence, your data never leaves your Mac.
Breaks
Hey PH
I built Breaks because every Pomodoro app I tried either had too much going on or looked like it was made in 2009.
Breaks lives in your menu bar, stays out of the way, and just ticks. Focus journal, streaks, global hotkeys, local notifications, no account, no cloud, no telemetry. Everything stays on your Mac.
It's free, open source (MIT), and runs on macOS 13+.
Would love to hear what you think, especially if you're a heavy Pomodoro user. What's missing from the tools you use today?
RiteKit Company Logo API
@gjinprelvukaj The privacy-first approach is refreshing—especially keeping everything local without telemetry. One thing that might help you understand what resonates: tracking mentions when people share their setup screenshots or recommend Breaks in productivity communities could show you which features people actually talk about vs. what gets requested. That kind of signal often reveals what's truly missing from existing tools.
Breaks
@osakasaul Hey Saul, I've mostly been watching GitHub issues, but tracking organic mentions in setup screenshots or productivity threads is a smart signal I hadn't thought about. Appreciate that.
Spec27
Very cool - any plans to put it in into the app store?
Breaks
@steven_willmott Hey Steven, thanks for asking. I do plan to put it on the App Store, but development is still early. I'll publish it to the App Store and Homebrew Cask once I get an Apple dev account and finish a few more features/issues I've found. Definitely on the roadmap, aiming for later this year.
Spec27
@gjinprelvukaj cool. Thanks for the follow up!
As a solo dev this is exactly the kind of tool I end up needing nothing fancy, just something that keeps you honest. Open source is a nice touch. What made you go menu bar over a full app?
Breaks
@imad_elkhafi Thanks, that means a lot coming from another solo dev. Honestly, I went menu bar because I wanted Breaks to feel like a background assist, not another window to manage. Every full app Pomodoro timer I tried ended up buried under other windows or minimized out of sight. Menu bar keeps the timer visible with zero friction, glanceable but not attention hungry. Also kept the app dead simple to build and maintain as one person.
@gjinprelvukaj That makes total sense glanceable but not attention hungry is exactly the right design philosophy for a timer. The "buried under windows" problem is real. Congrats on shipping it solo!
Very cool project. Any thoughts on pushing it to Windows/Linux?
Breaks
@tuliosousapro Thanks!! Right now im focused on macOS so currently Windows/Linux is not being developed. But i was a windows user for some years, and a linux user for the last 4 years (before switching to macOS) so i know the pain when a tool is available on one but not on others. If i ever do want to port it to windows/linux , ill be doing it when i have a very stable version of macOS. Never say never though.
Breaks
Quick update for everyone who upvoted at launch — Breaks has moved a fair bit since the v1.0 you saw on Product Hunt. It's now on v1.3.2 (still free, still open source, still 100% local).
The bigger changes since launch:
Breaks AI got real. It now does on-device weekly reviews and answers questions about your focus history ("when did I focus best?", "which project took the most time?"). All via Apple Foundation Models — no servers, no API keys.
Per-project stats. Tap any project in the weekly review for week / month / all-time minutes, a 7-day chart, and outcome breakdown.
Six cycle presets — Pomodoro, 52/17, Deep Work, Flowtime (90/20), Ultradian, Quick — on top of fully custom durations.
Markdown export of your full focus journal.
Editable break suggestions and optional Calendar export (EventKit).
v1.3.2 today: Breaks AI can now answer meta questions about the app itself ("who made this?", "what's the license?", "where's the source?") so it stays self-explanatory without cluttering the UI.
If you downloaded v1.0, grab the latest build from Releases — your settings, history, and journal carry over.
Breaks Source Code
Latest Build
License: MIT
Requires: macOS 13+ (Breaks AI needs macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence)
Would love to hear what's working and what isn't, especially from anyone running Apple Intelligence.