Break reminder app for Mac and Windows
Keybreak is a break reminder app for macOS and Windows. It sits in your menu bar or system tray, watches how long you have actually been typing and clicking, and prompts you to take a break when you have been at it a while, not on a fixed timer that fires while you are away at lunch. Each break is a guided stretch you can do at your desk in under three minutes, chosen from a library of 37, covering the neck, shoulders, back and wrists.
It is built for people who spend whole days at a keyboard: developers, designers, writers, analysts, students and anyone whose job is mostly screen. Keybreak is free to download, with 8 stretches and break reminders. Keybreak Plus unlocks the whole library and the personalisation for £1.99 a month or £19.99 a year. Everything runs on your own computer, your activity data never leaves it.
Reminders that know when you are working
A plain timer fires every 30 minutes whether you are deep in work, on a call, or out getting lunch, so you learn to dismiss it, and dismissing it becomes the habit.
Keybreak counts activity instead of minutes. If you step away, the countdown pauses; when you come back, it picks up where it left off. A reminder only arrives when you have genuinely put in a stretch of desk time, which is the only time it is worth interrupting you.
What a break actually looks like
When a break starts, Keybreak walks you through a stretch: what to do, which side, and how long to hold it, with the hold timed on screen so you are not counting in your head. Most take well under three minutes.
Nothing in the library requires a mat, a change of clothes, or lying on the office floor. They are designed to be done at a desk, in an open-plan office, without attracting attention. If you would rather skip the guided exercises entirely, reminders-only mode just nudges you to stand up and move.
Built around your body, not a generic routine
Choose focus areas (neck, shoulders, lower back, wrists) and stretches for those areas come up more often. If there are movements you have been told to avoid, you can exclude them and they will never be suggested again.
You also set the rhythm: a break every 20 minutes or every hour, within the hours you choose, or triggered by hand when you are ready for one.
Private by default
Keybreak needs to know whether you are active to do its job, so it counts keyboard and mouse activity. That data stays on your machine. There is no account to create, and your activity is never uploaded to a server.
Keybreak Plus adds the full library of 37 stretches, focus areas, injury-aware settings and micro breaks. See plans and pricing.
What Keybreak does differently
Most break reminders stop at telling you to take a break. Keybreak is built around what happens next: a stretch you can follow, chosen for your body. Here is how it compares with five other apps, with each claim linked to the vendor’s own page:
| App | What happens in a break | Filmed demonstrations | Focus areas | Injury exclusions | Free plan | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keybreak | 37 stretches, each filmed with a real person, with the hold timed on screen. source | Yes (Keybreak Plus): movements you flag are never suggested. source | Free for personal use: break reminders and 8 of the 37 stretches, no account. source | macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows source | ||
| Stretchly | 87 one-line text break ideas, many naming a movement and a hold time. No video or illustrations by default. source | No | Everything. Free and open source (BSD-2-Clause). source | macOS (13 or later), Windows, Linux source | ||
| Workrave | 16 exercises, shown with drawn illustrations. source | No | Everything. Free software (GPL). source | Windows, Linux. macOS only as an untested development build. source | ||
| Time Out | None. The screen dims and a break theme appears (text, images, a web page or a video). source | No | The core break features, always free. source | macOS only. Also on the Mac App Store and Setapp. source | ||
| Restier | Visual resets, breathing prompts and posture cues. No filmed demonstrations. source | No | None. A 14-day trial with every feature, no card required. source | macOS 11+, Windows 10+, Linux (x86_64) source | ||
| BreakTimer | None built in. A notification or a fullscreen break window, with a message you can customise. source | No | Everything. Free and open source (GPL-3.0). source | Windows, macOS, Linux source |
Verified against each app’s own documentation on 7 October 2026.
Compared with Stretchly
Stretchly is a well-made free timer, and its break ideas are single lines of text that you read and then act on. Keybreak shows you the movement instead: 37 stretches, each filmed with a real person, with the hold counted down on screen so you can simply follow along. source
Compared with Workrave
Workrave is free and strict, with 16 drawn exercises, but its stable releases are for Windows and Linux only. Keybreak is a native app on both Mac and Windows, and every stretch is filmed rather than drawn. source source
Compared with Time Out
Time Out is a polished Mac timer whose breaks dim the screen and show a theme. Keybreak runs on Mac and Windows, and turns each break into a guided stretch rather than a pause. source
Of the six apps in the table, Keybreak is the only one that lets you exclude movements you have been told to avoid and prioritise focus areas such as your neck or wrists, so the routine fits you, not the other way round.
More detailed comparisons:
Keybreak at a glance
- Keybreak is a break reminder app for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows.
- Keybreak has a library of 37 guided desk stretches, each demonstrated on video by a real person with the hold timed on screen.
- Keybreak’s free plan includes activity-aware break reminders and 8 of the 37 stretches.
- Keybreak Plus costs £1.99 a month, with a one-month free trial, or £19.99 a year.
- Keybreak Plus unlocks all 37 stretches, focus areas, injury exclusions, micro breaks and progress tracking.
- Keybreak triggers breaks from real keyboard and mouse activity, and pauses its countdown when you are idle.
- With injury exclusions, Keybreak never suggests a movement you have told it to avoid.
- With focus areas, Keybreak suggests stretches for the neck, shoulders, back or wrists more often.
- Keybreak keeps its activity data on your computer and does not upload it.
- Keybreak does not require an account.
- A Keybreak Plus licence can be active on up to 3 devices at a time.
- The free plan and Keybreak Plus are for personal, non-commercial use; businesses need a Teams subscription.
Common questions
What is a break reminder app?
A break reminder app runs in the background while you work and prompts you to step away from the screen at intervals, so that a long day at a desk is broken up rather than spent in one position. Some are plain timers, and many pause while you are away; Keybreak also guides you through a stretch once the break starts.
Does Keybreak work on both Mac and Windows?
Yes. There are native builds for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and for Windows, and a Keybreak Plus licence can be active on up to 3 of your computers at a time, on either platform.
Is Keybreak free?
Yes. The free plan includes smart break reminders and 8 stretches on both Mac and Windows. Keybreak Plus adds the full library of 37 stretches, focus areas, injury-aware settings, micro breaks and progress tracking. The monthly plan starts with a one-month free trial.
How is this different from the Pomodoro technique?
Pomodoro is a focus method: you commit to a fixed 25-minute block of work and then take a break, and the timer runs whether or not you are at your desk. Keybreak is aimed at the physical side of desk work rather than at structuring your focus. It measures real activity rather than wall-clock time, and the break itself is a guided stretch instead of unstructured time off.
What is the 20-20-20 rule, and does Keybreak do it?
The 20-20-20 rule is an eye-strain guideline: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Keybreak can be set to a 20-minute break frequency, and Keybreak Plus adds micro breaks every 10 to 15 minutes, which serve a similar purpose. Keybreak is aimed more broadly at the neck, shoulders, back and wrists as well as at getting your eyes off the screen.
Will it interrupt me during meetings or presentations?
You choose the hours Keybreak is active, and reminders only arrive after genuine keyboard and mouse activity, so a call you spend listening will not trigger one. Any break can also be postponed or skipped.
Does Keybreak track what I type?
No. It counts that keyboard and mouse activity is happening in order to tell working from idle. It does not record which keys you press, and none of it leaves your computer.
Keybreak · 2026