Awareness – minimalist timer for Mac

Minimalist, mindful, free

Awareness Timer for Mac has an ideal balance between minimalism and configurability. It's designed to get out of your way, so you can focus on the task at hand.

Countdown timer: Awareness lives in your Mac's menu bar. It counts down from x minutes to 0. When the timer reaches zero, it restarts.
Singing bowl & notifications: When the timer runs out, you get a gentle nudge: a singing bowl and/or notification. No forced breaks or lock-out. Do what you want!
Silent mode: In a meeting or on a call? Quickly set Awareness to silent mode to not get disturbed. You can still check the countdown yourself.
Combat RSI and CANS: Awareness was originally created as a reminder to move every hour or so. This can help you from developing repetitive strain injury (RSI).
Mindfulness: Isn't it uncanny how time seems to flow? Awareness helps you return to the present moment, and gives some structure to your day.
Privacy first: Awareness doesn't track you in any way. It shouldn't – it's a timer app!
Privacy Policy

Watch how time flows

Awareness helps you to become more aware of how time passes. You can use the app to remind yourself to take a break and have a stretch, or give you a gentle "Blimey, another hour has passed!" nudge. It's also a great Pomodoro timer!

“I built this app to scratch my own itch: remind myself to move every hour or so, while coding. That's when I figured – why not release this app for free, and help other people too?”

Reinder de Vries

Frequently asked questions

How do I prevent notifications from cluttering up Notification Center?: Yeah, that does not spark joy... Go to the Notifications preference pane on macOS, and then untick "Show in Notification Center" for the Awareness app.
Why isn't there a start/stop button somewhere?: That's a deliberate design decision. The timer restarts on its own, so you don't have to bother turning it on. It's OK if you miss a dddoooiiinnnggg, too!
Can I prevent the timer from making sound when I open my MacBook?: Yes! Go into the app's Preferences pane and tick the checkbox for "Restart timer on Mac wake". This option is enabled by default.
Why does the app make sound when Do-Not-Disturb is on?: A countdown timer can be helpful during meetings. As long as you don't share your Mac's sound output, no one will hear the timer go off. If needed, enable silent mode (via the menu bar) or close the app altogether.
Can I start Awareness when my Mac starts?: Yes! Go to the Users and Groups preference pane on macOS. Select your user account and go to the Login Items tab. Drag-and-drop the Awareness application (via Finder) into the list.
Who's built this app, anyway?: Awareness Timer for Mac is built with love by Reinder de Vries. It's the spiritual successor of the now defunct Awareness app by Futureproof.; Questions? Concerns? Comments? Feature requests? Send your electronic mail to [email protected], or tweet at @reinder42.