MacBreakZ 5

Your Personal Ergonomic Assistant

MacBreakZ is a sophisticated Personal Ergonomic Assistant designed to promote healthy and productive computer use.

Download

Download MacBreakZ 5.46

for Intel & Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 10.10 or later. Big Sur compatible.

Download MacBreakZ 5.17

for Intel Macs running macOS 10.8/9.

Buy for $24.95

Frequently Asked Questions

I'm not getting prompted to take any breaks!

You will only get prompted to take breaks once a pre-set period of time has elapsed. If you never get prompted to take breaks, this may mean:

Example: Say you have set your break interval to be 2 hours, but you never stay at the computer for 2 whole hours.

Solution: In the "Preferences..." reduce your interval between breaks (the recommended level is 20-30 minutes).

Example: Say you have set your break duration to be 2 minutes. Now when you spend 2 minutes without touching a key or moving the mouse, the program will detect this as having taken a break and it will reset the elapsed time to zero.

Solution 1: Set you break duration to something longer in the "Preferences..." (5 to 10 minutes rest break are recommended)

Solution 2: In the "Preferences..." untick the "Detect informal breaks" check box

Solution 1: Re-run the setup assistant and specify "Optimize for posture problems"; this will change settings so that you will have more regular breaks.

Solution 2: in the "Activity Monitor" section of the "Preferences.." dialog increase the delay before the clock runs backwards and increase the "Keeps running" delay.

Solution 3: in the "Activity Monitor" section of the "Preferences.." dialog untick the "Runs backwards" checkbox.

Note that not being prompted with many breaks may not be a bad thing. It may simply mean that you are using your computer in a safe manner already and thus do not require frequent rest breaks. If you naturally get up from your desk regularly, take short breaks and use the mouse and keyboard sparingly, your already doing many things right.

You may still benefit from regular stretching breaks and choosing the "Optimize for posture problems" approach discussed above may still make sense for you.

I constantly get interrupted with breaks!

There are three main reasons for this happening:

Whatever the reason, there is no point in bombarding you with more breaks than you feel comfortable with at this point. You may just give up completely and that would be the worst case scenario.

Solution 1: if you are simply not ready to take as many breaks as recommended, use the setup assistant and choose the "Prevention" profile combined with an a longer adaptation period.

Solution 2: configure a longer adaptation period, shorter breaks and longer break intervals in the "Preferences..." dialog.

Solution 3: especially if you are using a tablet, configure a more relaxed activity level measurement in the "Activity Monitor" section of the "Preferences..." dialog.

The clock behaves strangely/ is running back/ is stopping

The MacBreakZ 5 clock is not a normal clock. It doesn't just go forwards, but it may stop or even run backwards in response to your keyboard and mousing activity.

The reason for this is that how frequently you require a break depends on how intensively you use the keyboard and mouse. MacBreakZ takes this into account by making the clock run forwards only when you are "active", stopping it when you become "inactive" and finally making it run backwards after a certain amount of time while you are "resting".

MacBreakZ also automatically detects "informal breaks", so that when you get back from lunch for instance, you won't be prompted for a break immediately.

The behavior of the clock can be configured in the "Activity Monitor" section of the "Preferences..." dialog.

How do I move the activity window?

Please refer to this page.

How do I show/ hide the activity window?

Please refer to this page.

How do I change settings?

Please refer to this page.

What are microbreaks?

Please refer to this page.

How can I get rid of a particular stretch?

Please refer to this page.