Focus Cadence

Focus Cadence is an interval timer for people who mean to take their breaks.

A session is a run of focus blocks with breaks between them. It opens and closes on focus, so finishing the last block is the end of the stretch. Set how long work and breaks run, and decide where the long breaks fall: three blocks, a long rest, then two more, or any pattern you like. Repeat a set as many times as the day needs.

PLAN A WHOLE DAY Some days are not a steady rhythm. Give Focus Cadence the shape of yours instead: when you start, when you finish, and a lunch that will not move. It spreads your breaks evenly through the stretches on either side, and the focus blocks are made out of whatever time is left. Noon means noon. Start late and you pick up where the day already is.

COLOR INSTEAD OF LABELS The whole app window becomes one flat field of color for the phase you are in, with the time left in numerals you can read from across the room. No toolbars, no progress bars, nothing else asking to be looked at. Seven themes ship with the app, each with a light and a dark version: Clay, Santa Fe, Sonoran, Sedona, Oregon, Miami, and Noir.

OUT OF THE WAY WHEN YOU WANT IT A live countdown sits in the menu bar for when the window is closed. Keep the window floating above everything else, or close it and forget it is there.

ANNOUNCED YOUR WAY Four ways to mark a phase change, in any combination, including none: - A sound, different for going back to work and for starting a break - The full-screen moment: a wash of color across every screen for a few seconds, with nothing to click away - The phase name in the menu bar, in place of the countdown - A system notification

PAUSES WHEN YOU DO Lock the screen, put the Mac to sleep, or walk away mid-block, and the timer pauses itself and gives the time back. Walking away during a break is the point of a break, so it keeps running then.

THE NUDGE Sit still long enough and your chat app decides you have left, even when you are reading at your desk or talking with someone three feet away. Once you have gone still for as long as you choose, the nudge asks you to touch the mouse or a key, so your status stays green while you are still there. It is quiet by default, a flash of the window and a word in the menu bar, with sound or the full-screen moment if you want them.

It only ever asks. It never moves the mouse or presses a key for you, and it needs no special permissions. It goes quiet while the screen is locked, and it stops after three tries, since by then you are not at your desk.

FREE, WITH ONE UNLOCK The timer is free and complete: every pattern, every alert, auto-pause, the menu bar countdown, and all seven themes. A single one-time purchase unlocks three more things: the nudge, saving planned days as presets, and making your own color themes. Not a subscription. Family Sharing is supported.

PRIVATE BY DESIGN Focus Cadence stores everything on your Mac. No account, no analytics, no tracking, and nothing is collected.

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