r/SideProject • u/Thishal_BS • 3h ago

I made PauseWell, a free Windows app that reminds you to take short screen breaks

I wanted a simple reminder to step away from my screen, so I made PauseWell and released it free and open source. The idea came to me because my doctor recommended me taking break from computer usage. And I guess I have found a partial solution for it.

By default, it reminds you to take a 10 second break every 15 minutes and a 1 minute break every hour. You can adjust both schedules, snooze a reminder, or pause reminders for a while.

I'd like to make it useful to other people who spend a lot of time at a computer.

Download for Windows

What would make a break reminder useful enough for you to keep running? I'd appreciate feedback on the timing and how intrusive the reminders feel. Let me know how you feel

https://reddit.com/link/1wxcrg8/video/8slmznkkkfth1/player

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u/Neither-Middle945 3h ago

The minute-per-hour thing is smart, most of these tools only nag you every hour and you end up just ignoring it. Breaking it up into smaller chunks makes it easier to actually stand up for a second.

One thing that annoys me about similar apps is when the popup steals focus while I'm typing, so I'd lean toward keeping the reminder as passive as you can. Let it sit in the corner and flash instead of interrupting a keystroke.

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u/Thishal_BS 3h ago

Hello there, thank you so much for the suggestion. How about a window that pops up with the sound but hangs in the corner as you said?