BlinkPause Almost in the Chrome Web Store.
BlinkPause is on its way to the Chrome Web Store. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.
Almost in Edge Add-ons.
BlinkPause is on its way to Edge Add-ons. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.
Almost in Firefox Add-ons.
BlinkPause for Firefox is on its way to addons.mozilla.org. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.
For Chrome, Edge and Firefox
BlinkPause is a free extension that reminds you to blink. Every minute or so, soft eyelids close a little over the page you’re reading and open again, in about half a second, and you blink with them. Every 20 minutes it asks you to look at something far away for 20 seconds.
No camera, no account, no tracking. Coming soon to Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Phone browsers don’t run extensions. Add it on your computer.
Almost in the Chrome Web Store.
BlinkPause is on its way to the Chrome Web Store. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.
Almost in Edge Add-ons.
BlinkPause is on its way to Edge Add-ons. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.
Almost in Firefox Add-ons.
BlinkPause for Firefox is on its way to addons.mozilla.org. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.
The page blinks, you blink with it. Here every few seconds; in BlinkPause, once a minute by default.
Focused work slows blinking down, and more of the blinks you do make stop short of closing. Your eyes dry out and tire. A cue you’ve learned to answer can help you blink more.
17
blinks a minute at rest
About 26 when you talk, and about 4.5 when you read.
Bentivoglio, 1997Half
or more of computer users
report symptoms of digital eye strain, such as tired, dry or sore eyes.
Sheppard and Wolffsohn, 2018+7
blinks a minute
with a brief on-screen cue that people knew meant “blink now”, against almost none with a placebo.
Nosch, 2015
Seeing a blink doesn’t make you blink by reflex. In studies, the cue worked when people knew what it meant. So the welcome starts with three slow practice blinks: when the lids close, close yours.
The details, and what the studies don’t show, are in How often should you blink at a screen?
It never takes focus, never blocks a click, and leaves by itself. Pick the look you like, how often it comes (every 30 seconds to every 5 minutes) and how quickly it plays: quick, natural or slow. Every tenth blink is a slow one, a nudge to close your eyes all the way.
A real blink, seen from the inside: warm, dark lids with blurred lashes close over the page and open again. Strength sets how far they come: Gentle, Clear or Full.
The page goes softly out of focus for a moment, with faint lids, then clears. Depth sets how soft: Light, Soft or Deep. In one study, blur was the cue people liked best.
The eye comes in, blinks slowly at you, and goes: in a corner or the middle of the window, small or large, on a slider.
With every look, the BlinkPause eye in the toolbar blinks alongside. On pages no extension may draw on, like the new tab page, settings, the stores and PDFs, a small window shows the eye instead. It never takes focus and closes by itself.
Every 20 minutes of screen time, a small card asks you to look at something far away for 20 seconds: the 20-20-20 rule. A soft bowl and a spoken guide tell you when it starts and ends, so your eyes can stay off the screen. Skip it, or have it come back in 5 minutes.
The guide speaks with a voice already on your computer. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Three times a day, a break can become a squeeze set: close, squeeze, open, 15 times, the routine that came out best in a 2025 study of blink exercises. A low tone means close and a high tone means open, so you can follow it with your eyes shut.
The evidence for 20-20-20 is mixed, and the benefit fades when people stop. What the studies say. So breaks are gentle enough to leave on.
Four quiet sounds, made on your computer as they play, with no files to download. At breaks they’re on; with each blink they’re off unless you want them.
Everything lives in the toolbar. Click the eye to open BlinkPause: what it is doing on one side, the basics on the other.
A reminder that interrupts at the wrong moment gets switched off, and then it helps no one. BlinkPause watches for the moments to stay out of the way.
Meet, Zoom, Teams, Webex, Slack huddles and more: while a call is open in a tab, nothing appears.
Nothing happens while the computer is idle or locked, or while you’re in another app. Coming back after five minutes or more counts as a break.
A break waits for a pause in your typing, and for fullscreen and video to end.
Pause from the popup, the toolbar’s menu or a shortcut. Set the hours it works and the sites it skips.
Nothing runs on a page until a blink is due, and then only on the tab you’re looking at. Installing it asks for no permission that shows a warning.
Read the privacy policy. It’s short.
Eye-break tools come in a few kinds. Each has a trade-off, ours included.
Anything else? Support has quick fixes, and a person reads every email.
A free browser extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox that reminds you to blink. Every minute or so, soft eyelids close a little over the page you’re reading and open again, and you blink with them. Every 20 minutes it asks you to look at something far away for 20 seconds.
Yes. No ads, no account, no premium tier. BlinkPause is made by Mutables, a small studio.
No. BlinkPause never turns on the camera and doesn’t count your blinks. It gives you a cue on a rhythm you choose, and you blink with it.
Every minute by default, and anywhere from every 30 seconds to every 5 minutes. Every tenth blink is a slow one, a reminder to close your eyes all the way.
Lids is a real blink seen from the inside: warm, dark lids with blurred lashes, at the strength you pick (Gentle, Clear or Full). Mist softly blurs the page for a moment, with faint lids. Peek is the eye blinking at you from a corner, at the size you set. The toolbar eye blinks with every one.
No. While a call is open in a browser tab (Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, Webex, Slack huddles and others), it shows nothing at all. Breaks also wait for fullscreen and video to end.
Only to draw the blink on the page you’re looking at. The permission is optional, and BlinkPause never reads what’s on the page. Without it, the eye in the toolbar blinks instead.
Browsers keep their own pages to themselves: the new tab page, settings, the extension stores and PDFs. There, BlinkPause opens a small window that shows the eye blinking, without taking focus, and it closes by itself. You can switch to the toolbar only in settings.
No. It uses a voice already installed on your computer, so the words are spoken there and never leave it. The sounds are made on your computer too.
Not the blink: an extension can only draw inside the browser. Breaks can reach you in other apps as a notification, if you turn on Remind me in other apps.
The evidence is mixed. In one trial, reminders eased eye strain symptoms over two weeks, but the benefit was gone a week after stopping. That’s why BlinkPause leads with the blink and keeps breaks gentle enough to leave on.
No. It’s a reminder, not a medical device. If your eyes stay dry, sore or blurry, see an optometrist or eye doctor.
Free for Chrome, Edge and Firefox. A minute to set up, then it stays out of the way.
No camera, no account, no tracking. Coming soon to Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Phone browsers don’t run extensions. Add it on your computer.
Almost in the Chrome Web Store.
BlinkPause is on its way to the Chrome Web Store. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.
Almost in Edge Add-ons.
BlinkPause is on its way to Edge Add-ons. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.
Almost in Firefox Add-ons.
BlinkPause for Firefox is on its way to addons.mozilla.org. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.