Eye break reminder apps compared

System-wide apps

A desktop app sees your whole computer, so it can remind you whatever you’re doing. Stretchly is free and open source for Windows, Mac and Linux: by default a 20-second mini break every 10 minutes and a 5-minute long break every 30, with a heads-up before each. It pauses in Do Not Disturb and counts 5 minutes idle as a natural break. Workrave, free for Windows and Linux (a Mac port is in development), uses micro-breaks of about 30 seconds every 3 minutes, rest breaks of about 10 minutes every 45, and an optional daily limit, and can show exercises at the start of a break.

On a Mac, Time Out by Dejal has a free core with optional Supporter purchases. Its break screen fades into a scene you pick, and rules can hold breaks back for chosen apps, calendar events, Focus modes, fullscreen apps and calls in FaceTime, Teams or Zoom; the site doesn’t say which features need a Supporter purchase. LookAway ($19, $29 or $99 once, with a 7-day trial) pauses for meetings, video, screen recording, deep focus apps and fullscreen games, and adds optional blink and posture nudges. Its Windows version is listed as coming soon.

EyeLeo, a free Windows app whose leopard shows eye exercises, is listed as discontinued on AlternativeTo, and we couldn’t check its own website. Blink Eye (Windows, Mac, Linux) shows a full-screen reminder with a 20-second countdown; the basics are free and premium features are paid, by subscription or once.

Browser extensions

An extension only knows what happens in the browser, so it can’t see that you’re in a desktop app, and it can’t draw over one. In return, it needs no install beyond the browser, and it can show its reminder on the page you’re reading rather than as a notification that focus modes may hide.

eyeCare (Chrome, also on Firefox) has about 50,000 Chrome users, far more than other break extensions we found. It reminds you with a desktop notification, a sound and a flashing toolbar icon, and suggests what to do with the break; you can switch it off with one click and have it come back on by itself. The Chrome version was last updated in November 2024, the Firefox one in 2020.

BlinkPause (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) shows a 20-second look-away break every 20 minutes as a card at the top of the page, with a soft bowl and a spoken guide so your eyes can stay off the screen, and a blink cue every minute in between. It holds back during calls in a browser tab and waits for fullscreen, video and a pause in your typing. It can’t remind you outside the browser except as an optional system notification for breaks, and it is new, with no store ratings yet.

Choosing by where you work

If most of your day is in desktop apps, pick a system-wide app: Stretchly on any platform, Workrave on Windows or Linux, Time Out or LookAway on a Mac. If most of it is in the browser, or you can’t install software on a work computer, an extension covers the hours that matter.

Whichever you pick, the one you keep running matters more than its features. In a 2023 trial, 20-20-20 reminders eased symptoms while they ran, and the benefit was gone a week after people stopped (Talens-Estarelles, 2023). A reminder that waits for your calls and leaves by itself is easier to keep.

How we compared

We read each app’s own website, store listing, documentation or README on 11 November 2026, and took platform, price, how breaks look, default rhythm and quiet modes from there. We couldn’t check EyeLeo’s own site, so its row comes from its AlternativeTo listing. Where a source doesn’t say, the table says “not stated”. We didn’t rate the apps, and no app paid to be listed. BlinkPause is our own extension, and its row includes what it can’t do.