Time Out

Want to know what has changed since a previous version? This page lists those changes. You can alter the range of release notes to display if you wish.

The latest general release of Time Out is version 3.1. The latest beta release is version 3.2.

Introducing the Break Themes page

• Moved theme selection from Break Appearance to a new Break Themes page, with thumbnails, descriptions, previews, and more information about each theme.
• Browse a catalog of themes from Dejal and click Get to download the ones you want, without having to visit the website to install them.
• The catalog can offer new and updated themes independently of Time Out app updates. Installed local themes remain available offline; web-based themes require an internet connection. Locally edited themes are preserved when a catalog update replaces them.
• Choose one theme, or select several and use In Order to rotate through them alphabetically or Random to choose a theme for each break.
• Added options to hide themes from the list, show hidden or uninstalled themes, and uninstall downloaded themes that you no longer want. Themes can be downloaded again later.
• Icon remains available as the default theme; removing a theme falls back to Icon when no other theme is selected.
• New installations include Icon and the Dejal blog themes; other themes can be downloaded as needed. Existing installed themes are retained.
• Added File ▸ Reload Themes to refresh the catalog and installed themes.
• Added two web-based themes, Sinclair Trails Photos and Sinclair Trails Photos & Map, showing a random scenic photo from our travels for each break, with the latter including a small map marking where the photo was taken when location information is available.

More flexible support for multiple displays

• Configure themes separately for each connected display, with a display chooser showing the selected themes.
• Display settings are retained when a display is disconnected, ready for when it returns. A display that hasn't been configured uses Icon.
• The break control panel now appears on every display, with the same progress, controls, and messages on each screen.
• Each display remembers its own control panel position between breaks.

New theme background effects

• Added an Effect popup alongside the theme Background color, with Fixed Color, Random Hue, and Blurred options.
• Random Hue chooses a new hue for each break while retaining the selected color's saturation, brightness, and opacity.
• Blurred uses a visual effect behind the break; adjust the background color's opacity to control its appearance.
• Background effects can be configured for each display.
• Theme rotation and the Random Hue and Blurred effects are available as new rewards for recent Time Out supporters.

Capture thumbnails for your themes

• Added thumbnail capture to the theme editor, so you can prepare a preview image for a custom theme or a theme you want to contribute.
• Preview the theme live, choose a suitable moment, and zoom and drag to frame the best representation. Reset restores the original framing.
• Captured thumbnails are 800 × 450 PNG images with a 16:9 aspect ratio, used in the theme list, display chooser, and theme information panel.

Break Appearance is now Controls

• Renamed the Break Appearance page as Controls, now that the majority of it is related to the floating control panel during a break.
• Updated the Controls page with a refreshed layout and improved interval controls for Show button to end early.
• Added a Control panel popup with Always show (the default), Show initially, then fade out, and Hide initially, show on mouse movement options.
• When automatically hiding the panel, moving the mouse quickly fades it in. After 5 seconds of inactivity, it fades out over one second; keeping the pointer over a panel leaves the panels visible on all displays.
• Automatically hiding the break control panel is available as a new reward for recent Time Out supporters.

Improved Break Actions

• Updated the Break Actions page with a refreshed layout and improved interval controls.
• Added File ▸ Reload Actions when the Break Actions page is selected to refresh its actions and available scripts.
• Improved action reordering: drag anywhere in an action header outside its controls, and see actions move into place as you drag. Cancelling a drag restores the original order.
• Restored duration and color controls for the Flash Screen action, which now fades a colored overlay in and out across all displays.
• Added Fixed Color, Random Hue, and Blurred effects to Flash Screen, with the same random hue used across all displays.

Action buttons during breaks

• Added When Button Clicked to the timing choices in Break Actions, with a Button title field to name the button.
• Use action buttons to run scripts or other actions when you choose during a break, without postponing or skipping it. These actions run only when clicked.
• Buttons appear below the standard break controls in the order set in Break Actions. Long titles and additional buttons wrap into more rows, with scrolling for larger sets of buttons.
• Buttons show when an action is running, a checkmark after it has run, and any reported errors. You can run an action again after it finishes; indicators reset for each break.

New Sound Volume action

• Added a Sound Volume action to change the system sound volume, independently of sounds played by Time Out.
• Choose Increase by or Decrease by an amount, Set to a fixed percentage, or Mute.
• Set a Fade duration to change the volume gradually, or use zero seconds to change it immediately.
• Enable Remember the old volume, then use Restore Remembered Volume in another action in the same break to fade back to the previous volume and mute state. For example, fade out at break start and restore after any end, including postponing or skipping.
• The remembered volume is retained until restored or Time Out quits, and is restored only on the same sound output device. Outputs without software volume controls are left unchanged.

Download action and rule scripts within Time Out

• The Break Actions add menu now shows built-in actions and installed scripts, with Browse Scripts… to discover more.
• The new script browser has a searchable list and shows descriptions, authors, created and updated dates when available, requirements, and setup instructions before downloading. Bundled and cached catalog information remains available offline.
• Click Get to download the selected script without adding an action. The browser stays open so you can get several scripts; once installed, click Add to add one to the break.
• The Rules add menu also shows built-in rules and installed scripts, with Browse Scripts… to view descriptions and get additional rule scripts. Use Get to download, then Add to add a rule.
• Added File ▸ Reload Rules when the Rules page is selected to refresh its script catalog and page.
• Time Out asks for access to the Application Scripts folder the first time it needs to install a script. If you cancel access or a download fails, you can click Get to try again.
• Once a script is installed, the Open button becomes available in its action or rule, along with Preview for actions. Reveal Scripts opens the scripts folder in the Finder.
• Added an info button beside the Open or Get button in script-based Break Actions. It opens the browser with that script selected, so you can read its description and setup instructions.
• Fixed a crash when the Application Scripts folder is missing. Get and Reveal Scripts now offer to replace the missing folder at its default location, including the default About documents and subfolders, and ask for access when needed.
• Fixed downloading shell and Python scripts from Dejal, and made download errors more specific.
• Sample action and rule scripts are now downloaded as needed instead of bundled with the app. Existing installed and custom scripts are preserved.

Music pause and resume scripts

• Replaced the obsolete iTunes Pause and iTunes Play entries in the script catalog with Music Pause and Music Play. Existing installed iTunes scripts are preserved; get the new Music scripts to use them instead.
• Use Music Pause as an After Start action and Music Play as an After Any End action on the same break. Music resumes only if it was playing when paused; previously paused or stopped music stays that way, and Music isn't launched if it has quit.
• The Music scripts control playback directly, without Accessibility access. macOS may ask for permission to control Music under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation.
• AppleScript actions now pass their result to the next AppleScript action in the same break, waiting for the previous script to finish. Results start fresh for each break, stay separate from other breaks and previews, and are cleared if a script fails.
• You can pause Music, play a Time Out sound during the break, fade that sound out, then resume Music. Give Music Play a delay to allow the fade to finish, and keep other AppleScript actions outside the Music pair, since each script replaces the previous result.

Improved calendar scheduling

• Fixed calendar-based breaks repeatedly starting and ending when their selected calendar is no longer available or the scheduled event has already ended.
• Time Out now remembers calendar and account names, so it can recover a calendar whose identifier changes after syncing, when there is a unique match. Calendars already missing before this update may need to be selected again.
• Added a visible warning on the Break Schedule page when the selected calendar is unavailable.
• Fixed postponing a running calendar-based break attaching it to the next event instead of retaining the original event's end time. Calendar breaks also retain that end time after an Ask delay or fade-in.
• Fixed the settings window continually growing wider on the Break Schedule page for calendar-based breaks, including when using long calendar filter text.
• Added support for timeout://calendar/reload to reload all calendar break schedules, and URLs like timeout://break/micro/reload-calendar to reload a specific calendar break schedule.

But wait, there's more!

• Reduced excessive disk writes while idle when Reset this break after a natural break longer than is enabled, while retaining live due-date updates and existing scheduling behavior.
• Fixed dragging the break control panel on macOS 27.
• Fixed the Support Time Out page sometimes blinking when opening from the status item.
• Expanded tooltips on the Break Themes, Break Controls, and Break Actions pages.
• Updated menu icons for macOS 27.
• Clears the Show Me highlight when switching pages.
• Fixed Option click on the status item on macOS 27.
• Fixed a Lifetime Supporter showing up with a distant future expiry date.
• Updated the direct edition updater.
• Several other minor improvements.

• Fixed Option click on the status item on macOS 27.