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 release of Time Out is version 2.9.2.

• Now uses more modern ways to start the break helper, the automatically start on login option, and access the System Settings.
• Fixed app icons not appearing in the Activity log for apps with display names that don't match their filename.
• Fixed a break sometimes stopping too early when using the Ask When to Start option.
• Fixed a break not being rescheduled past midnight when a natural break occurs.
• Added themes for the Sinclair Trails blog and YouTube channel, and updated the Tropical Rain theme.
• Fixed the Speak Time break action script.
• Can now use a URL of timeout://settings to open the Time Out settings window, in addition to the existing timeout://preferences (useful for scripting and shortcuts).

• Fixed an issue where the Icon theme could be damaged.
• Fixed a crash when choosing the new Calendar scheduling option.

Added a status message to the breaks in the sidebar

• The break items in the sidebar now display a status message, e.g. to indicate that the break has been postponed or skipped.
• When a break is skipped or postponed due to an app exclusion, the app name is included.
• So if you ever wonder why a break didn't occur as expected, look at this status message.

Added the ability to schedule breaks using calendar events

• A new Calendar option is now available in the From pop-up menu on the Break Schedule page.
• If chosen, a pop-up menu of your calendars, and a field to filter on event text is displayed.
• The first time this is chosen, the app will prompt for permission to access your calendars.
• When using this option, Time Out will look at the specified calendar for events containing the specified text, and start a break at the start of the event, and finish at the end.
• If the event text filter field is left blank, all events will be used; specify something else to use the same calendar for multiple breaks.
• Multiple values can be entered in the filter field, separated by commas, e.g. "break, lunch, snack".
• A reload button is available to reset the due date, if you edit the events.
• Since the calendar controls the duration, frequency, and availability of the break, those controls are disabled.
• This feature is available as a reward for current supporters; others can try it for an hour at a time.

Added an Exclusions option to skip breaks when busy on the calendar

• A new Also skip breaks during calendar events option is now available on the Exclusions page.
• If chosen, a pop-up menu of your calendars, and a field to filter on event text is displayed.
• The first time this is chosen, the app will prompt for permission to access your calendars.
• When using this option, Time Out will look at the specified calendar for events containing the specified text, and skip a due break if it would fall within an event.
• As with calendar scheduling, if the event text filter field is left blank, all events on that calendar will be used; specify something else to only skip some of the events.
• Multiple values can be entered in the filter field, separated by commas, e.g. "meeting, 1-on-1, planning".
• This feature is available as a reward for current supporters; others can try it for an hour at a time.

Support for Monterey focus

• Renamed the Exclusions option to skip breaks during Do Not Disturb to focus, Apple's new name for it in Monterey.
• The first time this option is enabled, the app will prompt to get permission to look at the focus state.
• If declined, you can enable it via System Preferences ▸ Security & Privacy ▸ User Availability.
• This feature will still work with the old Do Not Disturb state from previous macOS versions.

Added an Advanced option to hide the Pause function

• Sometimes it can be very difficult to resist the temptation to pause Time Out to avoid breaks, even though you know you shouldn't.
• So for people who don't want the Pause function, there is now an option on the Advanced page to hide it.
• This feature is available as a reward for current supporters; others can try it for an hour at a time.

New break options to pause or reset an individual break

• Added a Pause Break or Resume Break command to the break options menus. So a break can be paused independent of other breaks.
• The Pause Break menu item can be chosen to pause indefinitely, or choose a shorter time from the submenu.
• This is of course not included if the new Advanced option to hide pause is active.
• Also added a Reset Break command to these menus. This will start the work period again from now, just for this break.

But wait, there's more!

• Fixed the Flash Screen break action on Apple silicon Macs. It now uses the built-in screen flash, so doesn't have color or duration options.
• Fixed the Fadeout Sound break action not showing the fade out time interval field.
• Updated the Stop Screensaver break action script.
• Breaks due on future days are no longer adjusted when having a natural break (idle).
• When resetting a From: Fixed Time break, the next due time now respects the fixed time.
• Break names are now cleaned up to avoid invalid characters that can cause saving the break to fail.
• Updated the Exclusions to remove DVD Player, and change FaceTime, Photo Booth, and QuickTime Player to include "System" in their paths.
• For new folks, the exclusions for Zoom are now When Frontmost, to avoid a common support query. Existing data is not changed, in case you like them When Open.
• The Pause All Breaks menu item can now be chosen to pause indefinitely, instead of needing to choose that from the submenu.
• When paused indefinitely, the status item text now shows "--".
• Improved the highlighting of the status item rows.
• Hidden a couple of rarely-used diagnostic logging options.
• Fixed a performance issue where the app could use more CPU than it should in some unusual circumstances.
• Time Out now requires a minimum of macOS Catalina (10.15).