Move! - Responsive Work Break Reminder for macOS

The Context

Move! emerged from a serious health concern: prolonged sitting is bad for your health, and I was sitting a lot and had many stiff necks at University. On top of the effects that can be felt immediately, research shows that highly sedentary people have higher risks for heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome – and you can’t out-train bad desk behavior. I needed a solution that would relentlessly enforce healthy breaks without being just another ignorable reminder.

Existing break timers were not in-your-face enough or too playful or too clunky or could be postponed too easily. I wanted a more subtle annoyance.

Technical Challenges

Responsive Break Detection

The key innovation in Move! is that it only counts work time when you’re actually working, and only counts break time when you truly stop:

• Implemented activity monitoring to detect genuine work vs idle time
• Created algorithms to prevent cheating the break system
• Built an overlay that covers all screens when break time arrives, no exit hatch provided (I wonder how many hours I’ve spent over the years looking above and below the break reminder bar)

Unignorable but Not Hostile

• Designed a full-screen break reminder that can’t be easily dismissed
• Balanced assertiveness with user respect – it gets in your face for your own good
• Kept the app lightweight and focused on its single purpose

Research-Driven Development

• Based features on actual sedentary behavior research
• Cited scientific studies directly in marketing to educate users
• Designed break intervals based on health recommendations

Team Dynamics

As a solo project, Move! let me be opinionated about user health. No committees, no compromise – just a tool that does what’s necessary to keep people healthy, even if it means being a bit pushy. My pal Sascha did the research and provided me with evidence that a break timer was needed in our lives.

Personal Reflections

Move! taught me the value of shipping opinionated software. Not every app needs to be customizable or gentle. Not every app needs to be this huge productivity suite. Sometimes users need software that pushes back against their bad habits in a very simple way, and that’s that.

This was also an exercise in restraint. I could have added exercise routines, statistics tracking, social features, or gamification. Instead, I kept it simple: work time, break time, no excuses. The app’s simplicity is its strength. I still would love to add exercise routines, actually, to help desk warriors combat their health problems, but that’s just weirdly out of scope.

The marketing copy Sascha wrote – “Sitting kills” – is direct and uncomfortable, just like the app itself. This alignment between product personality and marketing has been surprisingly effective.

Impact

Move! got on the nerves of a couple of people I know in person, to force them out of their chairs. I have no data for this, but I imagine that it has helped reduce health risks of prolonged sitting for hundreds of people and created sustainable work habits.

The app demonstrates that solving a real problem with focused determination can create lasting value. Users don’t love being interrupted, but they love feeling healthy and productive. Move! delivers both by being relentless about the first to achieve the second.

What I actually think would be a great combo: a pull-up bar and a break timer, so you are reminded to get up and move, and then do dead hangs on the bar to decompress your spine. How much better that alone made me feel is unbelievable.