The best breaktimer app

The only app that isn’t annoying

Taking short breaks allows my thoughts to catch up with my coding

I’m a programmer, as you probably noticed. That means I sit for hours at a time. I get in the zone and I completely ignore the outside world, including friends coming to say hello, food, and water.

Um, hello? Anyone there? HELLO?

This might be good for my work (or is it? See below) but this is definitely bad for me. I have had back problems, neck and shoulder pain, eye strain, you name it. And all the experts I have talked to tell me that I need to get up every 20 minutes.

I’m like, “If I have to get up every 20 minutes, I can’t work!”. And they’ll go “Fine, but at least get up every hour, OK?”

So in addition to lots of exercise, I’ve tried a lot of breaktimer apps, from a simple interval timer on the phone, to mobile apps to desktop apps. And they were all. So. Annoying.

At some point I removed them for my own sanity and I was back where I started.

Until I found Stretchly. My son (not yet 16!) found it as he loves open source projects, and I tried it and it was awesome. It’s hard to put a finger on what exactly makes it better than other apps, but I think it’s a combination of the following:

1. Soothing colors and sounds — it doesn’t “scream” at you, instead gently reminding you to take a break
2. Notifications — It notifies a few seconds or minutes before a break that there will be one, allowing you not to stop mid sentence
3. Full screen and video — It doesn’t work when in Zoom meetings or working full screen on something (it was very embarrassing when a previous app showed up in the middle of a meeting and could not be stopped…)
4. Can skip — It is possible to skip a break if you’re really flowing
5. Suggestions — Instead of glaring at the screen for 20 seconds until the break is done, it offers simple suggestions that are really easy to do — simple stretches or things to think about for the small breaks and more complex actions for the larger breaks.
6. Highly configurable — you can configure how often and for how long you want the breaks, colors, sounds, etc.

See? Soothing.

The result? I feel better — neck and shoulders are less stiff, eyes less strained — and my productivity is actually higher! Taking short breaks allows my thoughts to catch up with my coding, and makes my coding more efficient with less do overs.

Win-Win!

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Stretchly in any way. This is my honest unsolicited opinion on something that worked for me.