Time Out vs Poxture App

It's 3 pm. You've been in the same chair since lunch, and your face is a few inches closer to the screen than it was at noon. Those are two different problems. Time Out is a break reminder for the Mac: on a timer, it reminds you to step away, with anything from a quiet notice to a calm scene that fills the screen. Poxture App checks your posture through your Mac's camera and nudges you when a habit shows up, like leaning in or looking down. You may want one, or both. Every fact about Time Out below comes from Time Out's own website and its Mac App Store listing.

By Shyam Verma, maker of Poxture App · Checked 8 November 2026

Break timer · Mac

Time Out

Notices with: A timer
Nudge: A break screen with a scene you pick
Works: At your Mac
Price: Free, with paid extras

Mac app · ours

Poxture App

Notices with: Your Mac's camera
Nudge: A glow and a how-to card
Works: At your Mac
Price: Free an hour a day, $19 once for all day

The short version: want breaks on a schedule, with a calm screen that gets you away from the desk? Time Out. Want to know how you sit in between, and how to fix it? Poxture App. Want both? They can run side by side.

Download Poxture App for Mac

Choose Time Out if

You want regular breaks on a schedule you set, from 15-second pauses to a lunch break.
You want breaks to wait while you are in a call, a calendar event or a full-screen app.
You want a break screen with your own photos, videos or messages.
You only want reminders to get up and move.
You'd rather not use a camera at all.
Your Mac runs a macOS older than 15. Time Out 2.9.7 runs on macOS 10.15 or later.

Choose Poxture App if

You want to know how you sit between breaks, from leaning too close to the screen to looking down.
You want each nudge to say what's wrong, show the fix, and tell you when you've fixed it.
You want a free hour every day, with every feature all day for your first 14 days.

What Time Out is

Time Out is a Mac break reminder by Dejal Systems. In its own words, it "gently reminds you to step away from your Mac, stretch, rest your eyes, or simply take a breath." It comes with two kinds of breaks: a Normal break, typically 10 minutes every hour, and a Micro break, typically 15 seconds every 15 minutes. You can change either one, turn it off, or add your own, like a lunch break. Time Out has been on the Mac App Store since December 2010. Version 4.0, which Dejal calls "the biggest update ever", came out on 29 October 2026.^1,2,3

How a Time Out break works

When a break starts, your screen can fade into a calm scene, a video, a message or your own photos. A small panel shows how long is left, and lets you put the break off, skip it or end it early. If you skip too often, you can limit that. Before, during or after a break, Time Out can show a notification, play a sound, speak some text or run a script.^1,2

Rules can hold a break back while certain apps are open, during a calendar event or a call, or while your Mac is in Focus or a full-screen app. Time Out also notices when you have been away from your Mac, counts that as a break, and moves the next reminder.¹

A timer, or a check on how you sit

Time Out works from the clock and your calendar. Its pages do not mention posture or a camera.^1,2

Poxture App tells you which of eight habits you slipped into: too close to the screen, looking down, hand on face, slouching, sitting still too long, hunched over, leaning to one side, or not working from a proper desk setup. The card for that habit shows the fix, and the glow at the top of the screen turns green once you've fixed it.

Different jobs, so you can use both

A break timer gets you up on a schedule, however you were sitting. Poxture App checks your posture between those breaks, and nudges you only when a habit shows up. If you want regular breaks and a check on your posture in between, run both: Time Out for the breaks, Poxture App for the time you're at the desk.

Where they run

Time Out runs only on the Mac. Version 4.0 needs macOS 26.0 or later. For an older Mac, Dejal still offers version 2.9.7, for macOS 10.15 or later.^1,2

Poxture App is built for the Mac. It runs from your menu bar on an Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 15 or later, and checks your posture while you work in any app. The camera is off whenever it isn't checking: when you pause, outside your work hours, during calls if you choose, and when the Mac is locked.

Free, or try it, then pay

In Time Out's own words, "The core features are always free." A supporter purchase unlocks its premium features for good, and Dejal says these "are not subscriptions and do not automatically renew". $4.99, $9.99 or $19.99 also brings the premium features added in the next 3, 6 or 12 months, and $59.99 Lifetime brings all future ones. The Mac App Store edition also offers Premium subscriptions at $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year (US store). You can try the premium features before you pay.^1,2

Poxture App is free to use: the first hour of each day is free for good, and for your first 14 days every feature works all day, and $19 once keeps it on all day.

Privacy

Time Out has optional Activity tracking, which "gives you a picture of breaks taken, apps used, and time away from your Mac." Its App Store privacy label lists contact info and diagnostics as data that may be linked to you.^1,2

Poxture App has no account and no web app, so there is no sign-in to keep. Its camera images never leave your Mac. Poxture App sends usage counts with a random install number and, once a day, rounded posture scores with no install number, and supporters can turn both off in Settings. The privacy page lists all of it.

Side by side

	Time Out	Poxture App
Runs on	Mac with macOS 26.0 or later; version 2.9.7 for macOS 10.15 or later	Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 15 or later
How it works	A timer: a Micro break every 15 minutes and a Normal break every hour, by default	Your Mac's camera or an external webcam, once a minute
What it tells you	That it's time for a break	Which of eight habits slipped, and how to fix it
How it nudges	A break screen with a scene you pick, which you can put off, skip or end early	A soft glow at the top of the screen, a card that shows how to fix it, and a green glow once you've fixed it
Free use	The core features, free for good	1 hour a day, free for good; all day for your first 14 days
Price	Free. Supporter extras from $4.99 to $59.99 that don't renew, or on the Mac App Store a $1.99 monthly or $19.99 yearly subscription	$19 once
What it collects	Contact info and diagnostics may be linked to you, its App Store privacy label says	Usage counts and rounded posture scores; supporters can turn both off

Questions

Is Poxture App a Time Out alternative?

Only in part. Time Out reminds you to take breaks on a timer. Poxture App checks your posture while you work, and one of its eight habits is sitting still too long. If you want breaks on a fixed schedule, keep Time Out and add Poxture App for how you sit in between.

Is Time Out a posture app?

It is a break reminder. Its pages do not mention posture or a camera. By default it asks for a 15-second Micro break every 15 minutes and a 10-minute Normal break every hour.

Is Time Out free?

Yes. Its core features are free, per its website on 8 November 2026. Supporter purchases from $4.99 unlock premium features and do not renew by themselves. The Mac App Store edition also offers monthly and yearly subscriptions.

Which macOS does Time Out need?

Version 4.0 needs macOS 26.0 or later. Dejal still offers version 2.9.7 for macOS 10.15 or later. Poxture App runs only on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 15 or later.

Does Poxture App send any data?

Yes, a little. Camera images never leave your Mac. Poxture App sends usage counts with a random install number and, once a day, rounded posture scores with no install number, and supporters can turn both off in Settings. The privacy page lists each one.

Download Poxture App for Mac

Best posture apps for Mac to run alongside Time Out

Choosing a posture app for Mac

What Poxture App costs

LookAway alternative How SitApp compares My posture app comparisons

Sources, read 8 November 2026

Time Out's website (Time Out page), checked 2026-11-08
Time Out's website (Mac App Store listing), checked 2026-11-08
Time Out's website (What's New page), checked 2026-11-08