Yonder — 20-20-20 eye break reminder for macOS

A free, open-source menu bar app that protects your eyes from digital eye strain.
Every 20 minutes it dims the screen and asks you to look 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

What Yonder does

Hours at a screen tire the eyes: they dry out, focus gets harder, headaches come by evening. Eye doctors call it digital eye strain (computer vision syndrome). The simplest habit against it is the 20-20-20 rule, and Yonder keeps it for you.

• Counts real screen time only. After 5 minutes away from the keyboard and mouse, your eyes count as rested and the timer starts over. Sleep and screen lock reset it too.
• A soft break that doesn't block your work. Every display dims and a 20-second countdown appears. Clicks still pass through, so calls, videos and games keep going.
• Calm chimes at the start and end of a break.
• Minutes until the next break in the menu bar, plus the day's breaks taken and skipped.
• Break now, Pause for an hour and Open at login in one click.
• Private by design. No account, no network requests, no analytics. The app is about 300 KB of native Swift.
• English and Russian interface, following your system language.

Install

1. Download Yonder.dmg and drag Yonder into Applications.
2. The first time, right-click Yonder and choose Open. The app is free and not notarized by Apple, so macOS asks once. Alternatively, run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Yonder.app

3. An eye appears in the menu bar. Turn on Open at login in its menu, and you're set.

A .zip version is available too.

Compatibility

macOS	13 Ventura or later: Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia, Tahoe, macOS 27
Processors	Apple Silicon (M1–M5) and Intel, one universal app
Tested on	MacBook Pro with Apple M5 Pro, macOS 27.0, in daily use
Displays	Every connected display dims, across all Spaces and full-screen apps
Not tested yet	Intel Macs. If you run one, please open an issue with how it went.

Eye care basics

Yonder handles the first rule. The rest are the basics eye doctors repeat. They don't replace a visit to one.

1. 20-20-20. Every 20 minutes, look about 20 feet (6 m) away for 20 seconds. Looking far away relaxes the eye's focusing muscle.
2. Blink on purpose. At a screen we blink far less often, and the eyes dry out. Take a few slow, full blinks during each break.
3. Keep the screen at arm's length, with its top edge at or slightly below eye level.
4. Match screen brightness to the room, and don't work in the dark.
5. Every hour, stand up and look out of a window.
6. Burning, blurring or pain? See an eye doctor.

FAQ

What is the 20-20-20 rule?

A simple habit against digital eye strain: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Yonder times it, dims the screen and counts the 20 seconds for you.

Is Yonder free?

Yes. It's MIT-licensed open source, with no ads, subscription or in-app purchases.

Will it interrupt my video call or game?

No. The dimming layer lets every click through, and the break panel never takes keyboard focus. You can skip a break with one click.

Does Yonder collect any data?

No. It makes no network requests. It only stores the day's break counters, locally in macOS user defaults.

Can I change the 20 minutes?

Yes, with environment variables, in seconds:

Variable	Default	What it sets
YONDER_INTERVAL	1200	Screen time before a break
YONDER_BREAK	30	Length of the break
YONDER_IDLE	300	Time away that counts as rest
YONDER_LANG	system	en or ru

YONDER_INTERVAL=1500 /Applications/Yonder.app/Contents/MacOS/Yonder

Build from source

You need the Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).

git clone https://github.com/DanielGrash/yonder-eye-break.git
cd yonder-eye-break
./build.sh    # runs the tests, then builds build/Yonder.app, .zip and .dmg
open build/Yonder.app

• src/Scheduler.swift holds the timer logic: active time, rest by idleness, sleep detection and pause. It is covered by tests/main.swift.
• src/main.swift holds the menu bar item, the dim windows and the break panel.
• art/art.swift draws the icon and banner, and sounds/make.py generates the chimes, so the repo has no third-party assets.

Issues and pull requests are welcome.

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По-русски

Yonder — бесплатное приложение для глаз на Mac. Каждые 20 минут работы оно мягко затемняет экран и просит 20 секунд посмотреть вдаль. Это правило 20-20-20 против усталости глаз от экрана.

• Считается только время, когда ты за компьютером. 5 минут без клавиатуры засчитываются как отдых.
• Перерыв не мешает: экран темнеет, но клики проходят насквозь, так что созвон или видео не прервутся.
• В строке меню видно, сколько минут осталось до перерыва и сколько перерывов сделано за день.
• Никаких аккаунтов, рекламы и слежки. Интерфейс на русском языке.

Скачать Yonder.dmg и перетащить Yonder в «Программы». Первый раз открыть через правый клик → «Открыть». Работает на macOS 13 и новее, на Apple Silicon и Intel.

License

MIT © Daniel Grash