November 2026

I’m pleased to announce a pre-release TestFlight for version 4.0.1 of Time Out, my popular break reminder app for Mac. 🎉

This is a bug-fix update, which includes:

• Fixed the Focus is active rule not detecting Focus on macOS 27. Time Out now asks for permission to access Focus status when needed.
• Updated app names in Rules to use their localized names, matching skip reasons; for example, Screenshot instead of screencaptureui.
• Fixed a trial sometimes remaining active after subscribing.

This pre-release build is available via Apple's TestFlight. Want to help test it? Install the TestFlight. It is…

When I released Time Out 4.0 recently, and cross-posted the release post to Reddit as usual, the first comment was:

Nice! Long list of features. Did you use AI?

I replied:

Yes, of course. There's no way I could have done all that so quickly otherwise. Codex is a useful tool to accelerate development... but it isn't as simple as a prompt; I have extensive instructions on coding style and functionality, and do multiple iterations to refine each enhancement. I am managing and designing each change, with just the grunt work of typing code delegated to Codex. AI is disruptive, and has negatively…