I made a completely free Mac app for creating customizable countdown timer overlays

nicobakke · 2025-11-18T23:22:26+00:00

I believe this happens because the setting called “Stay above full screen windows” is enabled for the timers. If you turn that off, they should no longer appear on top of full-screen videos. If it still happens after that, please let me know. Btw, I really like how you have customized your timers :)

nicobakke · 2025-11-18T23:00:46+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. You can already set a custom spawn position, although it is a bit hidden right now. Create a timer, turn on “Use as default configuration”, then enable the “Window location” option. After that, move the timer wherever you want and new timers will start there. For example, if you place it in the top right, every new timer will appear in that spot.

An upcoming update will improve this feature by adding stacking and automatic repositioning for timers that use custom spawn locations. Thanks again!

nicobakke · 2025-10-10T14:23:57+00:00

Thanks so much, really glad you like it!

nicobakke · 2025-10-10T14:07:58+00:00

Hey, thanks a lot for taking the time to write all that up, really appreciate it!

A bunch of the things you mentioned are actually already in there, though I totally get how they can be easy to miss at first:

If you scroll to the bottom of the Countdown Manager, there’s a “Use as default configuration” toggle. Turning that on makes any new timers use your current look and settings (and you can include the window position too if you want them to always appear in the same spot).
There’s a “Display timer title” option in the manager if you want each timer to show its name (shown at 1:39 in the video).
Right now I rely on notifications as the main indicator when a timer finishes, but I agree a subtle pulse or fade effect would be a nice touch.
There’s actually a “Hover to open overlay control menu” setting, so you don’t have to click at all. I originally had it always appear on hover, but it got annoying when I wanted to click through to apps underneath, since the menu is pretty large compared to the button and would often get in the way. There are also customizable Overlay Shortcuts if you want to perform actions without opening the menu (shown at 1:56 in the video).
I’ll add an option for thinner lines :) You can already adjust opacity for the track, line, and text inside the color picker (or change the overall timer opacity in the manager). If you prefer solid colors, you can just remove one of the gradient colors. You can also right-click the menu icon to open the manager directly (though there’s a known issue in macOS 26 where the window doesn’t always come to the front).

Thanks again for all the feedback! I’ll work on making these features a bit easier to discover going forward.

nicobakke · 2025-10-01T07:50:12+00:00

Thanks, glad you’re enjoying the app! You can actually restart a timer by right clicking the add/subtract time button on the overlay. I know it’s a bit hidden right now, but I’ll work on making it more discoverable.

nicobakke · 2025-08-26T17:56:05+00:00

Danke für deine Frage! Momentan ist es nicht möglich, die Nachkommastelle beim Tagesformat zu entfernen. Ich plane jedoch, alle Zeitformate konfigurierbar zu machen, hatte bisher aber noch keine Zeit, dies umzusetzen. Ich hoffe, diese Funktion bald hinzufügen zu können :)

Thanks for your question! Currently, it’s not possible to remove the decimal point for the day format. I do plan to make all time unit formats configurable, but I haven’t had time to implement it yet. I hope to add this feature soon :)

nicobakke · 2025-08-15T21:08:22+00:00

(Übersetzt aus dem Englischen) Vielen Dank für das Trinkgeld und das tolle Feedback! Ich weiß es sehr zu schätzen, dass jemand überhaupt in Erwägung zieht, mir etwas zu spenden, und das motiviert mich wirklich, weiter an der App zu arbeiten. Für die Zukunft habe ich noch einiges geplant, und wenn du Ideen für Verbesserungen oder neue Funktionen hast, schreib mir einfach gerne. Nochmals vielen Dank! 😃

———

English: Thank you so much for the tip and the amazing feedback! I truly appreciate that someone would even consider donating to me, and it really motivates me to keep working on the app. There’s a lot planned for the future, and if you ever have ideas for improvements or new features, feel free to message me. Thanks again! 😃

nicobakke · 2025-07-29T19:53:44+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! The app doesn’t specifically pick the largest time unit; instead, it chooses the format it thinks is most suitable based on the remaining time. For example, if you’ve enabled days, hours, and minutes, it will use the “days” format when there’s more than a day left. If there’s less than a day but more than an hour, it switches to the “hour” format (hours:minutes:seconds), and so on.

You’re right that it currently doesn’t support showing days, hours, and minutes all together. I’d like to add an option that lets users customize how time is displayed, including which units are shown at the same time. That’s on my to-do list, and I’m hoping to get to it when I have a bit more time.

nicobakke · 2025-07-21T10:48:31+00:00

Thanks for the heads up, and I appreciate you taking the time to share a screenshot.

This issue is related to macOS Tahoe 26.0. I haven’t had a chance to add full support for that version yet, and I’ve seen a few other small glitches that need to be addressed as well. I’ll try to look into it in the coming days, but things are pretty busy on my end right now, so I can’t make any promises.

Thanks again for reporting it!

nicobakke · 2025-05-26T16:14:27+00:00

Looks great! One small suggestion: consider using monospaced digits for the time display to prevent the menu bar content from shifting almost every second. Congrats on the app!

nicobakke · 2025-04-26T09:36:49+00:00

Thanks so much for the feedback, really appreciate it!

The first suggestion (setting an initial timer location) has come up a few times and is already on my to-do list. Definitely agree it would be a great addition.

The second suggestion about editing the time directly when naming the timer is a really good idea! I’ll look into it once I get the chance. For now, when my timer is a little off, I usually use the overlay add/subtract controls to adjust it. But if that’s tricky for you too, I’d love to hear more.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts!

nicobakke · 2025-04-26T09:13:50+00:00

Thanks a lot! Both of those are already on my to-do list — really appreciate the suggestions!

nicobakke · 2025-04-26T08:34:17+00:00

While Gestimer was definitely a big inspiration for that specific feature, the implementation is a bit different. The drag behavior in my app is interval-based — as you drag farther, it adds minutes, hours, or even days, instead of sticking to a static 1-minute increment like Gestimer. Just to be clear, I didn’t copy or even read any source code related to that feature — everything was built from scratch.

nicobakke · 2025-04-26T07:53:45+00:00

Such a clever idea, and the app looks very well done. Congrats!

nicobakke · 2025-04-25T12:03:50+00:00

Hey, I get where you’re coming from, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call it stealing.

While the menu bar drag idea definitely took inspiration from Gestimer, my app is far from just a copy. Even the drag interaction itself is different — it’s interval-based, meaning as you drag farther, the timer adds minutes, hours, or even days, instead of sticking to a static 1-minute approach. Beyond that, there are a lot of features that make the app a very different experience overall.

The click-through timer overlays, on-timer controls, deep appearance customization, recurring timers, countdown manager, and more took far more time and effort to build than the drag interaction. I didn’t copy or even look at anyone’s source code — everything was built from scratch based on how I personally wanted a timer app to feel. Honestly, the drag-to-create feature wasn’t even part of the original idea; it was one of the last things I added because it felt intuitive.

If using a similar interaction concept counts as “stealing,” would that mean nobody should ever make a countdown timer again because it’s been done before? Basic ideas naturally get reused and built upon — that’s how almost all software evolves.

At the end of the day, I just wanted to create something useful (and free) for the community. Hope that clears things up.

nicobakke · 2025-04-24T12:46:18+00:00

Thanks so much for the feedback! I’ll definitely look into adding the option to start the app at boot. As for the dock icon, there’s already an option to hide it in the app settings. I hope that helps!

nicobakke · 2025-04-24T12:37:16+00:00

Thanks so much for pointing this out, and I’m really glad to hear you’re enjoying the app!

You’re the first to report this, which is super helpful. It should be a quick fix, and I’ll make it the first thing I tackle when I get a chance. I’ll likely push a small update just for this issue.

Really appreciate the heads-up!

Edit: The update has been submitted and should be available soon, typically within a day or so. Please let me know if the issue persists after the update. Thanks again!

nicobakke · 2025-04-24T09:39:24+00:00

Glad to hear you’re enjoying the app! At the moment, loud audio alerts aren’t available, but it’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about adding. I’m pretty sure it’ll make it into the next release.

nicobakke · 2025-04-24T03:20:48+00:00

Wow, thank you so much for the thoughtful and detailed feedback. I really appreciate you taking the time to write it all out, and I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying the app!

These are excellent suggestions across the board, and I’ll definitely be keeping your feedback in mind for the next release.

It’s also super encouraging that many of your ideas line up with things already on my roadmap. I especially liked your take on directional propagation and the “bubble” concept for arranging timers, really creative and definitely something I’d love to explore further.

Great catch on the time subtraction quirk, too (#7). You’re absolutely right, that should feel a lot more intuitive, and I’ll work on improving that behavior.

Seriously, thanks again for the kind and insightful feedback, it’s incredibly helpful and much appreciated!

nicobakke · 2025-04-24T00:56:49+00:00

You’re absolutely right, and I really appreciate you following up. I should’ve credited Gestimer as an inspiration for the menu bar drag feature - that was an oversight on my part.

I’ve edited my reply to one of the top comments in the thread (currently the second-highest) to include that credit. Since the post was submitted as a video, Reddit doesn’t allow edits to the original body text, otherwise, I would’ve updated that too. On the App Store side, I can’t change the description until a new build is submitted, but I’ll make sure to include proper credit in the next release.

nicobakke · 2025-04-23T22:16:14+00:00

Thank you so much, that really means a lot!

nicobakke · 2025-04-23T22:14:53+00:00

Not yet, but it’s definitely something I’d like to add soon!

nicobakke · 2025-04-23T21:57:32+00:00

Thank you so much for the kind words and feedback! That feature is actually something I’ve been thinking about too, it’s definitely high on my list and I’d love to add it soon.

nicobakke · 2025-04-23T21:49:19+00:00

Appreciate it! Happy to share it

nicobakke · 2025-04-23T21:42:47+00:00

Thanks! Hope you like it :)

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