I'm pleased to announce the first beta release of Time Out 2.7!

This update includes changes for compatibility with Big Sur, plus a much-requested new feature to ask to start a break:

When enabled, the break control panel appears without dimming the screen, with a Start Break button to actually start the break:

This update also includes improvements to the Preview feature, to preview themes without affecting stats:

It also bundles several more themes (that are available via the Time Out Extras page), and a bunch of other changes.

Here are the full release notes; read on for more information:

Big Sur

• The app is compatible with Big Sur; please let me know of any issues you notice.
• Controls use the Dejal green accent color on Big Sur if the accent color in General System Preferences is set to "multicolor".

New option to ask to start a break

• Added a new option in the "when this break is due" pop-up menu: Ask When to Start.
• If chosen, a time interval control appears to specify a limit, after which it should start anyway. This defaults to 5 minutes (also supports units of seconds and hours).
• When a break is due with this option, the control panel will appear, with a button to manually start the break when you're ready, and the screen won't dim.
• When you click the Start Break button, the screen dims and the break continues as normal.
• If you don't click within the time limit, the break starts anyway; this is needed to avoid accidentally blocking subsequent breaks.
• A countdown to auto-starting appears once halfway through the time limit.

Improved break preview

• When clicking the Preview button on the Break Appearance page, the break now appears with a Stop Preview button to dismiss it.
• The preview has no time limit; it'll remain until dismissed.
• Dismissing the preview doesn't count as skipping it, so doesn't affect your statistics or daily limits.
• If you want to try the full break experience, click the Start button in the sidebar instead.

Added several new break themes

• Added a "Dejal Blog" break theme, that shows the Dejal blog for news from Dejal.
• Also added "Dejus Blog", that shows the author's personal blog, with daily interesting photos.
• And to complete the set, "Yellow Cottage Blog", that shows the author's homestead blog, with pictures of feral cats, ducks, chickens, and more.
• As an example of a static remote picture, added a "Ducks & Fish" theme, that shows that. You can edit the theme to show a picture of your choosing.
• Added an "Inspirational Quotes" theme, that shows a quote for each break.
• Added a "Pexels Nature" theme, that shows a random nature picture.
• Added "Photo Slideshow", that can be edited to show 10 local images of your choosing.

Other changes

• Now skips breaks during a screen recording by default for new users. Existing users can see this blog post to add this exclusion.
• Also now skips when using Zoom too; see this blog post.
• Fixed the break control panel sometimes moving offscreen.
• Fixed break rows not highlighting properly in the status item menu.
• Worked around Apple bug with displaying a time like 59 minutes 30 seconds as "0d".
• The scripts for Break Actions are now listed in alphabetical order.
• Fixed the Sound Action Repeat checkbox color in dark mode.
• Updated the Help menu to include the Dejal Reddit and other tweaks.

Want to try it?

If you are using the direct edition, you can change your Updates preferences to include beta releases, then use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

Otherwise, download the beta now!