# 20-20-20

> 20-20-20 is a menu-bar app for macOS. During your work hours it turns the screen black for 30 seconds every 20 minutes, so that you look away from the screen. It has no skip, no snooze and no “Quit”.

- Page: https://apps.andreaslar.com/20-20-20/
- In short: Eye-break reminder you can't dismiss. Follows 20-20-20.
- Price: free.
- Licence: MIT.
- Signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
- It has no network code.
- Requires: macOS 26 Tahoe or later. Apple silicon.
- Source code: https://github.com/andreasnlarsen/20-20-20

## Install

Homebrew (https://brew.sh) must be installed first.

```sh
brew install --cask andreasnlarsen/tap/20-20-20
```

## More about what it does

- The black screen shows the text “Look at something 20 feet away (6 m)” and a counter that runs from −10 to 20. The first 10 seconds are for getting to a window; the 20 seconds of looking away start at 0.
- The menu holds “Break now”, “Pause 30 min”, “Pause 60 min”, “Pause 120 min” and “Work hours…”, and shows the time to the next break.
- Choosing a pause starts a break at once, and the pause begins after that break. No new pause is available for 2 hours after one ends.
- Outside work hours nothing happens, including the break that would follow a pause.
- Work hours are one start time, one end time and the weekdays you tick. Until you set them, 08:00–18:00 every day applies.
- After the app has been killed and restarted, the time to the next break is kept, and a break that was interrupted starts again from the beginning.

## The picture on the page

A black screen with the words “Look at something 20 feet away (6 m)” and the counter at 12.

Its caption: “Example of a break.”

## Questions

### How do I start it?

Open it once after install. It starts at login from then on.

### Why can't I skip a break?

Skip buttons get pressed. So there's no skip, no snooze and no “Quit”.

### What happens in a call or a demo?

Same as always. People watching your shared screen see it go dark.

Pause first with “Pause 30 min”, “Pause 60 min” or “Pause 120 min”. A pause starts and ends with a break.

### What if I quit it?

No “Quit” in the menu. Kill it and macOS restarts it within a second. Uninstalling works.

### Does the 20-20-20 rule work?

Eye doctors recommend it for tired eyes at a screen. The evidence is weak.

20-20-20 makes you look away. It can't check that you did.

### When does it run?

Only during your work hours. Set them on first launch. Changes start the next day.

### I want something gentler

Try Time Out, Stretchly or LookAway. They let you skip or postpone.

### What does it need?

macOS 26 Tahoe or later. Apple silicon.

### The eye is missing from my menu bar

A menu bar manager like Bartender hides new icons. Set 20-20-20 to always show.

### Homebrew says “untrusted tap”

Run `brew trust andreasnlarsen/tap` once. Then install again.

### How do I update or remove it?

Update with `brew upgrade --cask 20-20-20`, then open the app once.

Remove with `brew uninstall --cask 20-20-20`.

This is the plain-text copy of https://apps.andreaslar.com/20-20-20/ for programs. Last updated 2026-11-12.