nathandemick.com

Introducing BreakApp

Despite the relative silence of the blog recently, I've still been programming. After updating Nonogram Madness and Revolve Ball, I wanted to do something new, so decided to make a small productivity app. The result is BreakApp, a simple application for iPhone and iPod Touch which tries to remind you to take breaks from sitting at your desk. Most of my life is spent sitting, sadly, and there seems to be lots of research that says that prolonged sitting will take years off your life. However, if you can get up and move around regularly, it can help offset the negative effects of being a desk jockey.

Such "take a break" apps exist for the desktop already, but I wanted to make something for my phone. It's all too easy for me to ignore warnings on my desktop, but when I get a notification on my phone, it breaks my flow/concentration more, because I have to spend more effort to look at the phone's screen. Plus, I figured I'd be more likely to actually use the app if I was the one who wrote it.

The app is still written with cocos2d. I toyed with the idea of learning Interface Builder, but decided to prototype with something I already knew. By the time the functionality of the app was done, I had little interest in going back and re-writing the display code. The only real downside of using cocos2d instead of UIKit was the jankiness of the "slider" controls. I used some freely available code front the cocos2d-extensions project, and while it works, it's not as good as what Apple provides.

I published the app as a way to make it more permanent, not necessarily to make any money. You can check it out on iTunes, and if it seems like the sort of thing you'd use, send me a note and I'll give you a promo code.

· 6 comments


Comments

D Xl Mccormack wrote on :

I love the app for the beautiful clock and straightforward interface, however for us timeboxers out there I'd like the ability to set up 2-10 minute time periods. This Is possible right?

Nathan wrote on :

The minimum "work" time you can set is 30 minutes. I'll update the app description with that limitation so people who want shorter limits can find a different app.

D Xl Mccormack wrote on :

Ok that's a shame... Thank you for what you've done with this app already.

sb wrote on :

love it!!!

Roman wrote on :

Dear Nathan, I somehow have troubles with switching the app off. I seem to be no longer able to keep up with the rhythm the app insists on, so have either to find a way to turn it off or simply delete it. The latter is of course highly undesirable since your creation does looks great...

Nathan wrote on :

The way the app currently works is a bit weird. Basically once you set a "break" interval, it'll keep notifying you on that interval until you turn the "Display Notifications" option to "off." Then you can update the interval and turn it back on. If I ever find time to update the app, I'll probably change it so that will only send a notification once, and then require that you set it up again. That way users won't be surprised with multiple notifications or be confused as to how to turn the notifications off.