Aug 2
Feature Bloat
This app is really good, but my instinct is that it has some feature creep and bloat. I just wanted an app that strictly enforces the 20-20-20 rule, but I didn't necessarily know that there were free alternitives before I bought (no worries, I like to support independent developers). I had to spend 5 min turning off and going through all the settings, and I do not need the "stats" or "screen score" feature to be used at all or displayed on the menu bar.
Pending
Yes, this concerns me too. When I bought LookAway about a year ago, I was really impressed by how simple and polished it felt. It was an app that intelligently detected pauses in your work and automatically managed the timer around them. The amount of care and attention to detail was remarkable. I’ve noticed that after the introduction of the UserJot platform, the app seemed to explode with new functionality. It feels as though the developer handed some of the product direction over to users and started implementing feature after feature that people suggested. On the surface, many of these additions seem obvious and useful — statistics are a fairly natural next step, as are increasingly granular notification and exclusion settings, or an iOS app. I have to admit that the UI remains polished and relatively easy to navigate despite the sheer number of things you can now configure. But this has become a genuinely advanced and complex app. If I were discovering it as a new user today, I think I would hesitate before buying it, simply because at first glance it might feel too overwhelming. That’s also why reports from some users about high RAM usage concern me, although I haven’t noticed that issue on my own Mac. I’ve grown accustomed to LookAway and will continue using it, but I would encourage the developer to take a step back and carefully reconsider the core values and principles they want the product to be built around. For me, what made LookAway special was primarily its intelligent break detection and time management, combined with a minimalist, universally beautiful break screen.