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Sand Timer 1.5.1

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@and and released this 21 Sep 11:14
· 29 commits to main since this release
v1.5.1
2d23523

A realistic sand timer that sits on your Mac's desktop, above your other windows.

What's new in 1.5.1

  • The sand is heard whether or not the timer is on screen. Hidden in the menu bar, the pouring and the rattle were silenced while the menu went on showing Sand Sounds set to Normal — the setting said one thing and the app did another. What you hear now follows the menu. (Sand Sounds starts at Off, so anything audible is something you asked for.)

What was new in 1.5.0

  • Statistics. Statistics… in the right-click menu shows how long the sand has run and how many timers ran all the way out, by day, week, month or year, as a chart you can hover over to read any span off. It counts only the time the sand was actually running, and it stays on your Mac.
  • Export to CSV. Export… in that window saves the whole record — every span since the first day the sand ran, grouped the way you are looking at it — as sand_timer_report_YYYYMMDDHHMM.csv, ready for a spreadsheet or a timesheet.
  • It tells you when there's a new version. Once a day it asks whether a newer Sand Timer has been released and offers it in the menu, which now also says which version you are running. It downloads nothing: the menu item opens the release page. Check for Updates, beside it, turns that off, and with it off the app makes no network calls at all.
  • The falling sand starts silent. A timer on your desk shouldn't whisper at you until you ask it to, so Sand Sounds begins at Off. A volume you have already chosen is kept as it was. The chime when time is up is unaffected.
  • More to hand in the menu bar. Hidden away up there, the menu offers Pause, Resume and Restart, and the sound settings as well.
  • A shorter menu. The colour of the sand, the style of the base and its size are gathered under Appearance, and Hide to Menu Bar now sits with Flip and Restart.

Earlier updates

  • 1.4.1: a soft chime each minute (off by default), and the sound settings grouped together.
  • 1.4.0: tilt it by hand, lift a toppled timer back up, and pick it up by the top.
  • 1.3.1: a natural shadow.
  • 1.3.0: Float Anywhere, and smooth tipping over and standing up.
  • 1.2.0: gravity affects the flow (drop it and the stream stops mid-air), about 40% less CPU, and natural-looking sand.
  • 1.1.1: a smooth, steady sand stream.
  • 1.1.0: 6- and 12-minute timers for 0.1- and 0.2-hour billing blocks.
  • 1.0.3: new installs start on the 25-minute 🍅 Pomodoro setting.
  • 1.0.2: Support Sand Timer… in the right-click menu; open source under the MIT License.

Download

SandTimer-1.5.1.dmg below. Open it and drag Sand Timer into Applications. Works on macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Signed and notarized, so it opens without a security warning.

Using it

  • Click to start. Click again to pause (it tips onto its side) and again to resume.
  • Drag it anywhere; let go and it drops to the bottom of the screen.
  • Push the top sideways to tilt it, lift a toppled timer back up by its top, or pull the top upward to pick it up.
  • Right-click for durations (1–60 minutes, including a 25-minute 🍅 Pomodoro), Appearance (sand colors, base style, size), sounds, Minute Chimes, Start at Login, Float Anywhere, Hide to Menu Bar and Statistics.
  • Hidden in the menu bar, the time left shows beside the hourglass, with pause, resume, restart, the sound settings and Statistics in its menu.

What's inside

  • Sand that behaves like sand: a crater that deepens on top, a pile that builds at the bottom, a stream that loosens as it falls, and a neck sized to the duration.
  • Flip, drop, shake, tilt and knock it over, and the sand responds.
  • Remaining time on a display in the base that switches over when you flip it.
  • Sounds made to match: sand pouring onto glass, then onto sand, shaking, landing, a chime when time is up, and optional minute chimes.
  • Hide it to the menu bar with the time left, pause, resume and restart.
  • A day-by-day record of the time you ran, with daily, weekly, monthly and yearly views and a CSV export.

SHA-256: 14db66d8b72eb3026523bbc644090ae08d02b08776a8e49b6e0ad3ef1ccfc09e

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