MenuTimer

A small multi-timer that lives in your macOS menu bar.
Run several timers at once, add time on the fly, get an alarm when one ends.

Features

• Multiple timers, running side by side
• Live countdown in the menu bar for the timer that ends soonest
• Quick adjust with + 1m / + 5m, even while a timer is running
• Alarm with a bell and "Done" in the menu bar when time is up
• Fast entry: type 25, 1:30 or 3:05:32 (h:mm:ss)
• Remembers your timers between launches
• Native SwiftUI: one source file, no dependencies

Requirements

• macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later

Installation

1. Download MenuTimer.zip from the latest release.

2. Unzip it and drag MenuTimer.app into your /Applications folder.

3. Open it. macOS will block the first launch because the app is not notarized by Apple:

   • Open System Settings → Privacy & Security
   • Scroll to the Security section and click Open Anyway next to MenuTimer
   • Confirm with your password or Touch ID

   You only need to do this once. The button appears shortly after the blocked launch attempt.

Prefer the terminal? This does the same thing:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/MenuTimer.app

Usage

Click the timer icon in the menu bar to open the panel.

Action	How
Start or pause a timer	Click the timer's name/time area, or the play/pause button
Add time	+ 1m / + 5m. On a running or paused timer this extends the countdown. On an idle timer it makes the saved timer longer
Reset	The circular arrow button. Stops the timer and restores its full length
Stop the alarm	Click the stop button, or reset the timer
Snooze	Press + 1m or + 5m while a timer is ringing
Delete a timer	The pink ✕ button
Create a timer	Type a name and a length at the bottom, then press Return or the + button
Quit	Quit at the bottom of the panel, or ⌘Q

Timer length format

You type	Result
25	25 minutes
1:30	1 minute 30 seconds
1:00:00	1 hour

New timers start with three presets: Focus (25 min), Break (5 min) and Tea (3 min).

Good to know

• The alarm repeats about every 2.5 seconds and silences itself after roughly 30 seconds.
• Timer definitions are saved, but running timers do not survive quitting the app.
• MenuTimer runs as a menu bar app only, so it does not appear in the Dock or the app switcher.

Build from source

You need the Xcode Command Line Tools (no full Xcode, no project file):

xcode-select --install   # once
git clone https://github.com/YOURUSERNAME/MenuTimer.git
cd MenuTimer
./build.sh
open MenuTimer.app

build.sh compiles MenuTimer.swift with swiftc, assembles the .app bundle with the icons, and ad-hoc signs it.

Customization

The settings at the top of MenuTimer.swift can be changed before building:

private let alarmSoundName = "Glass"   // Frog, Hero, Ping, Submarine, Funk, Sosumi, Purr
private let alarmRepeatSeconds = 2.5   // gap between alarm repeats
private let alarmMaxRepeats = 12       // alarm silences itself after ~30 s
private let panelTitle = "timers"      // header text in the dropdown
private let menuBarSymbol = "timer"    // fallback SF Symbol if MenuBarIcon.png is missing

Project structure

MenuTimer/
├── MenuTimer.swift    # the entire app
├── build.sh           # builds and signs MenuTimer.app
├── AppIcon.icns       # app icon
└── MenuBarIcon.png    # menu bar icon (template image, tinted for light/dark mode)

Uninstall

Quit the app, delete MenuTimer.app from /Applications, and optionally remove its saved timers:

defaults delete com.local.menutimer

License

MIT. See LICENSE.