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The Balance Philosophy
Balance is a time-tracking app designed around intention. Instead of tracking everything automatically, it asks you to consciously clock in and out. This helps you create mental boundaries between work and life.
Balance isn’t about maximizing productivity in the moment. It’s about staying aware of how you spend your time and supporting productivity that lasts while avoiding burnout.
Core Concepts
Sessions & clocking in
A session represents a period of intentional time—work, personal projects, or anything else you want to track mindfully. Clock in when you begin so that time has a clear starting point.
Time blocks
Each session is made up of time blocks. Start a new time block when your activity or context changes to keep your time easy to understand later.
Breaks & screen glow
Breaks are a core part of Balance. When it’s time to pause, the screen slowly glows red. Locking your screen starts a break and encourages you to step away from the computer.
Focus mode
Focus mode adds structure by letting you work in set focus periods, like the Pomodoro Technique. Use it when it feels helpful. You can switch between modes at any time.
Clocking out
Clocking out ends a session and closes out your tracked time. Treating it as a deliberate action helps create a clear boundary with the rest of your day.
Balance score
Your Balance score reflects how sustainable your patterns are over time. Use it to review how things are going and make adjustments when needed.
Organizing Time
Balance gives you a few simple tools to organize time. Use as much or as little structure as you want—Balance adapts to you.
Workspaces (context)
Workspaces separate different areas of your life, such as work and personal time, or different clients and roles.
Categories (structure)
Categories group similar activities within a workspace, helping clarify the kind of work you’re doing.
Tags (flexibility)
Tags let you label or group time across workspaces and categories when helpful. You can also use more than one tag at a time.
Notes (memory)
Notes allow you to add context or reflection points to your time blocks that you can review at a later point.
Setting Boundaries
Balance supports setting clear boundaries around your time. These boundaries give Balance the context it needs to reflect your balance more accurately.
Break reminders
Break reminders encourage regular pauses during longer sessions. They’re there to help you step away before fatigue builds, not to interrupt your flow.
Weekly goals
Weekly goals are meant to reflect what feels sustainable, not what you want to push yourself to hit. Use them to sense whether a week feels balanced rather than to measure performance.
Time windows
Time windows set expectations for when you want tracked time to happen. They help reinforce when it’s okay to work—and when it’s okay not to.
Reviewing Time
Reviewing your time shows how your habits develop over time. Patterns are easier to spot when you look beyond single sessions or days.
The log
Explore your time across days, weeks, months, or years depending on how much detail you want.
Spotting patterns
Looking across longer periods helps recurring habits stand out, such as consistently long days or uneven weeks.
Seeing trends
Viewing broader trends makes it easier to judge sustainability and decide whether small adjustments are needed.
For Freelancers & Professionals
Balance works just as well for professional, client-based work as it does for personal tracking.
Billable time
Track client work clearly and consistently, with support for billable sessions and rounding that matches how you invoice.
Advanced exports
Export your time in different formats and levels of detail, so it fits into invoicing, accounting, or other professional workflows.
Using Balance Everywhere
Balance is designed to fit naturally into how you already work.
Menu bar
Balance lives in the menu bar and is always in reach. You can also make it float above other apps.
Keyboard shortcuts
Use shortcuts to speed up common actions, including global shortcuts you can trigger from anywhere.
Spotlight & Siri
Control Balance using search or voice, without switching apps or breaking your flow.
Focus filters
Sync Balance with macOS Focus modes so your setup matches what you’re doing.
Shortcuts app
Automate common actions or build Balance into larger workflows using the Shortcuts app.
iCloud sync
Keep your data backed up and in sync across multiple Macs automatically.
FAQ
Do you offer student discounts?
Yes! Balance is a great tool for studying and I provide students with discounts on the Pro plans. Reach out to me from your student email address and I will get back to you as soon as possible!
Do you support Family Sharing for purchases?
Yes! All subscriptions and lifetime plans in Balance can be shared with your family. If you need help setting this up, check out Apple’s documentation or send me an email and I’ll help you out.
Which platforms are supported?
Balance is available for macOS 14.0+. I have also started working on an iOS/iPadOS version of Balance. You can join the Discord community to be invited to the upcoming private TestFlight beta.
Contact
Please reach out at alex@balance.software if you have any questions or feedback. I’m always happy to hear from you.
Community
Join our Discord community! Connect with other Balance users, share what’s working for you, get help when you’re stuck, and be part of shaping what comes next.