← SwingBy

Support

Email hello@nexaitech.com and you will get a reply from a person. The common questions are below.

Build 13 and later use the new sidebar settings. Earlier builds keep Desktop options in General and purchase controls in Pomodoro.

Where is he?

SwingBy has no Dock icon or main window on launch. Look for the climber in your menu bar, and for the monkey hanging at the top-right edge of the screen.

If you cannot see him at the edge, open Preferences › Desktop and check Between visits. Set to "Always peeking" he is there all the time; set to "Only during visits" he appears on the hour and is otherwise hidden.

How do I get his attention?

Move the pointer into the top-right corner of the screen. He grows slightly and a few controls fade in beside him. Click him, or pull him down, and he tells you the time.

Can I keep the time visible?

Turn on Preferences › Desktop › Show current time. A small clock appears at the bottom-right of the selected screen, even when the character is hidden. In build 10 and later, drag it to move it; its position is remembered. Right-click to hide it or reset its position. Only the small clock itself receives clicks, not the screen around it. It uses your Mac's time format and is off by default and free.

The rope reaches the top of the usable screen. With an automatically hiding menu bar, the character keeps some clearance while the rope extends to the edge.

The monkey covers a notification or control

In build 13+, Option-drag the monkey to move it left, right or down on the selected display. Positions are remembered. A normal downward pull still asks the time. The rope and empty space beside the character do not receive clicks.

For immediate access underneath it, choose Mascot › Click-through mascot from the menu bar. Session controls still work from the menu. Turn click-through off before dragging. Left/center/right presets and Reset position are in the Mascot menu and Desktop settings.

Movement is bounded so banners and completion controls stay on screen. No notification contents are inspected and no Accessibility permission is required.

Colors, opacity and settings

Open Preferences › Appearance for separate monkey, rope and banner opacity, fur/rope/banner colors, and rope thickness. Banner text chooses black or white for contrast. At 0%, a part is hidden and cannot take clicks. Expand Live preview to see the style without starting a real session. Reset appearance does not reset your position or timer.

The resizable settings window groups Desktop, Appearance, Focus, Schedule & Quiet, Voice, and General & Pro. Planning tools are grouped under Plan & reflect in the menu bar.

Why didn't he swing by?

Almost always because he decided it was a bad moment. He stays quiet when your camera or microphone is in use, when a presentation app is frontmost, when something is fullscreen and you have asked for quiet in fullscreen, or when he is muted.

You never have to guess. Every decision is logged with its reason:

The other possibility is that your Mac was asleep. A visit that was missed while asleep is dropped deliberately rather than announced late.

How do I write a reminder?

Open SwingBy's menu bar menu and choose Add reminder.... Type a time and message, then press Return or click Add reminder:

These are examples, not pre-saved reminders. A clock time that has already passed is scheduled for tomorrow. After adding one, the editor confirms the schedule and stays open so you can add another. Invalid input keeps your draft and shows what needs changing.

To change an existing reminder, open Reminders › the reminder › Edit.... Change its message, or enter a new time in the optional reschedule field. Leaving that field blank preserves the exact deadline and recurrence. Use Delete reminder to remove it.

If he cannot find a time in what you typed he will say so rather than guess. Just added one you did not mean? Undo is in the same menu. One that just went off can be snoozed ten minutes.

Can I stop a Pomodoro once it has started?

Yes, all of it. Pause, resume, add five minutes, stop, skip the break, end the break early, or take back a session that got counted by mistake. Everything is in the menu bar item and in the controls beside him.

How do named focus sessions work?

Starting a Pomodoro asks What are you focusing on? Enter a short goal. Add 5 minutes keeps the same goal, even when continuing a focus session that has just finished. New session asks for a new goal; your current timer stays unchanged until you submit the new one.

Completed focus sessions appear in Focus history..., saved only on your Mac. A timer finishing does not mean the task is accomplished. Choose Accomplished, or mark it later in history, when it is actually done. You can delete individual records or clear the history; it keeps the most recent 100 sessions.

When idle, the character may briefly offer to start focusing after 15 minutes, then once more an hour later. Invitations are silent and respect active hours and quiet rules. Turn them off in Preferences › Focus › Suggest focus when idle.

What happens when the timer ends?

The countdown is replaced by a completion card showing how long the session was and how long ago it finished, plus the goal, current local time and a gentle stretch suggestion. Choose Break, +5 min, New session, Accomplished or Dismiss for a named focus. Nothing starts automatically, and these controls are included free.

The menu bar shows Focus or Break with the remaining time, Paused when held, and a checkmarked Done until you choose an action. If you have not acknowledged completion, the character can wave briefly after 30 and 90 seconds, then stays still. Quiet rules are checked again before each reminder. Missed reminders are skipped, not replayed, and Reduce Motion uses static emphasis instead.

If a call, presentation or quiet rule suppresses the completion visit, SwingBy posts a silent notification instead. The menu bar still shows the completed state.

Quick actions and small starts (version 1.1)

Press Control–Option–Space, or choose Quick actions in the menu. Try focus 25m finish proposal, focus 5m write one sentence, remind in 40m stretch, pause, resume or stop. If another app owns the shortcut, use the menu entry. An active timer is never silently replaced.

Just five minutes asks for one small step. When it ends, choose Keep going, Done or Stop for now. Pausing work can save an optional next-step note. Resume lets you review it; a saved focus restores paused after relaunch and does not count time away as focused work.

Today and weekly reflection (version 1.1)

Today lets you choose up to three priorities and start focusing on one. Bring unfinished priorities forward explicitly; a finished timer never marks a task done. Weekly reflection summarizes explicit outcomes and session finish times from local records. There are no streak penalties or productivity scores. Priorities and focus history can be cleared separately in their windows.

Calendar focus suggestions (version 1.1)

Choose Find a calendar focus window, then explicitly enable suggestions. macOS requests full calendar access, but SwingBy only reads availability and never changes events. It looks across your calendars, leaves two minutes before the next busy event, and checks again when you press Start. Suggestions never start automatically. Use Disconnect to turn them off.

Free, canceled and declined events do not block time; busy all-day and tentative events do. No clear five-minute gap, or a focus preset shorter than five minutes, means no suggestion. If access is denied, use System Settings › Privacy & Security › Calendars. Calendar permission is optional; the rest of the app works without it.

Making him quiet

Mute for fifteen minutes, an hour, this evening, or tomorrow - from the menu bar, or with ⌃⌥⌘M from anywhere. Unmute the same way.

macOS gives apps no way to read Focus or Do Not Disturb, so SwingBy does not try to guess at it. The hotkey is the honest alternative.

What does the Pro upgrade change?

Custom focus and break lengths, and it removes the small wordmark from the timer board. Nothing else differs: hourly visits, reminders, the quiet rules and the celebration are all in the free version. Buy it from Preferences › General & Pro.

I bought Pro but it still says Free

For the Mac App Store app, open Preferences › General & Pro (Pomodoro in older builds) and choose Restore purchases. Purchases use your Apple Account; there is no licence-key entry or external checkout in that app. The purchase price is localized by Apple.

Only the separate direct-download version offers I have a key for a direct licence. If you need help, email us with the app version and the error message. Do not send passwords or payment credentials.

Removing it

Quit from the menu bar and drag SwingBy from Applications to the Bin. It leaves your local settings and records in its sandbox container; macOS may retain these after the app is removed. Use Focus history and Today to clear those records explicitly.

I lost my licence key

If you bought the direct version, go to the buy page and use Lost your key? at the bottom. You need the payment ID from the receipt Razorpay emailed you, and the email address you bought with. It shows the same key again - it never issues a second one.

If you bought through the Mac App Store instead, there is no key: open Preferences › General & Pro (Pomodoro in older builds) and choose Restore purchases.