Stretchly alternatives, including one for your phone

If you’re searching for a Stretchly alternative, you probably already like the idea: a regular nudge to look away from the screen and move. What you want is something Stretchly doesn’t do, and most often that something is “work on my phone.” We compared the closest alternatives on the same criteria, starting with the gap people hit most. (Stiff is our app; everything is judged on the same criteria.)

Why people look for a Stretchly alternative

Stretchly deserves its reputation. It’s free, open source under the BSD-2-Clause license, runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and is thoughtfully built: it pauses breaks after five minutes of idle time and while your system’s Do Not Disturb mode is on, and it gives you a short warning before each break. By default you get a 20-second mini break every 10 minutes and a 5-minute long break every 30 minutes.

The reasons people go looking elsewhere tend to be the same few:

• There’s no phone version. Stretchly describes itself as an app that reminds you to take breaks “when working on your computer.” Laptop on the couch, a morning of meetings, or a day split between two machines, and the reminders stop at the edge of the screen.
• The defaults are a lot. A break every 10 minutes is great for your eyes and rough on deep work. You can change the schedule, but many people mute it before they get that far.
• It doesn’t tell you what to stretch. Stretchly shows short break ideas, but there’s no guided, timed routine for the specific part of you that hurts.
• It doesn’t track anything. There’s no streak or history, so there’s no small reward for doing the break and no cost to skipping it.
• Older Macs. Current Stretchly releases require macOS Ventura (13) or later.

None of these are flaws, exactly. Stretchly is a focused desktop timer and does that job well. But if one of them is your reason for searching, the right alternative depends on which one.

Stretchly alternatives at a glance

Best Stretchly alternative for your phone: Stiff

Stiff fills the hole that every desktop timer leaves: the hours you spend away from the main computer. It lives on the phone that comes with you to the meeting room, the kitchen table, and the train, and it brings the stretch with the reminder.

• Reminders that respect your schedule. Set your work days and hours, then an interval of 30, 45, 60, 90, or 120 minutes (45 is the default) and one to three stretches per session. Mid-call? Snooze it for 10 minutes instead of skipping.
• A specific stretch, not a vague suggestion. 41 illustrated, timed stretches of 20 to 60 seconds for the neck, shoulders, back, wrists, hips, legs, and eyes, plus 16 guided relief programs of 3 to 10 minutes, like Neck & Shoulder Reset and Screen Break. The free version includes 26 stretches and 6 programs, with a free program for every body area.
• A reason to do it tomorrow. A daily XP goal, daily quests, streaks, levels, badges, and an Unstiff Score. Groups let you compete with coworkers, and free users can run one group of up to five people.
• Opinions. A sloth writes the notifications in the tone you pick: Gentle, Dry, or Savage. Stretchly’s break screen is politer. Stiff’s sloth is honest.

Where Stiff is weaker: it won’t take over your computer screen or block your keyboard. If being physically interrupted mid-sentence is what keeps you honest, keep a desktop timer for that and use Stiff for the rest of the day (setup below).

Desktop alternatives to Stretchly

If your problem isn’t the phone gap but something about Stretchly itself, these are the closest free, open-source swaps.

BreakTimer: the simpler one with working hours

BreakTimer is a free, open-source (GPL-3.0) desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux. You choose how long and how often your breaks are, whether you get a simple notification or a fullscreen break window, and what the break message says. Its standout setting for desk workers is working hours, so it stays quiet in the evening. It can also restart the countdown when it notices you’ve been away from the computer. It has fewer knobs than Stretchly, which is the point.

Workrave: the strict one

Workrave is the veteran, built to help prevent repetitive strain injury. It “frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit,” in the project’s own words. It’s GPL-3.0 licensed and runs on Windows and Linux (no Mac). If Stretchly feels too easy to postpone, Workrave is the firmer hand. It looks its age, and it leans toward stopping you rather than showing you what to do.

Safe Eyes: the Linux eye-care one

Safe Eyes is a GPL-3.0 break reminder for Linux. It reminds you to take breaks with exercises, can disable the keyboard during them, and pauses itself when the system is idle. If dry, tired eyes are the main complaint, pair it with the 20-20-20 rule.

How to run Stretchly and a phone app together

You don’t have to choose. The setup that covers the most of a desk worker’s day is a desktop timer for short screen breaks and a phone app for the proper stretch. It works only if the two have different jobs, so you don’t get double-pinged.

1. Give Stretchly the eyes. Keep its mini breaks for looking away from the screen, rolling your shoulders, and blinking. If every 10 minutes is too much, stretch the mini break interval to 20 minutes, which lines up with the 20-20-20 rule.
2. Give the phone the body. Set Stiff to your work hours at a 45- or 60-minute interval with one or two stretches per session. That’s the break where you actually stand up or work on a stiff neck or lower back.
3. Turn off Stretchly’s long break, or move it. Two tools asking for a five-minute break at the same time is how both end up muted. Let the phone own the longer break.
4. Match the hours. Stretchly pauses when you’re idle and Stiff only fires in your work hours, so evenings stay quiet on both.

Here’s what a typical day looks like with that split:

Why bother? The UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines advise breaking up long periods of sitting with at least light activity, and the NHS links long periods of inactivity with health risks, while noting there isn’t yet enough evidence to set a daily sitting limit. Short breaks may also help how you feel at work: a 2022 meta-analysis in PLOS ONE found that short micro-breaks gave small but significant boosts to vigor and reductions in fatigue. The effect on performance was smaller and showed up mainly on less demanding tasks. In other words, breaks are good for you, not magic, and the hard part is taking them. For the interval itself, see how often to stretch at work.

Which Stretchly alternative should you pick?

For a wider look beyond Stretchly’s neighbors, including smartwatch stand reminders and DIY phone alarms, see our comparison of the best stretch reminder apps.

Common mistakes when switching break apps

• Copying Stretchly’s defaults into a new app. A 10-minute cadence suits eye breaks, not full stretch breaks. Start a stretch reminder at 45 to 60 minutes and tighten it once answering feels automatic.
• Running two apps on the same schedule. Overlapping pings feel like nagging, and nagging gets muted. Give each tool its own job and its own timing.
• Switching tools instead of fixing the cue. If you ignored Stretchly, you can ignore anything. Usually the fix is a gentler interval, reminders limited to work hours, and a specific stretch ready to go. Our guide on how to remember to stretch covers the habit side.
• Skipping instead of snoozing. When a break lands mid-call, push it back. A skipped break is gone; a snoozed one still happens.
• Using the break to check your phone. Thirty seconds of scrolling is a break for your thumbs only. Keep a few desk stretches in mind, so the break actually moves something.