Homeward for macOS
Your Mac,
after work.
Bring your Mac home. Leave work at work.
Pick the apps you use for work and when your workday ends. Homeward closes those apps at the cutoff—and closes them again if you reopen them. Unselected apps remain available.
Version 0.1.0 · Public test build · macOS 15.0+ · Apple silicon
How it works
Set it once. Change it when you need to.
Homeward sits in the menu bar. Set a weekly schedule, select work apps, choose Gentle or Firm Close, and optionally receive warnings 15 and 5 minutes before the cutoff. Today-only controls can extend the window, choose another cutoff, reopen work for the day, or take the day off. Saved Thoughts keeps reminders on your Mac for later.
- 1
Set your week
Choose when work is available on each day.
- 2
Pick your work apps
Your IDE, terminal, Slack, Mail—whatever work means on your Mac.
- 3
Choose the close
Start with Gentle for a normal quit. Firm may force-quit after 30 seconds.
Private by design
Homeward doesn’t read your work.
It checks whether selected apps are running. It does not inspect what is inside them. There is no account, cloud profile, or behavior score.
- Does not require macOS Accessibility permission.
- No Screen Recording permission.
- No administrator access.
- Settings stay on your Mac.
What it is—and isn’t
A small guardrail, not a lock.
Homeward is for the moment when you know you are done but your tools are still one click away. It makes that click less automatic.
It is a commitment aid, not a security system. It cannot stop work on another device, in an unselected browser, or from a command-line process.
Details
A few practical questions.
What happens if an app has unsaved work?
Gentle Close only sends a normal quit request and lets you leave an app open when it needs attention. Firm Close gives the app a 30-second grace period that you can stop, then may force-quit it. Unsaved changes can be lost in Firm Close.
Can Homeward block one browser tab?
No. Homeward works with whole Mac applications. If you select a browser, it closes the browser—not individual tabs or profiles.
What if I need to work late?
You can extend today by 10, 15, or 30 minutes, choose a different cutoff, reopen work for the day, or return to your weekly schedule.
Does Homeward track what I do?
Homeward observes whether selected apps launch or terminate so it can apply your schedule. It does not inspect documents, windows, browser history, terminal commands, or AI conversations. Your settings and saved thoughts stay on your Mac.
Can I download it?
Yes. Homeward 0.1.0 is available as a public test build for Apple silicon Macs running macOS 15.0 or later.
Test build
Download Homeward
Homeward 0.1.0 is a public test build for Apple silicon Macs running macOS 15.0 or later.
How to open Homeward the first time
Open the DMG and drag Homeward to Applications. Then Control-click Homeward and choose Open. If macOS still blocks it, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway.
Technical details
Download the SHA-256 checksum and compare it with shasum -a 256 Homeward-0.1.0-build.5-local-arm64.dmg.