Wakeup

A simple, free, and open-source macOS menu bar app that prevents your Mac from sleeping

Features

• Keep your Mac awake for a chosen duration or indefinitely
• Live countdown in the menu bar (accurate across sleep/wake)
• Two modes:
  • Keep screen on — the display stays on for the whole timer
  • Screen off — the Mac stays awake but the display may turn off
• Duration presets, plus quick reset by re-picking any option
• Start at login
• Built-in Check for Updates via GitHub Releases
• Native SwiftUI menu-bar app, no Dock icon

Install

1. Download the latest Wakeup-x.y.z.dmg from the Releases page.
2. Open the DMG and drag Wakeup into Applications.
3. Launch Wakeup — a coffee-cup icon appears in the menu bar.

First launch (unsigned builds): if macOS says the app "can't be opened because Apple cannot check it," right-click the app → Open → Open. You only need to do this once. (Notarized releases don't show this warning.)

Requirements

• macOS 13 Ventura or later
• Universal binary (Apple Silicon + Intel)

Usage

• Click the menu-bar icon to open the menu.
• Pick a duration (or Indefinitely) to keep the Mac awake. Re-picking any option resets the timer to that duration.
• Deactivate turns it off and restores normal sleep behavior.
• Keep screen on — leave on to keep the display lit; turn off to let the screen sleep while the Mac stays awake.
• Start at login launches Wakeup automatically.
• Check for Updates… compares your version against the latest GitHub Release.

How it works

Wakeup creates an in-process IOKit power-management assertion — the same mechanism the system caffeinate tool uses — so it works without launching an external process:

• Keep screen on → PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep
• Screen off → PreventUserIdleSystemSleep

The countdown is derived from an absolute end time, so it stays accurate even if the display or system sleeps and later wakes. When the timer expires or you deactivate, the assertion is released and the Mac behaves normally.

Building from source

1. Open Wakeup.xcodeproj in Xcode (16+).
2. Select the Wakeup scheme and Build & Run (⌘R).

To produce a distributable DMG, see RELEASING.md:

./scripts/build_dmg.sh          # ad-hoc DMG (no Apple account)

Updates

The app checks GitHub Releases at most once per day (toggleable) and offers to open the release page when a newer version is available. Releases are built locally with scripts/build_dmg.sh and published with the DMG attached to a matching version tag. See RELEASING.md.

License

MIT — free and open source.

Credits

Inspired by Lungo (by Sindre Sorhus / Setapp). An independent, open-source app.