Up2Reset / Stretchly on Mac

What you are seeing

On first launch macOS shows some version of:

• “Stretchly” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.
• macOS cannot verify that this app is free from malware.
• Apple silicon: a quarantine error until you strip the attribute in Terminal.

That is Gatekeeper doing its job. Stretchly’s author documents it: the app is not signed (Apple Developer signing costs money, and they do not ship a signed Mac build). Official notes: Stretchly downloads.

Why it happens

Three separate facts, often mixed together:

1. Unsigned binary. Notarized Mac apps skip this prompt. Stretchly does not.
2. Electron. It is a cross-platform tray app. Fine on Linux. On a Mac you pay for a Chromium runtime just to get a break window, and you inherit Gatekeeper friction the native menu-bar apps never have.
3. Homebrew official cask is disabled. brew install --cask stretchly from the default tap fails Homebrew’s Gatekeeper check. The formulae page is marked disabled (formulae.brew.sh/cask/stretchly). The maintainer’s own tap still exists; the one-liner most people copy does not.

None of this means Stretchly is malware. It means the install path that used to be “one brew command” is now a support ticket.

If you want to keep Stretchly

Use the author’s path, not random “disable Gatekeeper” blog posts:

1. Download from GitHub Releases or the official downloads page.
2. Intel: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway next to the Stretchly alert. Or Control-click the app in Finder → Open.
3. Apple silicon: the downloads page still documents xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine on the .app. That is a quarantine bypass, not a signature.
4. Homebrew: if you insist, use the fully qualified tap the author names on the downloads page. Do not expect the default cask to work.

Skip is still ⌘X after a postpone. That is the other complaint people bring to Reddit after they get it running.

If the job is “cover the screen until I stand up”

Stretchly’s job is real. The Mac packaging is the part that failed. Up2Reset is a native Swift menu bar timer that does that job without Gatekeeper:

• Signed Mac App Store build. No Open Anyway. No xattr.
• Full-screen overlay on every display, including hot-plug mid-break.
• No Accessibility permission. Idle detection (Pro) uses the system idle clock, not a global event tap.
• No account, no analytics SDK. Settings stay on the Mac.
• macOS 14.6+ (Sonoma). You do not need Tahoe.

Live listing name is still Up2Stretch (1.2.1). 1.3.0 is in review and renames it to Up2Reset. Same bundle id com.tool.Up2Stretch, Apple ID 6447865036.

Free to start. Overlay is not behind Pro.

Also stuck on Time Out?

Time Out 3.1 on the store and the current direct build require macOS 26. Sequoia users are on 2.9.7. Separate page: Time Out requires macOS 26.

Sources: Stretchly downloads / signing · Homebrew cask (disabled) · Apple: unidentified developer. Stretchly is a good OSS project. This page exists because the Mac install is the thing people actually search.