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Show HN: A macOS clock that stays visible when coding or binging in fullscreen
Have you ever wished you could see the time while coding or watching videos in fullscreen or when your menu bar is hidden? Corner Time is a minimalist macOS app designed for those who value a clean desktop but still want the clock to be always visible.
Unlike other widgets or solutions, Corner Time sits unobtrusively in the corner of your screen as if it were a native part of macOS—even when you’re in fullscreen mode or using auto-hide for your menu bar. The app is highly customizable: you can choose your preferred date format, adjust the style, match your system language, and use it seamlessly across all your monitors.
My personal use case is using it on my MacBook with TopNotch, along with always auto-hiding the menu bar and dock, to create a maximized, distraction-free workspace.
Corner Time has quickly become a favorite among digital minimalists and power users. Many users describe it as a long-awaited solution, praising its simple but thoughtful design.
Feedback and suggestions are welcome!
- shinycode 1y agoI’ve never ever liked working with the full screen mode. Very hard to do multi tasking with it. Curious to see how much people use it
- macintux 1y ago> Very hard to do multi tasking with it. I think that's one of the appeals to full-screen mode: the ability to focus with limited distractions. I don't think it's designed for multitasking.
- muvich3n 1y agoAgreed. I personally reduce distractions and maximize screen space by setting the dock and menu bar to auto-hide, and by maximizing windows to achieve a full-screen-like effect while still allowing quick window switching with Cmd+Tab.
- nomel 1y agoNo, many of my colleagues do this, using desktops. They use the four finger swap left/right to switch between the different fullscreen apps. It's their main multitasking method. I think it's partly because alt + tab does not exist on Mac. Command + tab is between applications rather than windows. Command + ~ is between windows within an application. I had to downloaded HyperSwitch to get the same functionality. edit: HyperSwitch is free. HyperDock is what I paid for.
- muvich3n 1y agoIn full screen mode, there’s even a split-screen feature.
- shinycode 1y agoI use shortcuts to split windows with rectangle app all the time it’s really more powerful than split screen
- notpushkin 1y agohttps://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ (free, GPLv3) is one of the first things I install on any macOS setup. (and of course, ⌘ ` opens the terminal on all of my machines)
- shinycode 1y agoFwiw I discovered rcmd a few years ago and it changed my workflow to attribute an app to a shortcut. I switch through cmd-tab less often and I’m really more productive. I can’t live without it now https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd/ https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd/
- notpushkin 1y agoLosing right cmd isn’t great IMO (e.g. if you want to press ⌘ P, you need both hands now). I’ve tried doing both cmds for launching apps, but settled on ⌘+⌥ (and use it for very common apps only: browser, mail, Telegram, Finder). Both variants (and of course an rcmd-like setup) are easy to do with Karabiner (free, Unlicense): https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ Edit: looks like rcmd also includes a quasi-modal app switcher - if it works like I imagine (type the name of the app you want), that’s pretty neat. But not that different from just typing it into Spotlight I guess?
- muvich3n 1y agoActually, I also don’t use it very often. Sometimes I turn on full screen mode when recording or watching videos. My reasons are quite similar to yours. Switching to other apps when there is an app in full screen mode is so inconvenient. However, after the product launched, I realized that more people use full screen mode regularly than I expected. But I set the menu bar and dock to auto-hide to create a less distracting, more focused workspace. Therefore, Corner Time is very important to me, as it allows me to check the time without repeatedly hovering over the menu bar.
- ct0 1y agofull screen + multiple virtual desktops is the way. I do it on windows most of the time, and its helped my multitasking experience.
- whalesalad 1y agothe full screen animation when you want to jump back and forth between apps is such a time waste. when I see people swiping across multiple full screen apps I just think you are not a serious person. I use the mac app sizeup to get actual keyboard shortcuts to properly maximize a window, and also get split left/right top/down etc too. Mainly use it for legacy "fullscreen" convenience.
- nottorp 1y agoIf you stick to 16:10 monitors you have space for the menu bar, dock and a 16:9 content window. Of course you don't get 12k pixels at 4800 fps or other large numbers and can't be blinded by misguided HDR, if you care about that.
- entrepy123 1y agoFullscreen (or, as is my preference, "hide menu bar automatically" and "open window to maximized not true fullscreen mode") is useful for presenting a full display cleanly, when the contents to present is exactly 16:9. Otherwise, the menu bar makes the contents not truly 16:9 or awkwardly shows distractions/leakage in the form of the menu bar. Critically, if contents being presented is true pixel perfect 16:9 ratio and the window is not "fullscreen" or "maximized with hidden menubar", then the aspect ratio gets messed up, ruining what is otherwise perfection through a slice of "missing" content along one edge. Indeed, more for presenting than actual task work IME. Nice thing is this clock can show on other displays, too, in multi monitor setups, e.g. when auto-hide-menu is enabled. So sweet.
- cuddlybacon 1y agoI use fullscreen mode a lot. For work I will have VS Code and a web browser side-by-side. Every ticket I work on gets its own instance. I find it keeps me organized so I can focus on the work. If Apple ever got rid of fullscreen mode I could probably just do this with normal virtual desktops. But this is slightly better than that.
- muvich3n 1y agoMakes sense. My colleague also uses the IDE in full screen mode to keep focused.
- lurking_swe 1y agoThat’s the appeal to me. I like to _focus_ sometimes without distractions. I work with a single 5k 27” monitor. I accept that i’m human and do better work when i limit my distractions. Especially when writing code. Research shows that almost everyone performs worse when they multi task, even if they THINK they are doing things better / faster. It’s an illusion. The hilarious thing is everyone thinks it only affects other people. They’re a special snowflake or something haha. But sometimes multi tasking is needed, like if you’re in a zoom meeting, referencing docs, slack messages, graphs, etc. In that case i’ll just have multiple windows on my desktop and resize them as needed. Or if it’s just for a few seconds, then i’ll jump between full screen windows.
- codepoet80 1y agoReminds me of the SuperClock days: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/superclock-404 https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/superclock-404
- muvich3n 1y ago[dead]
- elisiariocouto 1y agoNice little app, even though I don't use fullscreen ever. Side question: what "stack" did you use for the website? It's beautiful!
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- muvich3n 1y agoThanks! If you set the menu bar to always auto-hide (not just in full screen), it works just as well. This is actually my use case. This website was built using Next.js, with Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui for styling, Motion (formerly Framer Motion) for animation.
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- hk1337 1y agoI like it, it looks really nice. I wish there were a way to adjust the positioning, maybe change the corner, change the margin from the edge of the screen, or a add a background? https://i.imgur.com/BxanupM.png https://i.imgur.com/BxanupM.png *EDIT* It seems to work okay for the main macbook pro display. I'm guessing because something in the fullscreen is automatically handling bumping it down for the notch for you but on the second monitor I do not have the notch.
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- muvich3n 1y agoThank you!! I do need to optimize its positioning on the external monitor. I’ll prioritize adding an optional background to improve readability to ensure the experience on monitors without a notch. Is there another corner where you’d like to place it?
- hk1337 1y agoBottom right or left maybe. I cannot think of much that occurs on macOS at the bottom corners on either the laptop screen or an external monitor. Thank you for replying.
- entropie 1y agolike a decade ago there were an xosd library for xorg which were dead easy to use. I used it to show song information and the time on one display. It was very no disruptive. I used a fifo to pipe information to it but the xosd_fifo/ruby library eventually broke. I should investigate if there is something similar now
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- muvich3n 1y agoI will check it out. I'm curious about its extensibility and non-disruptive experience.
- blef 1y agowhy is there a press kit for a clock app? also it triggers me a bit that the clock is not exactly aligned with the MacOS clock
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- muvich3n 1y agoBecause some media outlets that also advocate for digital minimalism have shown interest in the app. That’s why I prepared it. For example, it has been featured on websites like: ifun.de, digitalminimalist.com and apptisan.substack.com Are you referring to the position not being exactly the same? It’s true that the alignment isn’t perfect yet at the moment, especially for MacBooks without a notch. If you’re willing, could you share a screenshot or screen recording?
- thatscot 1y agoThere is so many devices this is an issue on. Different states that garmin watches get into, that you just can't see the time. I feel a watch should just always show the time somewhere on the screen haha. Happens on IOS too.
- entrepy123 1y agoHey, this is really good for when "automatically hide and show menu bar" is enabled. The only problem with "automatically hide and show menu bar" was that the clock was not there. Which is actually very nicely solved now. Well done!
- muvich3n 1y agoAppreciate it! It means a lot to me. That’s exactly why I made this app.
- hirvi74 1y agoYou set a keybinding for hiding/showing the menu bar too. I keep mine hidden and show it when I need it.
- entrepy123 1y agoDone and done. Thank you, sir.
- otsaloma 1y agoSomething similar for GNOME: https://github.com/ghi59/floating-mini-panel https://github.com/ghi59/floating-mini-panel Been using it for a couple weeks now and find it really nice. Tried some auto-hide panel extensions before, but this is much better.
- diimdeep 1y agoLOL, it is as if 2011 and people are still doing 100 lines of code MAS apps for $1.99 In meantime I have became so frustrated and disillusioned with Apple breaking API and walled garden model that I refuse to even open Mac App Store. Guess how many similar apps are still functional and maintained there released way back, as many as nearly zero. Could have been 100 lines widget for https://tracesof.net/uebersicht-widgets/ https://tracesof.net/uebersicht-widgets/ Meantime there is things like this out there, free as air https://github.com/Jean-Tinland/simple-bar https://github.com/Jean-Tinland/simple-bar
- avinassh 1y agohuh I didn’t expect the price to be $1.99 it’s less, but good for me :)
- muvich3n 1y agoThanks! How much do you think it would be?