Inspiration

I was inspired by my inability to maintain long periods of work. This led me to thinking that there needs to be another, more efficient way.

What it does

Breakify uses your camera to detect when you’re present and automatically starts a 30-minute work session. Once the timer ends, it prompts you to write a short diary entry, helping with reflection and mental clarity. After that, it enforces a 5-minute break, ensuring you step away before starting the next focused session when you return. It’s like a smart accountability partner that blends focus, journaling, and rest.

How we built it

We combined computer vision with YOLO for human detection with a session manager that tracks work, diary, and break intervals and the MacOS notification system to keep you in the loop. The app ties everything together with a clean UI that guides the user through each cycle.

Challenges we ran into

Calibrating human detection so it’s accurate without being too resource-heavy.
Designing a smooth user flow that doesn’t feel disruptive.
Integrating the diary entry in a way that feels natural and not like extra work.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Getting human detection to work reliably in different lighting conditions.
Creating an app that doesn’t just track time, but also builds in reflection and recovery.
Making the process feel seamless—users don’t have to press buttons or manage timers; the app just works.
Working with configuration files and YOLO for the first time