Marco Arment, the founder of Instapaper, has released a new free Mac app called Quitter. Here’s what it does:
Quitter is a Mac app that automatically hides or quits apps after periods of inactivity, inspired by my Automatic Social Discipline method. It’s great for minimizing distraction from social apps like Twitter and Slack, news readers, or even your email app.
Arment explains the app has already helped him get more productive, by closing Slack and Tweetbot when he’s not using them. He also suggests removing these social apps from the dock so you’re not tempted to relaunch them again.
As for Quitter being in the Mac App Store, he says it will most likely never make it there, because “among other reasons, its inability to be sandboxed. (Believe me, I tried.)”
To use Quitter, just go to Edit Rules, then click the “+” icon to add an app, then edit the rules. It can also be handy to automatically close those apps that take up system memory when you’re not using them.
The app was inspired by his Automatic Social Discipline script, and also it has provided Arment the chance to build his first Mac app and also test distributing software directly.
Click here to download Quitter for Mac—it’s free.
