ColorPause

Support

Get set up, and fix common problems

Setup takes a few clicks in one window. If something still isn’t working, email [email protected].

Getting started

Install ColorPause

  1. Download ColorPause and open the disk image.
  2. Drag ColorPause into your Applications folder.
  3. Open ColorPause from Applications. macOS asks whether you want to open an app downloaded from the internet: click Open.

ColorPause runs in the menu bar, near the clock, as a pause icon: a circle with two bars. It has no Dock icon.

First-run setup

The first time ColorPause opens, the Set Up ColorPause window lists the supported browsers on your Mac, with Accessibility below them. Allow each one there, as described next. To open the window again later, click the ColorPause icon in the menu bar and choose Set Up ColorPause….

Allow Automation for each browser (required)

Automation lets ColorPause ask a browser for the address of the visible tab in each window. It never reads the page itself.

  1. Open the browser. macOS can only ask about a browser while it’s open, so a browser that isn’t running shows, for example, “Open Safari first”.
  2. In the setup window, click Allow… next to the browser.
  3. macOS asks whether ColorPause may control the browser. Click Allow.

Repeat for each browser you use.

Allow Accessibility (recommended)

With Accessibility, ColorPause notices tab and window changes right away. Without it, changes show within 5 seconds.

  1. In the setup window, click Allow… next to Accessibility.
  2. macOS offers to open System Settings. In Privacy & Security › Accessibility, turn on ColorPause. macOS may ask for your password or Touch ID.

After the first time, the button opens System Settings directly.

Allow Safari

Safari needs its own permission, like every browser. Open Safari first, then click Allow… next to Safari in the setup window, and click Allow when macOS asks. ColorPause reads only the address of the current tab in each Safari window, so it doesn’t need Safari’s developer settings or an extension.

Add sites and apps

A site: open it in your browser, click the ColorPause icon in the menu bar, and choose Add site to your list. ColorPause opens the site’s rule in Settings, where you choose when it applies, when it turns gray, and how long it stays gray. A listed site covers its subdomains too: example.com also covers www.example.com and m.example.com.

An app: switch to the app, then click the ColorPause icon and choose Add app to your list. Or choose Add an app… in Settings and pick it from your Applications folder. Apps need no permission. Browsers themselves can’t be added; add the sites instead.

A web app: a site you’ve installed as a web app, with File › Add to Dock in Safari or Install page as app in Chrome, follows that site’s rule. You don’t need to add it separately.

Troubleshooting

A site or app doesn’t turn gray

  1. Bring the site’s window to the front and click the ColorPause icon. The first line shows the site’s status, such as “In color: 1 of 3 opens this hour”, “Off now: outside its hours”, or “Off today: day off”. It turns gray once it reaches a limit. For an app, choose Your sites and apps in the same menu to see its status.
  2. If the menu offers Resume graying, Show in color is on. Choose Resume graying.
  3. If the menu says “No supported browser is open”, open Chrome or Safari. If it says a browser isn’t allowed yet, see Safari isn’t allowed; the same steps work for every browser.
  4. Check that you’re using a supported browser: Google Chrome or Safari, or one of the experimental ones.
  5. Check the address. A listed subdomain, like news.example.com, doesn’t cover the rest of example.com.
  6. Without Accessibility, a change can take up to 5 seconds to show.
  7. If the menu says “Graying isn’t available on this version of macOS”, see After a macOS update.

Safari isn’t allowed

If the setup window says Not allowed next to Safari, or the menu says Safari isn’t allowed yet:

  1. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation.
  2. Find ColorPause and turn on Safari.
  3. If ColorPause or Safari isn’t listed there, open Safari, choose Set Up ColorPause… from the ColorPause menu, and click Allow… next to Safari.

Still not allowed? Reset ColorPause’s Automation permission in Terminal, quit and reopen ColorPause, then allow each browser again in the setup window:

tccutil reset AppleEvents com.getcolorpause.mac

This resets the permission for every browser, not just Safari.

After a macOS update

A macOS update can reset permissions or leave them in a confused state.

  1. Choose Set Up ColorPause… from the ColorPause menu, and allow anything that says Not allowed.
  2. If Accessibility is on in System Settings but the setup window still says Not allowed, turn ColorPause off and on again in Privacy & Security › Accessibility. If that doesn’t help, remove it there with the minus button, quit and reopen ColorPause, and allow it again.
  3. If the menu says “Graying isn’t available on this version of macOS”, the update changed something ColorPause relies on. Choose Check for Updates… from the ColorPause menu, and email us if no update fixes it.

Uninstall ColorPause

  1. If you’ve bought a license and won’t use ColorPause on this Mac again, deactivate it in ColorPause first, so the license is free for another Mac.
  2. If Open at Login is checked in the ColorPause menu, choose it to turn it off.
  3. Choose Quit ColorPause from the ColorPause menu.
  4. Drag ColorPause from your Applications folder to the Trash.
  5. To delete your sites, apps, limits, and history too, delete ColorPause’s data folder (below).
  6. Optionally, delete its preferences file, ~/Library/Preferences/com.getcolorpause.mac.plist, and remove ColorPause from Accessibility and Automation in System Settings › Privacy & Security.

Where your data lives. Your rules and history are in ~/Library/Application Support/ColorPause: your list and limits (rules.json), your Last 7 days (history.json), and recent counts that carry your limits across a restart (running.json). To open it, choose Go › Go to Folder… in Finder, paste the path, and press Return.

Guides

Wondering what sets ColorPause apart? See Why ColorPause.

Contact us

Email [email protected]. It helps to include your macOS version, your browser, your ColorPause version (shown in About ColorPause), and what the ColorPause menu says.