Keep your Mac awake for a set time

Sometimes you only need your Mac awake for a while: a long download, an export, an overnight render. A timed session keeps it up for exactly that long, then lets it sleep on its own so you do not leave it running all day.

Start a timed session

Click the Keepresso menu-bar icon and pick a duration, or set a custom one. Keepresso keeps your Mac awake for that time and shows how long is left. When the timer ends, keep-awake turns off and your Mac returns to its normal sleep behavior.

Cancel or extend

Open the menu any time to add more time or stop early. Stopping early is instant: the next time your Mac is idle, it sleeps as usual.

While a session runs, quick Stop in buttons (15 min, 30 min, and 1 h out of the box, editable in Preferences) convert it to end that much later, so the Mac goes back to sleeping on its own and you do not have to remember to toggle it off. Clicking another button simply replaces the countdown.

End it with an action

When a session ends on its own, Keepresso can do one more thing for you: sleep the display, start the screen saver, lock the screen, or put the whole Mac to sleep. Pick the action under Preferences, Automation. It fires only when a session ends naturally, a battery or thermal pause does not trigger it, and restarting keep-awake within a moment cancels it. An optional heads-up under Preferences, Reminder warns you a few minutes before any timed session ends.

Good uses

• Waiting on a big download or upload to finish.
• A render or build that runs unattended.
• A presentation, where you want the screen up for a fixed block of time.

If your Mac still sleeps before the timer is up, see My Mac still goes to sleep.