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On a shared screen,a private timer helps no one.best timer for pair programming

TimeFence's always-on-top HUD is painted on the desktop, so it shows up in screen-share and recordings and everyone works to the same boundary. It doesn't steal keyboard focus, so the driver keeps working. Local-first, no telemetry.

TimeFence's always-on-top HUD is painted on the desktop, so it appears in screen-share and recordings and the whole session works to one visible boundary — without stealing keyboard focus from whoever is driving.

$2.99 USD — Perpetual License

One-time purchase · Lifetime updates · Delivered via the Microsoft Store

Get it from Microsoft Store

Purchased and updated securely through the Microsoft Store. No account needed on our site, no subscription, and a Microsoft receipt for easy corporate expensing.

Full TimeFence overview
One-time purchase No telemetry Local-first

windows · local-first · buy direct · one-time purchase

If this sounds like your week

On a shared screen, a private timer helps no one.

In a pairing session, a screen recording, or a timeboxed review, the clock only coordinates people if everyone can see it. A tray icon on your machine is invisible to the person on the call, and a timer on your phone is off-frame entirely. The one moment a shared sense of time matters most, it's hidden.

Where tooling usually breaks

If only you can see the clock, the session drifts for everyone.

Pairing blocks run long because no one in the room shares the same view of how much is left. A screencast overshoots its target length and you only find out in the edit. Someone ends up volunteering as the human timekeeper, which means they're watching a clock instead of doing the work.

Where TimeFence lands

TimeFence puts a shared countdown right in the frame.

TimeFence's always-on-top HUD is painted on the desktop, so it's visible on screen and captured by screen-share and recording tools by default — everyone works to the same boundary, and the recording shows it too. Because the overlay doesn't take keyboard focus, whoever is driving keeps working normally. Local-first, no telemetry.

$2.99 USD — Perpetual License

One-time purchase · Lifetime updates · Delivered via the Microsoft Store

Get it from Microsoft Store

Purchased and updated securely through the Microsoft Store. No account needed on our site, no subscription, and a Microsoft receipt for easy corporate expensing.

Learn more about TimeFence

windows · local-first · buy direct · one-time purchase

What you get

Feature highlights

Persistent timer HUD

Always-visible countdown on a zero-latency overlay—peripheral time you can't ignore, without modal chrome blocking your work.

Rust + Tauri, local-first

No Electron tax, no sign-in, and no telemetry. Your focus sessions never leave your machine.

Strict Mode

A real enforcement switch. Start a block and the soft “I’ll just pause it” path disappears—on purpose. Use it when you mean it.

Especially when

  • Combat time blindness: keep a persistent visual timer HUD in view on Windows, not in the tray
  • Reduce context switching: stop tab-flipping to web timers or “focus” apps with account walls
  • When you need commitment, not cosplay: optional Strict Mode for deterministic focus sessions you cannot abandon mid-block

Who benefits

Real-world scenarios

The pairing block with no shared clock

You and a teammate set a 30-minute pairing block, but the timer is on your machine where they can't see it. The block runs long because neither of you has the same view of how much is left.

TimeFence's overlay is visible on the shared screen and captured by the call, so you both work to the same boundary and the session ends close to plan.

The screencast that ran long

You're recording a walkthrough with a target length, but your timer is off-frame. You only learn you overshot when you sit down to edit and find ten minutes to trim.

TimeFence's HUD sits in the captured frame as an on-screen countdown, so you pace the recording to the boundary in real time and the edit starts much shorter.

The tray that swallows the timer

You start a 40-minute timer, it minimizes to the tray behind the chevron, and you drop into the task. The next time you surface, you've blown well past the mark — nothing in your field of view ever showed the time moving.

With TimeFence the countdown floats on top of whatever you're doing. You catch the remaining time in passing, without a deliberate "check the tray" detour, and you wrap up roughly when you meant to.

Deep dive

Why a desktop overlay shows up on a shared screen when a tray icon never will

Screen-sharing and recording tools capture what's actually drawn on the desktop — the composited pixels of your windows. Anything painted on screen as a normal visible window is part of that capture; anything that only exists as a collapsed tray glyph, a tooltip, or a separate device is not. That's why a tray timer is useless for collaboration: it's hidden behind the system-tray chevron on your machine, so it isn't meaningfully on screen for you and certainly isn't in the shared frame for anyone else. A phone timer is worse — it's off-frame entirely. In both cases the one moment a shared sense of time matters most, the clock is invisible to the people who need it. An always-on-top HUD solves this by being a real, visible window painted over your work. It sits in the same pixels your screen-share streams and your recorder captures, so a teammate on the call or a future viewer of the recording sees the same countdown you do. Everyone works to one boundary. TimeFence is built for exactly this: the overlay stays on top so it's reliably in the captured frame, but it doesn't take keyboard focus, so whoever is driving keeps typing and clicking normally. It's local-first with zero telemetry, so putting a timer on a shared or recorded screen never means putting your data anywhere.

Trusted by pragmatic desktop users

Built for people who prefer tools that stay local.

Real workflows: focus timers that stay visible, batches that never leave the disk, and renames you can rewind.

Customer review 01

PinPoint: Always On Top saves me so much time as I can organize all my report materials without having to flip between windows or tabs. I love the fact that it is straightforward and simple.

Senior Accountant · Manufacturing Company · United States · PinPoint

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Customer review 02

I used to get so frustrated when my Taskbar would freeze and disappear. Taskbar Sentinel has eliminated that pain without subjecting me to another subscription.

Darren · Calgary, Alberta, Canada · Taskbar Sentinel

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Customer review 03

OpticBatch and MetaForge are a lifesaver for me as a person with a passion for photography. They give me the ability to stay organized and keep personal information confidential when I post pictures online.

Sherri · United States · OpticBatch & MetaForge

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Quotes are shown with customer permission; names and locations appear as reviewers provided them.

Our Core Moat

Engineered to respect your system boundaries.

System Resource Monitor (Idle State Comparison)
Automata Labs sub-5MB idle memory footprint compared to generic Electron applications

Lightweight Native Stack

Compiled Rust core wrapped inside an optimized Tauri shell. No heavy background node loops or duplicate Chromium engines cooking your memory footprint (<5MB idle RAM).

100% Local-First Privacy

Executes entirely on-device with full offline isolation. Absolute zero background telemetry policies, no metrics aggregation, and zero mandatory cloud-sync accounts.

Perpetual Fallback Licenses

Pay a single, clear one-time purchase price. Own your specific native software utility execution tier permanently without artificial subscription paywalls or ongoing usage tax.

FAQ

Straight answers—no glossary dump

Will the timer show up when I share my screen or record?

Yes. The HUD is a real visible window painted on the desktop, so screen-share and recording tools capture it like any other on-screen content. Everyone on the call — and anyone who watches the recording — sees the same countdown. A tray icon or phone timer would not appear in the frame.

Will the always-on-top HUD steal focus or interrupt my typing?

No. TimeFence stays on top as a topmost window without becoming the foreground window, so keyboard input still goes to the app underneath. You keep typing in your editor, browser, or call while the countdown stays visible. It is designed to be visible but non-intrusive — a HUD, not a modal pop-up.

Does TimeFence collect any data or require an account?

No. TimeFence is local-first with zero telemetry and no mandatory account. It runs entirely on your machine and nothing about your sessions leaves it. It installs from the Microsoft Store and runs locally.

What do I need to run TimeFence, and where do I get it?

TimeFence is a Windows desktop app (Windows 10 and 11) built with Rust and Tauri, and it installs from the Microsoft Store. It is a one-time purchase that runs locally — no subscription and no account required.

Related pages

Your timer is in the tray. That's why you keep losing time. Your timer is in the tray. That's why you keep losing time. Your timer is in the tray. That's why you keep losing time. Your timer is in the tray. That's why you keep losing time.

The tray is where clocks go to die.
Put time back on screen.

TimeFence is a one-time Windows purchase. No subscriptions, no telemetry. Just a local Rust/Tauri HUD with optional Strict Mode for serious blocks.

$2.99 USD — Perpetual License

One-time purchase · Lifetime updates · Delivered via the Microsoft Store

Get it from Microsoft Store

Purchased and updated securely through the Microsoft Store. No account needed on our site, no subscription, and a Microsoft receipt for easy corporate expensing.

Open full product page

Technical specifications

Technical specifications for procurement

Spec Implementation
Data Sovereignty Focus sessions and HUD state remain on-device; no cloud session store
Telemetry Status None; no analytics or sign-in for core timer behavior
Core Runtime Rust / Tauri with native Windows overlay APIs
Network Requirements Fully functional offline
Deployment Compatibility Windows 10 and 11 via Microsoft Store and direct purchase
Overlay behavior Always-on-top HUD designed not to steal keyboard focus
Strict Mode Optional session lock with pause/quit paths disabled until block ends