SleepWatcher for Mac

Name: SleepWatcher
Rating: 4.6 (5 reviews)
Author: Bernhard Baehr

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SleepWatcher Analysis

AI Assisted Content · June 11, 2026

Not written by CNET Staff.

SleepWatcher is a free utility designed for Mac users, enabling the management of sleep settings effectively. This application allows users to execute specific scripts or applications when the system enters or exits sleep mode, providing a level of automation that can enhance productivity and streamline workflows. With its straightforward interface, SleepWatcher is easy to configure and can be tailored to meet individual needs, making it a useful tool for those who want to customize their Mac's behavior during sleep periods.

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The program operates in the background, monitoring the sleep status of the Mac. Users can set triggers for various actions, such as launching applications or executing scripts, upon sleep and awake events. This capability ensures that important tasks can be automated, allowing users to focus on their work without manual intervention. Overall, SleepWatcher offers a practical solution for Mac users looking to optimize their system's sleep functionality.

SleepWatcher for Mac

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Full Specifications

GENERAL

Release: August 28, 2011

Latest update: June 11, 2026

Version: 2.2

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Platform: Mac

Operating System

Mac OS X 10.5
Mac OS X 10.7
Mac OS X 10.6
Mac OS X

Additional Requirements: None

POPULARITY

Total Downloads: 1,227

Downloads Last Week: 0

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Last Updated

User Reviews

4.6/5

5 User Votes

Excellent Tool!
lacrizApril 15, 2004
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com. Since you can schedule wake-ups in panther, you can now easily let your mac wake you with some music or even with a movie! Just write something like open "Desktop/wakeup.mp3" in your ~/.wakeup file and create an alias of some mp3 on your Desktop. Next time your mac awakes from sleep, you too will ;) You can even create an alias of some movie file on your Desktop and rename it to "wakeup.mp3" and be wakened by your favourite movie.. endless possibilties :D Maybe this helps those having problems writing working .wakeup/.sleep scripts: Be careful to leave a blank line at the end of each script! otherwise the last line of the script might not get executed. Also save your scripts with Unix-style line breaks. You could do so with BBedit or for free: pico, vim, emacs.. (just type pico .wakeup in Terminal)
Just what the doctor ordered
CatservantJuly 23, 2003
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com. This daemon fills a hole in the OS X implementation. I have bee looking for a way to execute "SleepItems" before the computer goes to sleep, analogous to the StartupItems run at system boot. This fits the bill quite nicely. My primary use is unmounting of network volumes before my PowerBook goes to sleep so that I don't have connection problems when trying to access the volumes after wake-up. BTW, it perform the unmounting using a one-line OSA script command (I couldn't get the Finder to recognize dismounts when using the UNIX umount command): osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to eject (every disk whose local volume is false)' Cons: Documentation needs improvement (although the samples are helpful) and a graphical user interface would be a definite plus.
sovdiaJanuary 26, 2003
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com. I've also attached a simple Applescript startup program to this & it's works brilliantly! An excellent substitute for the sorely missed scheduled startup available on
dozxJanuary 13, 2003
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com. AWESOME! - here's tip too - I rather use Applescripts so I created a very simple shell script .wakeup with one simple command in it...
Tim RichterDecember 27, 2002
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com. This is exactly what I was looking for! Works perfectly on my iMac tft. TNX! Tim.

Developer’s Description

By Bernhard Baehr

Execute shell scripts upon sleep, wakeup, idleness.

SleepWatcher is a command line tool (daemon) for Mac OS X that monitors sleep, wakeup and idleness of a Mac. It can be used to execute a Unix command when the Mac or the display of the Mac goes to sleep mode or wakes up, after a given time without user interaction or when the user resumes activity after a break or when the power supply of a Mac notebook is attached or detached. It also can send the Mac to sleep mode or retrieve the time since last user activity.A little bit knowledge of the Unix command line is required to benefit from this software.The current version removes the installer packages and requires manual installation. This hopefully prevents people without sufficient Unix knowledge to install this software. SleepWatcher is published under the GNU General Public License.

SleepWatcher for Mac

SleepWatcher Analysis

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User Reviews

Excellent Tool!

Just what the doctor ordered

Developer’s Description