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Cadence
Time Machine, on your schedule — not every hour.
macOS 27 took away Time Machine’s Manual setting. Cadence brings it back, then runs backups on the schedule you choose, and only when your backup disk is actually plugged in.
A menu bar app · Signed and notarized · Collects no data, makes no network calls
What it does
What Cadence does
With automatic backups on and the disk unplugged, your Mac quietly takes a hidden local snapshot every hour. Cadence switches that off and backs up on your terms instead.
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Manual mode, restored
One switch sets Time Machine to Manual using macOS’s own setting. Turn Automatic back on and Cadence steps aside instead of competing with it.
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Your schedule
Back up every 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 or 24 hours. A disk that’s been away for days is due the moment it comes back.
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Only when the disk is there
Cadence checks that your backup disk is really mounted, and can start a backup within seconds of you plugging it in.
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Easy on the battery
“Only when on power” is on by default and is checked during a backup too, so unplugging your MacBook stops the run.
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Safe snapshot cleanup
Optionally clears leftover local snapshots after a backup, but never the ones Time Machine needs for its next one.
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One icon in the menu bar
Live progress, Back Up Now and Browse Backups live in Cadence’s menu. It can stand in for Apple’s Time Machine icon and puts it back when you quit.
Planned Failure notificationsFree space and last backup size in the menuNetwork backup disks
How it works
Stop paying for snapshots you never see
While your backup disk is unplugged, Time Machine keeps a local snapshot of your startup disk every hour. They don’t show up in Finder, only as “purgeable” space. Cadence stops new ones from piling up and can clear out the rest, keeping the snapshots Time Machine relies on so your next backup doesn’t start from scratch.
- Counts a backup as done only when Time Machine confirms it
- Every call has a timeout, and a stalled helper shows a warning instead of a false “backing up”
- No analytics, no network calls, no third-party code
Measured on our own Mac
Backup disk unplugged, Time Machine on Automatic:
23 hidden local snapshots in a little over a day, piling up one an hour
22snapshots cleared on Cadence’s first run
≈45 GBof disk space reclaimed
macOS 27.0 on Apple silicon. Your numbers will vary.
Setup
Set up in three steps
Cadence shows one next step at a time, and its menu opens on its own until setup is finished.
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1
Install the helper
Move Cadence to Applications and click Set Up Cadence. It asks for your administrator password once.
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2
Allow access
Approve Cadence in Login Items, then give its helper Full Disk Access. Reveal Helper finds it for you.
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3
Switch to Manual
Pick how often to back up. Cadence opens at login and takes it from there.
Details
- Version
- 1.0
- Status
- Beta
- Requires
- macOS 14 or later
- Processor
- Apple silicon
- Backup disk
- A locally connected Time Machine disk
- Installs
- In Applications, with a background helper
- Download
- 489 KB
- Data collected
- None
- Price
- Announced at launch
- Developer
- Xenoplexus Studios
Cadence is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Apple Inc. Time Machine, Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Join the Cadence beta
Cadence is in beta. Leave your email and we’ll send you a download link as soon as there’s a beta build for you to try.
Beta builds need a Mac with Apple silicon. Pricing will be announced at launch.
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