Job/App control apps? Start/stop apps on a schedule

Tech Talk MacOS
#1

Hi. I’m looking for the best way to schedule starting/stopping apps at certain times. I have some upload programs (Google Backup & Sync, among others) and limited upstream bandwidth (~2mb). When things are idle, it’s not a problem, but when my wife is trying to watch Netflix (or some other streaming) the upload saturation is a problem. Basically, I want to auto-start things around midnight (in case I forget) and end ~3:00pm.

Suggestions on apps to control other apps? (I already have the bandwidth limit set in GS&B, and that helps some.)

#2

Since I am not a Mac user, I’m not going to have any great input, but at the lowest level, Macs run Unix and Unix has the cron scheduler. If a command line can be used to do the job, then cron can be used to scheduled it. I use cron on my VPS to schedule the Let’s Encrypt key refreshing for the web server.

3 Likes
#4

Cron’s my ‘last resort’ option. I’ve used it, I just want something more mac friendly.

#5

Hm. I guess I didn’t really specify. I’m looking for a MacOS solution. It’s implied as this is a MacOS forum.

#6

Something like Keyboard Maestro could do that for you.

1 Like
#7

You can schedule Automator scripts using calendar alarms. It’s how I sync various folders overnight.

Screenshot 2021-01-14 at 22.43.42
Screenshot 2021-01-14 at 22.43.421216×1094 142 KB

2 Likes
#8

Not really as elegant as I was looking for, but I set it up. I’m still open to more options.

1 Like
#9

Yeah it’s a bit odd Automator doesn’t have its own scheduler (AFAIK), but it does the job. At least it creates a separate calendar for all your scheduled scripts, doesn’t mix them up with your other stuff.