Crane monitors your posture in real time using on-device AI and guides you through sit-stand-move cycles designed to undo the damage of working from home. No cloud, no accounts, no data leaves your machine.
The shift to remote work was supposed to be liberating. Instead, millions of workers traded ergonomic office setups for kitchen tables, couches, and improvised desks. Without the natural movement of a commute, hallway conversations, and trips to meeting rooms, remote workers spend more consecutive hours seated than ever before. The research is alarming:
The home office creates a unique ergonomic trap. Unlike corporate environments — where facilities teams adjust chair heights, position monitors at eye level, and provide sit-stand desks — remote workers are on their own. Laptop screens sit too low, dining chairs offer no lumbar support, and the couch beckons during afternoon slumps. Over months, these small compromises compound into chronic pain.
Perhaps the most insidious factor is the loss of incidental movement. A typical office worker walks 2,000 to 4,000 steps just commuting, grabbing coffee, and moving between meetings. Remote workers can go from bed to desk to couch without taking more than 50 steps. This sedentary pattern accelerates spinal disc degeneration, weakens postural muscles, and increases the risk of metabolic syndrome (Da Costa & Vieira, 2008).
Crane was built for the reality of remote work — imperfect setups, back-to-back video calls, and zero separation between "office" and "home." Every feature is designed to work within that reality, not against it.
Your laptop webcam is enough. Crane uses TensorFlow.js with MoveNet pose estimation to track your head position, shoulder alignment, and forward lean in real time. Whether you are hunched over a laptop at the kitchen counter or slouching into a couch cushion, Crane detects the drift and sends a gentle, non-blocking notification. No external sensors, no special hardware — just your existing webcam.
Static sitting is the enemy. Crane guides you through structured cycles that alternate between sitting, standing, exercising, and stretching. If you have a standing desk, Crane prompts the transition at the right time. If you do not, it suggests walking or bodyweight exercises instead. The goal is simple: break the pattern of motionless hours before your body starts complaining.
The average commute provided 20 to 40 minutes of light daily activity — walking to the train, climbing stairs, crossing parking lots. Crane replaces that lost movement with intentional exercise and walking blocks built into your work cycle. Think of it as a structured substitute for the physical activity your commute used to provide for free.
Crane runs entirely on your CPU. There is no cloud processing, no GPU requirement, and no internet connection needed after installation. The AI model is bundled with the app and processes video frames locally in memory. Your webcam feed is never stored, transmitted, or recorded. This means it works on any machine — from a company-issued laptop to a personal desktop — without IT approval or privacy concerns.
The Remote Recharge profile is designed specifically for remote workers who need to counteract the damage of prolonged home-office sitting. The 45-minute cycle breaks down as follows:
Remote Recharge is built around the reality of remote work: you need focused sitting time, but you also need regular movement to replace the incidental activity that office life used to provide. The 25-minute seated block gives you a meaningful work interval, and the 20-minute recovery sequence cycles through standing, walking, stretching, and exercise to counteract static posture.
The 3-minute exercise block is not optional filler — it is structured movement for remote workers. This is where you do bodyweight squats, wall push-ups, or hip flexor stretches. For remote workers who have lost their commute, this block — combined with the 8-minute walk — replaces the incidental movement that office life used to provide automatically.
Four minutes of targeted stretching — neck rolls, chest openers, wrist circles — addresses the specific tension patterns that accumulate during seated computer work. This cooldown prepares your body for the next cycle.
If you do not have a standing desk or prefer a simpler cycle, the free Balanced Rhythm profile is an excellent alternative. It uses a 45-minute cycle with a balanced mix of sitting, walking, and stretching. No standing desk required — just a willingness to step away from the screen briefly. The walking block replaces the standing interval, giving you the movement benefits without any equipment.
Crane runs entirely on your machine. There is no cloud backend for posture data, no telemetry, no analytics, and no account creation. Your webcam feed is processed frame-by-frame in memory and immediately discarded. The AI model runs on your CPU via TensorFlow.js — no GPU required. The only network activity is license validation for Pro users and app updates through the store.
For remote workers on company-issued laptops, this matters. There is no data to exfiltrate, no third-party service to vet, and no privacy policy to review with legal. Crane is a local application that watches your posture and reminds you to move. Nothing more.