Maya on Windows — a short guide

The Windows build is new. It has had far less testing than the Mac build, and some of what follows may not yet behave exactly as described. If something is wrong, please say so — the checklist in section 9 is exactly what needs confirming.

Maya (माया) is a caring companion who lives at the top of your screen — a little heart with a face. Maya reminds you to eat, drink water, stretch, rest your eyes and call home.

Maya is free. There is no account, no subscription and no locked features. Maya works with the internet switched off, and nothing you do in Maya leaves your PC.

1. Install

1. Download Maya-setup.exe from the website.
2. Double-click it.
3. Windows SmartScreen will probably say "Windows protected your PC". Click More info, then Run anyway.

That warning appears because Maya is not yet signed with a code-signing certificate. It is not a sign that anything is wrong with the file, but it is a fair reason to only download Maya from the official website.

Maya installs for your user account only, so it does not ask for administrator rights.

If your PC has no WebView2 (most Windows 11 PCs already do), the installer adds it for you.

2. What you will see

Maya has no taskbar button and does not appear when you press Alt+Tab. Maya lives in the notification area at the bottom right, as a small heart. You may need to click the ^ arrow to see the icon, or drag it onto the taskbar to keep it visible.

Click that मा to:

When Maya is paused or you are in a focus session, the menu says so, with the time it ends.

Closing the main window does not quit Maya. Maya keeps running in the notification area. Use Quit Maya to stop Maya.

3. When Maya visits

A check-in slides down from the top of your screen with one line and three buttons:

• Done ✓ — you did it. It counts towards today's summary.
• Later — Maya comes back in 30 minutes.
• 15 min — Maya comes back in 15 minutes.

If you ignore it, it disappears on its own (after 60 seconds by default) and is not saved up for later. A missed check-in is simply skipped.

Maya will not interrupt you:

• during quiet hours (10pm–8am by default),
• while you are in a focus session,
• while Windows is in presentation mode, a game is running full screen, or Focus Assist is on,
• when you are away from the PC — and the water and stretch timers reset when you come back,
• more than 5 times a day, with at least 30 minutes between check-ins.

Meals, bedtime and battery warnings have their own timing and are not counted against that limit. A nearly empty battery (5%) will reach you even during a presentation.

4. Making Maya yours

Open Maya → Personalize:

• Language — English, नेपाली, or Roman Nepali (Nepali written in English letters).
• Tone — Gentle, Playful, or Extra dramatic.
• What Maya calls you — babu, nani, your own name, or nothing.
• तिमी or तँ — how close Maya speaks to you (Nepali only).
• Maya's colour — the heart comes in six colours, from the classic tika red to brass, sunrise, pote green, silver and night.
• Maya's sound — a steel glass, a knock, a temple bell, a water drop, or silence.

Open Maya → Reminders to turn each reminder on or off, change its time, or write your own words for it. You can add your own reminders too.

Open Maya → Settings:

• Daily limit and time between check-ins.
• Quiet hours.
• Presenting mode — stay silent during full-screen apps.
• Look — Floating pill, or Notch if you like that style.
• Show on — the screen you are working on, or your main screen.
• Hide a check-in after — how long Maya waits before slipping away.
• Home time zone and call window — so "call home" never suggests 3am in Nepal.

About the notch

The notch is a MacBook thing. Windows laptops do not have one, so Maya normally appears as a floating pill just under the top edge of your screen. If you like the notch look, choose Settings → Look → Notch and Maya will draw one. Automatic gives you the pill.

5. Notifications

Maya's normal way of reaching you is the check-in card at the top of the screen.

There is also a Backup notification setting. If the card cannot be put on screen for any reason, Maya sends a normal Windows notification instead, so a check-in is never lost.

Press Send a test notification in Settings to check it works. If it says it was blocked, open Windows Settings → System → Notifications, make sure notifications are on, and that Maya is allowed. Also check Focus assist / Do not disturb is not swallowing them.

6. Start Maya with Windows

Settings → Open at login. Maya then appears every time you sign in.

7. Where your things are kept

Everything stays on your PC, in this folder:

%APPDATA%\np.maya.app\

(Paste that into the address bar of File Explorer. It expands to C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Roaming\np.maya.app.)

Maya makes no network connections. Maya never reads your keystrokes, your screen, your microphone, or the titles of your windows. To know whether you are at the PC Maya asks Windows one question — how long since the last key or mouse movement — and to stay quiet during videos Maya asks Windows whether you are in presentation or full-screen mode. Nothing is recorded about what you were doing.

Settings → Copy settings as JSON puts a copy of your settings and reminders on the clipboard.

To remove Maya completely: quit Maya, uninstall Maya from Settings → Apps → Installed apps, then delete the folder above.

8. When something is wrong

Maya never appears. Look for the मा in the notification area (click the ^ arrow). If it is missing, Maya is not running — open Maya from the Start menu. If Maya is running, click मा → Preview a nudge. If the preview appears but real check-ins never do, you may be paused, in quiet hours, or at the daily limit — open Maya and look at Today.

Maya appeared once and never again. There is a minimum gap between check-ins (30 minutes by default) and a daily limit (5). Both are in Settings.

Maya interrupts at bad times. Turn on Presenting mode, widen quiet hours, or lower the daily limit. For one-off cases, use Pause reminders in the menu.

Nothing works and you want to report it. Open the folder in section 7 and send maya.log. It contains only timestamps, which reminder fired and window positions — never what you typed or what was on screen.

9. Help check the Windows build

If you have a few minutes, these are the things that most need confirming. Every one should pass:

• The installer runs without administrator rights and Maya starts afterwards.
• The मा icon appears in the notification area.
• There is no taskbar button and Maya does not appear in Alt+Tab.
• Preview a nudge puts the card at the top centre of the screen.
• While typing in Notepad, a check-in appears and your typing continues uninterrupted.
• Clicking Done on the card returns the keyboard to Notepad.
• The card is not a large invisible rectangle: clicking beside it hits the window underneath.
• Send a test notification produces a real Windows notification.
• No check-in appears during a full-screen PowerPoint slideshow or a full-screen video.
• Locking the PC for 20 minutes resets the water and stretch timers.
• Open at login works after a restart.
• With two monitors, the card appears on the screen the mouse is on.

10. Which PCs are supported