Timers! for iOS

Timers! was inspired one afternoon while I was in the kitchen. There were four pots on the stove and both ovens where also on. The problem was there were only three mechanical timers and my iPhone only had one timer on it. The timer math was getting ridiculous; timers were constantly being changed as one dish finished and another was started. It was "Who's on First?" only with timers. The meal got cooked but we almost burnt the roast.

The next day I looked at the other timer apps in the App Store. I didn't like any of them so I wrote my own. We've ended up using this app for things beyond what caused me to write it. It's been used to time everything from the drying time of the pretreatment phase in a two phase glue to crunches while working out. I've even stopped using the timer that comes with iOS because its a lot simpler to drag the dial than to scroll through the picker.

Timers! will show a dial view when in the device is in landscape and it will show a digital display when in portrait mode. The digital display uses a simplified picker that lets you set individual digits.

Privacy Policy

All of the information created by Timers! is local to the iPhone or iPad that the application is running upon. Timers! does not collect or upload any information while the application is being used.

Version history

I Need Help!

General help for using Timers! is available by pressing the ? button in the upper right corner. The help is context sensitive and should cover everything but just in case...

How do I ...

... Select a particular timer?

You can select a timer by touching it in the list. The dial or digital display will change to match the setting of the timer that was touched. The list will scroll if you drag the list when the list of timers is too large to be displayed on the screen.

... Set the duration of a timer?

If your iPhone or iPad is in landscape, you select the duration of a timer by touching on the dial and then dragging the dial until the desired time is selected. If the device is in portrait mode, you touch the digital display at the top and you set the time by selecting the individual digits using the picker that is displayed. The time on the timer will change as you scroll through the picker. Touch the blue X or anywhere outside the picker when the proper time has been set to dismiss the picker.

The image above show a timer being set for 15 minutes. The time picker will allow you to select any timer duration from 0 second up to 14 days.

You can also bring the time picker when the dial is displayed in landscape mode by touching anywhere on the dial with two fingers.

You will have to start the timer by pressing the start button once the time picker is dismissed.

... Create a new timer?

You create a new timer by touching the + button at the top of the list of timers.

... Delete a timer?

You can remove a timer by touching the Edit button at the top of the list of timers and then touching the red - button to the left of the timer's name that you want to remove.

... Reorder the list of timers?

You can reorder the list of timers by touching the Edit button at the top of the list of timers and then touching the grey reorder button to the right of timer that you want to move and dragging the timer to a new position in the list.

You can also use a long press on a timer to also allow you to reorder the list. Press and hold on a timer and you can drag the timer to a new position in the list when the background becomes light grey.

... Change the name of a timer?

You can change the name of a timer by touching the name in the center of the dial and then editing the name when the keyboard is displayed. The changes will only be saved if you touch the Done key when you are finished changing the name. You can cancel the changes that you have made to the name of the timer by either touching the screen outside of the edit field or by touching the X button in the upper right corner of dialog.

... Change the alert tone?

You can change the alert tone by touching the name of the alert tone that is displayed on the dial and then selecting a different one from the list of tones that is displayed. You can hear a preview of each tone by pressing the play button next to the tone name. The play button will change to a stop button while the tone in playing.

You can preview the sound that will be played by touching the play button on the right side of the list.

... Change the time scale for the timer?

You can change the time scale for the timer by touching the time scale label in the center of the dial and then pick the desired time scale. You will see the dial change and you select different time scales. If the timer has not finished, it will not let you pick a time scale smaller than the amount of time left on the timer. If the timer has finished, then you can select any time scale for the timer.

... Use one of the system tones for a timer?

Unfortunately, it is not possible for a non-Apple apps to access the system tones. The system tones will be made available as soon as Apple allows it. The six tones used in the application were created by me using GarageBand.

... Do I need to keep Timers! in the foreground?

You do not need to keep Timers! in for foreground. A system notification will be displayed if another app is running or if the screen is locked. The app icon will be decorated with the a badge indicating the number of timers that have expired while the app was not in the foreground.