A simple timer display is used to indicate the progess of your mediation session, supported by a selection of session and an interval bells, and background sounds, all of which can be recorded yourself on the local device.
Embedded Files
Overview
Overview
The MeditateAide app for Mac and iPad provides the same core features as the iPhone and Apple watch versions except (due to current Apple restrictions) the ability to access Mindful Minutes and heart rate data held within the Apple Health app.
As with the other apps versions, the main purpose of the app is to provide a simple meditation timer that allows you to quickly set session and interval times, and associated bells and background sounds.
Features provided with the Mac and iPad versions include:
An option to record and playback 5 voice memos each of 10 second duration, useful to capture any insights or urgent ideas that come to you during a meditation session.
An option to record 2 sounds of 10 second duration, which can be selected as the interval or session sounds for the meditation session.
An option to record and loop playback 2 additional background sounds each of 60 second duration, which can be played back as background audio during a meditation session.
A settings page to allow you to set your daily meditation target, to define the app colours which set the best mood for meditation, and to playback the various bell and background sounds. There is also the option to enable the timer countdown value to be spoken at each interval during a meditation session in various different languages, which could be used as a mindfulness trigger.
Unlike the iPhone and Apple watch versions, recorded audio files are not shared with the other app versions, and are only available locally within the Mac or iPad app.
The timer page allows you to set session and interval times and to select the associated bells sounds. Background sound can be turned on and off during a timed session.
Timer Page
Timer Page
The opening first page shows the main meditation timer. Each button can be tapped to toggle through the various options for that button.
The top left button selects the interval audio sound that plays at each interval time, which includes: beep, ping #1, ping #2, bell #1, bell #2, speak timer value, speak heart rate value, recorded audio #1, recorded audio #2, haptic feedback. The beep and ping options revert to vibrate options when the watch Silent Mode is turned on in the watch settings.
The top right button selects the interval period, with values of none, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 30 minutes.
The bottom left button selects the session start and session end audio sound, providing the same options as that for the interval sound.
The central two buttons are the minute and second timer display buttons which, when tapped when the timer is not running, increase and decrease the session timer duration, starting at 1 minute and 5 minutes, increasing in 10 minute intervals up to a maximum of 90 minutes. If the interval time is greater than the session time then there will not be an interval sound.
The bottom right button starts and stops the timer. Please note that the Mac and iPad environment is not able to access the Apple Health app so no Mindful Minutes data is stored or uploaded into the Apple Health app for storage.
When the timer is running the buttons disappear to simplify the display, but can be redisplayed again by tapping the screen, then hidden again by tapping the timer value again.
Performing a long press on the timer minute and second values will open the Insights page without the need to go via the menus page, useful if you want to record a voice memo during an active meditation session.
The 'Background Sound' label at the top of the timer screen can be tapped to turn on and turn off the background sound (which plays during a timed session), even while an active session is running.
Tapping or sliding up the 'Menu' label at the bottom of the screen will cause the menu options to appear. Tapping again or sliding down this label will cause the menu options to dissappear.
A running timer with associated sounds will continue to operate using the background airplay mode of the Mac or iPad, even when the app is not running in the foreground.
Tapping the menu label slides up the menu options page, which can be tapped again to hide it.
Menu Page
Menu Page
When the menu tab is visible a set of buttons are available to access the Progress page, the History page, the Timeline page, the Insights page, the Settings page and this Aide instructions page.
These menu buttons will disappear when the timer is running, to simplify the display.
Currently, this page will not be able to show any data and will always be blank.
Progress Page
Progress Page
Currently the Mac and iPad is not allowed to access the Mindfull Minutes data held within the Apple Health app so this page will not be able to show any data and will always be blank. Please access either the iPhone or Apple watch version of the MeditatetAide app to see this data.
Currently, this page will not be able to show any data and will always be blank.
History Page
History Page
Currently the Mac and iPad is not allowed to access the Mindfull Minutes or heart rate data held within the Apple Health app so this page will not show any data and will always be blank. Please access either the iPhone or Apple watch version of the MeditateAide app to see this data.
Currently, this page will not be able to show any data and will always be blank.
Timeline Page
Timeline Page
Currently the Mac and iPad is not allowed to access the Mindfull Minutes or heart rate data held within the Apple Health app so this page will not show any data and will always be blank. Please access either the iPhone or Apple watch version of the MeditateAide app to see this data.
Up to 5 voice memos can be recorded directly from the watch to capture any important thoughts and ideas during a meditation session.
Insights Page
Insights Page
During a meditation session interesting thoughts and ideas can arise which you may want to remember and review at a later time. To avoid disturbing your session by dwelling on them or breaking off to write them down, a useful approach is to quickly record them so you can review them after the session is ended.
Tapping the Insights menu button displays a page which allows up to 5 voice memos to be recorded and played back directly on the Mac or iPad, each with a maximum duration of 10 seconds. Unlike the iPhone and watch versiosn recordings made on the Mac or iPad version of the MeditateAide app will not be reflected on the associated iPhone and Apple watch apps.
When the Insights page is displayed tap on one of the 5 record buttons to start recording a voice memo and use the iPad microphone to record your voice memo. The microphone and speaker on the iPad is used unless bluetooth headphones are linked to the Mac or iPad.
A long press tap on the timer minute and second labels can be used to quickly access the Insights menu directly, especially useful during an active session when the menu options are not available.
Your daily target, app colours, complications and bell sounds can be configured from the settings page.
Settings Page
Settings Page
Tapping the Settings menu button displays a page which provides access to a range of app settings.
The Target setting allows a daily target to be set in minutes. Tapping the minute and seconds button increases and decreases the target value from 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, then increments of 10 minutes up to a maximum of 180 minutes. Unlike the iPhone and watch versions of the app, this value is NOT automatically synchronised with the iPhone or Apple watch versions of the app.
The colour section allows you to set a button and timer colour which reflects across all the various screens and graphs. Tapping each respective button cycles around the available colour options. An option is available to set the app background colour to either white or black. Button backgrounds automatically change to match the selection.
When the spoken 'speech' option is selected for either the interval or session timer, the spoken volume can be set by the speech volume setting in the Speech area of Settings. The Language setting allows one of 52 languages/voices to be selected. A random option is available at the end of the list to allow a random language/voices to be used when the timer setting is spoken.
In the Background section, a number of background sounds are available to play during a timed meditation session which can be selected in this settings page. Two background sounds of 60 seconds each can be recorded directly on the Mac or iPad for playback in a continuous loop.
The Audio1 and Audio2 options in the Sound section allows you to record and playback two custom audio sounds of 10 seconds duration to be used as a session or interval bell. The audio is recorded and played back directly from the Mac or iPad. The remaining sound options allow you to listen to the other available options for the interval and sessions bells, which are bell1 and bell2.
User guide information is available from within the app on the watch.
Aide Page
Aide Page
Selecting the Aide menu option will provide access to help text for the individual types of apps for iPhone, Mac, iPad or Apple watch, covering the main features of the MeditateAide app.
Installation
Installation
The Mac and iPad versions of the MeditateAide app are a standalone app and do not share or synchronise data with the respective iPhone and Apple watch apps. They also do not have access to the Apple Health app, so any timed meditation sessions are not recorded in Apple Health. This also means that the Progress, History and Timeline pages will not show any recorded data.
A privacy permission is required for accessing the Mac or iPad microphone. When the microphone is first accessed within the Insights, background or bell recording feature, a request to access the microphone will appear on the Mac or iPad.
Download Mac version for free from from the Mac App Store
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