Timer is a new iPhone app by one of our favorite development teams, App Cubby. As its name implies, Timer is all about setting timers and doing it fast. And because it was designed by App Cubby, it also features a gorgeous design.
The best trait of Timer is its simplicity. It's a 3x4 grid of 12 buttons. The first 9 buttons are the default timers preset for 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes. The bottom three buttons are for custom spur-of-the-moment timers that allow you to quickly set a timer for any length of time.
To start a timer, you simply tap its button. To stop it, tap it again. When the timer goes off, the button will blink (and a sound will of course be emitted) and a count-up timer will start in its place. Tap the button to stop the count-up timer.
Yes, you can set all 12 timers at once.
To edit the presets, simply hold down your finger on one of the buttons. The edit screen will slide up and allow you to set the timer length, alert sound, and button color. You can also disable the preset. Similarly, you can convert one of the non-presets into a preset by the same method.
My only real (and rather trivial) complaint about Timer is that you cannot rearrange the order of the presets. For example, I added a 4-minute timer (the time it takes to brew a French press of coffee), but since it replaced my first non-preset, it's not in numerical order like the other timers. I wish I could drag it up to appear after the 3-minute timer. Because I'm OCD, I opted to change the 2-minute timer to 3 minutes and the 3-minute timer to 4 minutes, instead. I'd love to see an Edit button added in the future.
The good
- Beautifully designed
- Amazingly simple
- Editable presets
The bad
- Can't reorder timers
The bottom line
Where has Timer been all my life? I used Timer while baking when I needed multiple timers and worked like a charm. The count-up timers were also awesome for the things I needed to do for like 8-9 minutes. I know I keep saying it, but the simplicity of Timer is what makes it a total win.
Reader comments
Timer for iPhone review
If there's no trial download, it's a "no-go" for me. I've purchased too many apps that didn't live up to their expectations. Even if it's just $0.99, I won't buy it. Those dollars add up.
I have a couple of App Cubby apps and they do what they are advertised to do very well. But I just can't think of any reason what-so-ever that I need something like this.
I would love an app that allows me to time labor production rates for employee performance, and there are more apps that some-how-or-another deal with time than you can shake a stick at, like this useless example, but I still haven't found what I'm looking for either.
If some one knows of an app that would fulfill the need I described here, I'd love to hear about it.
Any devs reading this and want to take a new idea to market? Make it for iPhone and iPad please.
Siri, give me a 15 minute timer.
Haha! Yep, hello Siri. Good bye Timer.
What happens when you ask Siri to set another timer when one is already going?
Or what if you ask Siri to set a 30 second timer?
Only one timer at a time for some reason. No biggie. I can't cook anyway! LOL
Use Reminders instead of the Clock app's timer. 'Remind me in 12 minutes the pizza is done' etc... Even syncs between all your iCloud iOS devices that way. Siri: understated power... check it out more extensively... ;-)
I can't give you a timer with seconds. Sorry about that!
I spent the 99 cents for Timer and enjoy using the simple to use app. Easy and quick to use and found a nice feature that I had not counted on. Once you push the desired button to be counted down you can monitor the amount of time left before the alarm signal is heard. After the alarm sounds the timer keeps track of the amount of time after the set time so if you miss the signal you will know how much time you ran over. With twelve timers available you should be able to make use of this app.
What happens if you tell Siri to set a reminder instead of a timer? (Stil on i4 here so I can't check)
? can you set two different timers at the same time
Very cool app for photography. I am just getting into long exposures. I may want to set a 1 min 15 second exposure. This sounds like a must have!
For baking, would be great to add a title to each timer, to remember which one is 1mn, which one 3mn etc...
We are a bunch of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with useful info to work on. You have performed a formidable process and our entire community shall be grateful to you.
I left a thoughtful, if modestly critical, review of this app and also questioned something the author said that I didnt understand. My comment removed. It was in no aw offensive or inappropriate. Disappointed in imore. Boo. Fail.
Can I use this to set, say, a 15 minutes timer, start playing a game (e.g. Plants vs Zombies) and have this alert me when the Timer is up? Just want to check this can run OK in the background.