Help & User Guide - Timers & Alarms

Settings

Accessing Settings

Open Settings by tapping the gear icon in the top-right corner of the timer or alarm list.

Timer Defaults

Set the default name, duration, background color, and alarm sound for new timers. These values are used whenever you create a new timer.

Alarm Defaults

Set the default name, wake-up time, alarm sound, and snooze duration for new alarms. The snooze duration determines how long an alarm is postponed when you tap Snooze.

Features

Turn the repeating timer, interval timer, and warm-up & cool-down features on or off.

While a feature is off, its options don’t appear when you create a timer.
Existing timers keep their settings either way.

Interval Timer Defaults

Available while the interval timer feature is on. These values decide what a new interval timer starts with.

Phase 1 and Phase 2 start out named Work and Rest. You can rename either phase on any timer.
The Phase 1 duration is separate from the plain-timer duration in Timer Defaults. Set both, so each kind of new timer starts with the right value.
Per-Phase Sounds lets every phase play its own alarm sound, including warm-up and cool-down.
A phase without a sound of its own falls back to the main timer sound.

Quick Timer Defaults

Quick timers have no settings of their own, so their color and alarm sound are chosen once here.

The neutral color follows light and dark mode. Pick any other color and it is used exactly as chosen.
Changes apply to quick timers you create from now on, not to ones already in the list.

Display

Controls how the timer and alarm lists are arranged.

Choose how timers and alarms are sorted in their lists.
Group Timers splits the list into two sections: active timers first, then the inactive ones. Turn it off for one plain list.

Tomato Timer Widget

Two switches decide what the Tomato Timer widget shows — and what tapping the tomato does.

Control buttons visible — Start, pause, resume, and stop stay one tap away on the widget. Tapping the tomato opens the app.
Control buttons hidden — Tapping the tomato starts, pauses, and resumes the timer instead.
Digital display hidden — Only the tomato dial shows the remaining time, for a pure kitchen-timer look.
Stop is always available in the Live Activity and inside the app.

Appearance

Switch between light mode, dark mode, or automatic appearance that follows your system setting.

Backup

Export timers, alarms, and settings to a JSON file, or import a previous export.

Use it to back up your data or move it to another device.
Importing replaces all current data.

Tip Jar

Leave an optional tip to support continued development. Tips are purely voluntary; the app remains fully functional without them.

Timer Management

Adding Timers

Tap + in the top-right corner of the timer list. The add menu offers three ways to start:

Quick Timer — A one-off countdown, added in a couple of taps.
From Preset… — Start from a ready-made timer such as Pomodoro or HIIT.
New Timer — Configure every option yourself.

Fill in the settings you want, then tap Save.

Quick Timers

A quick timer is a plain one-off countdown — for something you don’t plan to run again.

Pick a duration chip or set your own, then tap Start. The countdown begins right away.
A quick timer is named after its duration, so there is nothing else to fill in.
Settings has a Quick Timer section for the color and sound they all use.
A quick timer deletes itself once you’re done with it — whether you confirm its alarm or stop it early.
You can have up to three quick timers at a time. Finish or delete one to make room for another.
The Quick Timer widget opens the app at the duration picker when you have none, and otherwise shows the ones you have with their controls.

Presets

From Preset… opens a gallery of ready-made timers such as Pomodoro, HIIT, and Meditation.

Tap the info button to read what a preset is for.
Choosing a preset adds a copy to your list and opens it so you can adjust it.
If a preset needs a feature you turned off, the app asks before switching it on.

Saving and Discarding Changes

If you leave the editor with unsaved edits, a prompt asks what to do with them:

Save Changes — Keep your edits and leave.
Discard Changes — Leave without keeping your edits.
Cancel — Stay in the editor.

Deleting Timers

Swipe a timer row to the left to reveal the delete option. Confirm the deletion to remove the timer permanently.

You can also press and hold a timer and choose Delete.

Controlling Timers

Each timer can be started, paused, resumed, and stopped using the control buttons.

In the list view, use the inline buttons on each row.
In the detail view, use the larger control buttons below the countdown.

Controlling Repeating and Interval Timers

Repeating and interval timers never advance on their own.

When a round or a phase ends, the timer alerts you and waits. The next one starts only after you confirm it — so you can take a break of any length in between.

You can confirm in any of these places:

The alert notification.
The Live Activity on the Lock Screen or in the Dynamic Island.
The Home Screen widget.
The timer’s detail view in the app.

Timer Detail View

Tap a timer in the list to open its detail view. It shows:

The countdown and the current phase.
How far the timer has got through its rounds.
A summary of the timer’s configuration.

Tap Edit to change the timer without leaving this view.

Live Activity

When a timer is running, it appears as a Live Activity on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. This lets you monitor the remaining time without opening the app.

Lock Screen Widget

Running timers are shown on your Lock Screen as a widget, displaying the timer name and remaining time. This works automatically when a timer is active.

Timer Configuration

Name

Give each timer a descriptive name to easily identify it in the list and on the Lock Screen.

Duration

Set the countdown duration using the hour, minute, and second picker wheels. This is the total time the timer will run before alerting you.

Appearance

Choose a background color for the timer. It is used in the list, the detail view, and in the Live Activity on your Lock Screen.

Turn on Show Tomato to add a tomato kitchen-timer illustration to the detail view — handy for Pomodoro-style sessions.

Sound

Select the sound that plays when the timer finishes. You can preview a sound before choosing it.

With Per-Phase Sounds on in Settings, each phase — warm-up, work, rest, cool-down — can use its own sound.
A phase without a sound of its own falls back to the main timer sound.

Repeating Timer

Available while the repeating timer feature is on in Settings.

Run a fixed number of rounds, or repeat endlessly.
After each round finishes, you confirm to start the next one.

Interval Timer

Available while the interval timer feature is on in Settings. An interval timer alternates between two phases, Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Each phase has its own name, duration, and — optionally — its own sound.
The names Work and Rest are filled in as defaults. You can rename either phase.
Turning Interval Timer on for a new timer gives Phase 1 the work-phase duration from Settings. A duration you already changed yourself is left alone.
After each phase finishes, you confirm to start the next one.
Good for interval training, Pomodoro sessions, or anything with alternating periods.

Warm-up & Cool-down

Available while the warm-up & cool-down feature is on in Settings.

Warm-up — An optional phase that runs once before the first round.
Cool-down — An optional phase that runs once after the final round.
Useful for workouts, or for kitchen timers with a preheat stage. For Pomodoro sessions, rename the cool-down to Long Break.
For repeating interval timers you can skip the rest in the last round, so the cool-down starts right after the final effort.

Sorting

Timers can be sorted by name or by duration. Change the sort order in Settings under Display.

Duration sort uses the overall run time: warm-up, every round, and cool-down. A short repeating timer can therefore outrank a longer one-shot timer.
Endless timers sort to the end.
With grouping active timers enabled, running and paused timers appear in a separate section at the top.

Alarms

Adding Alarms

Tap the + button in the top-right corner of the alarm list to create a new alarm. Configure the desired settings and tap Save.

Saving and Discarding Changes

If you leave the editor with unsaved edits, a prompt asks what to do with them:

Save Changes — Keep your edits and leave.
Discard Changes — Leave without keeping your edits.
Cancel — Stay in the editor.

Deleting Alarms

Swipe an alarm row to the left to reveal the delete option. Confirm the deletion to remove the alarm permanently.

You can also press and hold an alarm and choose Delete.

Enabling and Disabling

Use the switch on the alarm row to turn an alarm on or off.

An enabled alarm is scheduled with the system and fires at its configured time.
A disabled alarm stays in your list but never alerts you.

Dismiss and Snooze

When an alarm fires, you can dismiss it or snooze it.

Dismiss — Stops the alarm immediately.
Snooze — Postpones the alarm by the snooze duration and reschedules it automatically.
Change the snooze duration in Settings under Alarm Defaults.

Skipping the Next Alarm

For a repeating alarm, turn on Skip Next Occurrence in its detail view.

Only the next alert is skipped. The schedule itself stays untouched.
The alarm list marks the alarm and shows the date being skipped.
Afterwards the alarm resumes as usual.

One-Time Alarms

One-time alarms without repeat days are automatically disabled after they fire or are dismissed. This prevents them from firing again unexpectedly. You can re-enable them at any time.

Alarm Detail View

Tap an alarm in the list to open its detail view. It shows:

The alarm time and its repeat schedule.
Whether the alarm is enabled.
The remaining snooze time, while the alarm is snoozing.

Tap Edit to change the alarm without leaving this view.

Name

Give each alarm a descriptive name to identify it easily.

Time

Set the time at which the alarm should fire using the time picker.

Weekdays

Choose which days of the week the alarm should repeat. If no days are selected, the alarm is treated as a one-time alarm and will automatically disable after it fires.

Sound

Select an alarm sound that plays when the alarm fires. You can preview sounds before choosing one.

Sorting

Alarms can be sorted by name or time. Change the sort order in Settings under Display.

Stopwatch

What the Stopwatch Does

The Stopwatch tab counts upwards from zero. Unlike a timer it has no duration and never alerts you — it simply measures how long something took.

Controls

The stopwatch has two controls, and both change role with the state of the clock:

Start and Pause — The first button shows play to start a fresh stopwatch or carry on with a holding one, and pause while the clock runs.
Lap and Reset — The second button is Lap while the clock runs, marking the moment and beginning the next lap. Pause, and it becomes Reset, which clears the time and all laps. Resume, and it is Lap again.
Pausing keeps the time on the clock. Resuming carries on from there instead of starting again.
On a stopwatch that has never run there is nothing to clear, so Reset is shown but unavailable.

Laps

Tap the flag button to split a run into sections. Each lap is listed with its own length, newest at the top, and the time above the buttons shows the lap currently in progress.

Lap numbers count up from the first lap you took, however far down the list it has travelled.
Laps keep counting across a pause. A lap measures running time, not wall-clock time.

Leaving the App

A running stopwatch keeps running when you switch tabs, leave the app, or even restart the device. When you come back it shows the whole time that passed.

This costs no battery: the stopwatch remembers when it started rather than counting, so nothing has to keep running in the background.

Outside the App

While the stopwatch is running or holding, it appears as a Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, with the same two controls.

On Apple Watch — The same card appears in the Smart Stack. There is no separate watch app to install.
The Stopwatch control — Add it to Control Center, the Lock Screen, or the Action button to start the stopwatch without opening the app. On Apple Watch it goes in Control Center or the Smart Stack.
The control is the only way to start a stopwatch from outside the app. The card appears once the clock is running, so until then there is nothing to tap.
Started from your watch, the card can take a few seconds to appear. The stopwatch is already running — the time it shows counts from the moment you tapped.
Away from your iPhone, the card keeps showing the right time, but its buttons stop working. Laps and pauses you tap there are not recorded.

The Display

The time is shown to hundredths of a second. On a wide screen the display grows and the lap list moves beside it instead of below it.

Shortcuts

Beyond the App

Your timers are available to the Shortcuts app and in Spotlight search. You can start, stop and check a timer without opening the app.

The Actions

Start — Starts one of your saved timers, picked from a list.
A quick timer — You give the length in minutes and seconds. The timer is created for that one run and removes itself afterwards.
How much is left — Hands back the remaining time as a value you can work with, and says whether the timer is running, paused or ringing.
Stop — Stops a running timer.
An alarm — Switches an alarm on or off. If two alarms share a name, both are offered with their times so you can pick.

Next Round

When a round of an interval timer ends and the alarm rings, the Next Round action confirms it and starts the next phase.

This works only while a timer is ringing. A running timer has no next round to move to yet, and you will be told so.

Shortcuts and Spotlight

In the Shortcuts app the same actions appear under the app’s name, and you pick a timer from a list rather than typing anything. Combine them with other actions to build your own automations.

For example: when you arrive at the gym, start your interval timer.
Spotlight offers the same actions when you search for a timer by name.
Two actions are there only for building shortcuts: one hands you every saved timer, the other reports everything about one — its round, phase, and each configured duration.
The more you use a timer, the more readily the system offers it to you.

Home Screen Widget

Overview

The Home Screen widget gives you a quick overview of your timers and alarms directly from your Home Screen, without needing to open the app. You can also control them right from the widget.

Adding the Widget

Touch and hold an empty area of your Home Screen until the icons start to jiggle.
Tap the Edit button at the top of the screen, then choose Add Widget.
Search for the app, or scroll to find it in the list.
Choose the widget size you want and tap Add Widget.
Drag the widget to the position you want and tap Done.

Widget Sizes

Three widget styles are available, each in more than one size:

Standard widget — Shows the timer or alarm name, countdown, and control buttons. Small holds one item, medium holds up to three.
Tomato Timer widget — Shows a tomato kitchen-timer for a single timer. Comes in small, medium, and large.
Quick Timer widget — Shows a Quick Timer button when you have none, and otherwise your quick timers with their controls. The medium size shows all of them side by side; the small size shows the most urgent one with controls and the others as a glance line. Comes in small and medium.
Tapping the Quick Timer widget opens the app at the duration picker when you have none, and otherwise opens it scrolled to the ones you have.
Touch and hold the standard or Tomato widget and choose Edit Widget to pick which timer or alarm it shows.

Tomato Timer Widget

The Tomato Timer widget shows your timer as a classic tomato kitchen-timer, with a dial that rotates as time elapses.

The pointer above the dial is white while the timer is idle. While it runs, the pointer takes the phase color: green for work, orange for rest, and light blue for warm-up and cool-down.
The dial covers exactly one hour, so the tomato suits timers of up to 60 minutes. For a longer timer the dial waits at 0 until less than an hour remains.
Above 30 minutes the dial advances in two-minute steps; in the final half hour it ticks once a minute. The digital display always updates every second.
Customize the widget in Settings under Tomato Timer Widget: hide the control buttons, the digital display, or both.
With the control buttons hidden, tapping the tomato starts, pauses, and resumes the timer. Stop stays available in the Live Activity and inside the app.
For repeating or interval timers, the control row also offers a button to advance to the next round or phase.

What It Shows

Timers — Name, duration, and current state. While a timer runs, the remaining time updates live.
Alarms — Name, scheduled time, repeat schedule, and whether the alarm is enabled.

Controlling from the Widget

You can control timers and alarms directly from the widget without opening the app:

Timers — Tap play to start or resume, pause to pause, stop to stop. When a repeating timer finishes a round, tap the forward button to start the next round, or dismiss the alert.
Alarms — Tap the bell button to enable or disable an alarm.

Medium Widget Layouts

The medium widget offers two layout styles, which you can choose when editing the widget:

Card — Items are stacked vertically as compact cards, each showing name, countdown, and control buttons in one row. Works well for up to three items.
Side by Side — Items are arranged next to each other with full details, including phase and repetition info. Works best with two items.