Apps by Detlev Voss

A new website and a first app, on the same day. Apps by Detlev Voss is the home for the small, focused iOS apps I build, and Timers & Alarms is the first one to ship. From today it is available on the App Store, and from today this site exists alongside it — for help, privacy, and a blog where the story lives next to the product.

Why a timer and alarm app first

I started with Timers & Alarms for a simple reason: I wanted to use it myself, and I couldn't find one that ticked every box.

What I was looking for:

• A countdown and interval timer — not just a countdown, but also a sequence of named phases with their own durations and sounds. Useful for workouts, cooking, and anything that alternates between two modes.
• Home Screen widgets and a Live Activity — so I could see and control a running timer without opening the app, including from the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island.
• Free, with no ads and no tracking — a small utility on your phone shouldn't need to get paid for, and it shouldn't clutter the screen with ads.

I tried some candidates. Some had interval timers but no widgets. Some had widgets, but the design didn't match my vision of how it should look. Some were free, but were funded by ads. None of them were both feature-complete regarding my own requirements and visually quiet enough to live on my phone.

So I built my own. And because timers and alarms are conceptually the same thing — count down some time, then alarm me with sound and haptics — bundling alarms into the same app from the very first version felt natural. One app, two related jobs, one consistent design.

That is the short version. A separate post on the design and engineering decisions is on the way.

What ships today

The first release covers the full set:

• Countdown timers with custom names, durations, colors, and sounds.
• Repeating timers that confirm before each new round, so a session never runs away from you.
• Interval timers with two named phases — work and rest, focus and break, whatever you need — and a confirmation between phases.
• Alarms with weekday repeats and snooze. One-time alarms switch themselves off after firing.
• Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, Live Activities, and Dynamic Island support — monitor and control a timer without opening the app.
• Explicit dark or light mode or follow your system settings, and per-timer color customization.

For the full feature list and a screen-by-screen walkthrough, see the Help page.

What this blog might cover

This site is meant to be more than an App Store landing page. The blog is where things that don't fit on a marketing page can find a home. Here is a rough outlook of directions I have in mind:

• Feature deep dives and behind the scenes — how interval timers, Live Activities, or widgets actually work, and the design and engineering decisions behind them.
• Use cases — Pomodoro, workouts, kitchen timers, sleep and morning routines.
• Roadmap notes — what might be coming next, and why.

If there is a topic you would like to read about, the Contact page is the place to ask.

Get it

Timers & Alarms is free on the App Store, with no ads and no tracking. Tap the badge below to install it.