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Lifestyle Solutions
Routine Timer
Routine Timer is a full-featured timer for multi-step routines such as workouts, cooking schedules, training programs… anything you can think of! You can create routines that consist of sequential activities, set the duration of each activity, and run your routines in the timer. When a routine is running, the timer automatically informs you when it’s time to move on to the next activity. Unlike simple timers, Routine Timer requires no manual intervention as you move from one activity to the next.
Features
- Dashboard-style display with intuitive controls.
- Preparation time setting – give yourself time to transition from one activity to the next without having to pause and resume the timer.
- Shuffle option – do your activities in a different order each time.
- Audible cues (including speech option) – hear when activities start and end – no need to watch your device.
- Background operation – get notified of activities starting and ending even while the app is running in the background.
- iCloud support – share routines and settings among several devices.
- Auto-lock override – optionally disable device auto-lock while a routine is running.
- Subintervals – divide an activity into equal parts. Useful for exercises that requires you to repeatedly hold a position for several seconds.
- Cloning (premium edition only) – copy activities, and even whole routines, with the tap of a button.
- Flashcard mode – create an untimed routine and work through it by flipping through a deck of virtual flashcards.
- Dynamic Type support – respects overall text size setting on device.
Usage
Routine Timer is very simple to use. You create a routine by tapping the + button in the Routines view. Give your routine a unique name and tap the Activities row to add activities. A routine can have many activities (i.e. steps), and you add an activity by tapping the + button on the Activities view. Give the activity a description, and specify other properties such as its duration (how long the activity runs for) and an optional preparation time. Tap Done when you have finished configuring the activity. Add additional activities as desired, and then go back to the Routine view to save your new routine and it's activities.
To run the routine, tap the triangular play button beside the routine in the Routines view. This will take you to the Timer view and automatically start the routine. As the routine runs, you will be alerted as each activity starts and ends. This is your cue to finish the activity you are doing and move on to the next. You can use the controls to pause and resume an activity, skip forward or backward through activities, or restart the routine.
Tips
Uses
- This app is extremely versatile. Here are just a few examples of the types of routines that our users have created:
- exercise
- physiotherapy
- cooking
- scrum meeting
- karate practice
- piano practice
- chess training
- morning activities
- Subintervals can be specified on an activity to divide it up into equal segments. If an activity has subintervals, the timer will count them down as it counts down the time and give an audible alert when each subinterval finishes. Here are a couple of typical uses for them:
- If you do an exercise set that requires you to repeatedly hold a position for several seconds, subintervals can be used to divide the set into repetition intervals. For example, if you do two minutes of alternating leg lifts (holding each leg up for 10 seconds at a time), you can create a 2-minute activity for your leg lifts and give it twelve subintervals to divide the activity into twelve 10-second segments.
- If you can't easily watch your device as you perform an activity, subintervals can be used to inform you how far along in the activity you are. For example, if you do a bridging exercise for two minutes to strengthen your back, hearing a chime every 30 seconds as you do it lets you know how much you have done and motivates you to keep going.
- A routine can be configured to work like a deck of flashcards. Give each activity in the routine an indefinite duration to make it untimed, and you can flip through the activities in the Timer view (using the skip buttons) as you would flip through a deck of cards. Configure the routine to shuffle activities if you want to randomize the activity order. You can even give each untimed activity a short preparation time and set the start sound to "Speech" if you would like each activity to be announced to you a few seconds after flipping to it. This is useful when practicing certain performance arts and martial arts that require you to perform one of several possible drills instantly upon hearing the name of the drill announced.
Routines & Activities
- The + button at the top of the Routines view is used to add a new routine. To update an existing routine, tap on the routine name in the list. The Edit button at the top of the Routines view is used to edit the list itself. Use that button to delete or duplicate (premium edition only) a routine. You can also bring up the controls for deleting or duplicating a routine by swiping it left.
- The + and Edit buttons at the top of the Activities view perform functions similar to those in the Routines view, except that in the Activities view, the Edit button also enables activities to be reordered (by allowing them to be dragged up or down).
- The changes you make to a routine, or to the activities within a routine, are not saved until you tap the Save button in the Routine view. If you make changes to the activities within a routine and then Cancel out of the routine, you will be asked to confirm your action before your activity changes get cancelled.
- The Activities view lists the activities within a routine and shows the duration of each activity. The duration shown in this view does not include preparation time, but it will have a '+' sign beside it if the activity has preparation time specified.
- Choosing the default option for an activity's start or end sound means that the activity will use the sound configured in the Settings view at the time the activity is run.
- When you choose "Speech" as a start or end sound for an activity (either by selecting Speech explicitly, or by configuring Speech as the default in Settings and selecting "Default" in the activity), the timer will include (i.e say) the activity description when it announces the start or end of the activity.
- The Suspend Auto-Lock option on a routine will prevent your device from auto-locking while the routine is running and the app is in the foreground. It will not prevent auto-locking while the routine is paused or while the app is running the routine in the background.
Miscellaneous
- Your device must not be on mute if you want to hear the sounds made by the app.
- The first time you run a routine after installing the app, you will be asked if you want receive notifications. Notifications are the standard way that an app can alert you of something while it is running in the background, so be sure to allow notifications for this app if you want to be alerted of activities starting and ending while you are running a routine in the background. If you change your mind afterwards, you can always change the notification options for Routine Timer in your device settings.
- If the app goes to the background while you are running a routine and you have allowed notifications for the app, you will receive a notification whenever a new activity starts. If you have configured the activity with some preparation time, then you will receive the notification at the start of the preparation phase of the activity. This will give you time to transition from the previous activity to the current one.
- The first time you launch the app after installing it, you will be asked whether you want to store your routines and settings locally on your device or in iCloud so that you can share them among your other devices. However, if you are not logged into iCloud at the time that you first launch the app, you will not be offered this choice and your data will only be stored locally. Unfortunately, there is no setting that allows you to migrate your data to iCloud after it is stored locally. If you want to switch storage locations, you will have to reinstall the app and make sure you are logged into iCloud the first time you launch it.
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