Does anyone else think it would be nice if we could always see how much time is left on an iOS timer while doing other stuff on the device? What if the timer would alternate with the clock on the top status bar? I feel like there's enough available space on my 6 Plus for the clock and timer to sit adjacent to each other, but I understand that it might not be possible on smaller devices, and it might not look as elegant as just having it alternate with the clock every few seconds.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Timer on status bar?
- Thread starter btkadams
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Using the "Double Bar" style like when you are on a call would be a neat way to integrate it. It would make sense too, that Double Bar has kind of gone down in iOS as being the "something is going on in the background" signal.
Ehh, I wouldn't like that. The bar usually signifies an important background activity - phone and GPS both are very relevant all the time when using them. I use timers for things in the oven, coffee, tea, etc. All things I wouldn't want to waste screen space for.
What would be nice is if apps could have a second "bubble" icon on the left side of the app icon to indicate current activity. So a timer could display a constant countdown on the app icon on the home screen, a running GPS app could display the location arrow, an app downloading in the background could have a progress indicator, stuff like that. So the red bubble would still be notifications, and the blue or green bubble would be a running activity indicator.
I agree, I wouldn't want that extra bar at the top either. When it's there on a phone call or personal hotspot and I'm also using the phone, it's often in my way, usually when using Safari.
Having the additional bubble on an app icon sounds reasonable though.
i think that would be a good feature to have, for sure. i don't think it would improve on the problem i outlined in the first post though. those bubbles wouldn't be visible if you were inside an app doing something. going out to the homescreen to look at the app icon isn't really improving anything imo, as you can pull up control centre while in an app to tap directly to the timer anyway.
i also agree that having the double status bar thing would be too intrusive for how often people may use timers and how little the information needs to be.
True, as a second idea it would be nice if apps could have "temporary" widgets that show up at the top the today view. So start a timer, and it shows up on the lock screen and on the top of the today view. That way we don't need to add a timer widget that is always taking up widget space. It could also be useful for something like GPS apps, or showing download progress from an app that is downloading in the background.
That means they would always be accessible from anywhere (Just swipe down) and still be out of the way when using the phone for other tasks.