A new major iOS version is now available meaning a new major version of uTime is also available!
uTime 6 brings a new design to timer selection and the home-screen. This is the first redesign of major controls for both the home-screen and timer selection screen since uTime launched in 2015.
Along with these design changes the major upgrade is the addition of a new device: The Apple Watch. uTime is now on the Apple Watch with uTime 6 and allows you to see all your timers and how much time is left on your wrist. Apple Watch support just makes sense with uTime and I am so happy that it is finally here and everyone gets to start using it.
Along with these major things there are many small improvements: iOS 15 Support, Haptic Feedback, iPad Trackpad support and even more. The official change-log can be found below along with screenshots of the new screens and Apple Watch app.
uTime for Apple Watch will sync all the timers you have on your iPhone regardless of syncing with iCloud or if your data is local!
Select any timer to see the exact time left on Apple Watch by selecting a timer from the list.
Home screen updates: For the first time since launch the main look of the home screen on every device has changed! The tab bar will function the same as previous buttons and give increased control to those using an iPad with a trackpad.
Timer Table Updates: The timer selector has a new look! Beautiful cards to see all of the timers you are tracking! The new system has been completely re-written to avoid action button errors, selection errors, and most importantly: deletion errors.
Added haptic feedback on supported devices when you change timers.
iOS 15 Support: Added time-sensitive notifications so you do not miss timer expiration!
iPad users: Trackpad support has been fully added throughout the app!
Small devices: The iPhone SE can now see the countdown circle!
Combined the table view from iPhone to iPad and Mac. This means far less bugs and quicker changes can happen to all platforms.
Tapping / Clicking on a notification when a timer expires will now open the app right to the timer associated with the notification so you can see more information!
Made it so the app can check for important updates and display them as a notification. This happens in the background, ignoring the message will not display the current message but will display future messages unless ignored again.
Font changes: A new font style throughout the entire app!
Fixed a small bug where arrows would not always display on first time setup in Dark Mode.
After over a year of hard work and dedication I am so happy I can finally introduce the next major update to uTime: uTime 5. Starting a year ago the entire backend structure has been redone, iOS 14 specific features, SwiftUI, CloudKit, and more make up just part of this massive update. While I will post the changelog below I want to highlight some of the more major features of this release.
A New Backend
uTime’s original back end was made when I was a freshman starting college and has stuck around ever since (well until now). It was very sloppy but migrating it was not really possible in the way I wanted to do it until iOS 13 allowed for CoreData (saved data) to syncronize into iCloud without a lot of extra work. This means the data you put into uTime automatically gets saved and transfered to iCloud (or if you don’t have iCloud it will stay on device). By moving uTime’s data to a database instead of my own system of functions (what a mess), I can push updates even faster that has to do with timers and most importantly – less bugs. The downside to this is anything before iOS 13 (and macOS Catalina) does not work with this structure so uTime 5 has to be on iOS 13 (and 14 now) to run. Another downside is all previous versions will not sync data after transfering. If you choose not to upgrade to uTime 5 syncing will still work as expected. Version 5 needs other app versions to be on 5 to sync your data.
First Time Setup
Something new that has not been done before is first time setup. First time setup will open when you first open uTime 5 and in the background migrate your old data to the new dataset that uTime will use from now on. While this is happening you can also scroll through and see some new features of the app. After the first setup you will not see these screens again.
A New Modification Screen
uTime 5’s Modiciation Screen
The new modification screen is simply incredible. It allows you to select the date from a calendar instead of scrolling through. The time is right below so you can set it to the exact time of your event.
iOS 14 Widget
uTime 5 iOS 14 Widget
With iOS 14 Apple has started allowing widgets to be on the homescreen of the iPhone. I am so happy to say uTime 5 has a widget for iOS 14 ready to be on the homescreen of your iPhone (or sidebar of your iPad). The iOS 14 widget updates every 5 minutes (or when you open the app, this is Apple’s limit not mine) and will show you the time to the closest timer that has time left. For iOS 13 friends the Today widget still exists and can be used to cycle through.
Feedback Submission
Feedback Tools
One of the big new features within uTime 5 is feedback submission in app. Using your iCloud account within any screen in app, you can now shake your device (or hit command+F on macOS) to bring up a feedback form. From here you can submit a bug or just general feedback in the app. What is important to know: I cannot see any personal data even though you need to be signed into iCloud (because Apple does not allow me to write to CloudKit without authentication). The only information I can see is what you provide to me.
Those are just some of the major features coming with uTime 5. Others include the Info screen being completely redone, theme improvements, and much more. uTime 5 is the biggest release I have ever done as a developer and I am so excited for you all to use it. To see the entire changelog you can open the info section of the app or find it below.
Changelog:
A New Data Set: uTime 5 uses an entirely new data set. This new set lives in iCloud just like the last but allows for more features to be developed much much quicker. If you do not use iCloud then the data will live on your device just like before. With this change it is important to note that uTime 4 cannot sync with this set so if you want to have continuity between devices both will need uTime 5 to sync. This also means uTime 3 on desktop will not be able to sync with uTime 5 for macOS or iOS.
iOS 14 Widget – You can now have uTime on the home-screen of your device! Just add the widget by activating jiggle mode. The iOS 14 widget will show the aproximate time you have left to your closest expiring timer!
Modify Timer Screen – The modify timer screen has been COMPLETELY redone. You will now be able to choose dates with a calendar and then the time with a date picker for a much better experience than just one scroller. (Not available on iPhone SE Gen 1 running iOS 13)
Feedback Screen – You can now submit feedback right through the app: Simply shake your iPhone or iPad to submit either a bug report or generic feedback in the app! Mac users can use the menu option to access on home screen! Please make sure you are signed into iCloud to use!
Info Screen – Info screen has been completely re-written in SwiftUI. This makes for a more consistent experience throughout all devices along with being able to add and change things quicker for future updates.
Theme improvements: The operating system will now fully take care of dark/light theme. This also allows it when you switch themes in control center the app will fully change without the need to restart.
First time setup: Upon entry you will be welcomed with a new set of screens while we transfer your data. This will explain new features!
– New Icon: A new version means a new icon! This update is a little pinkish!
– Added support for iOS 14.
– iOS 13 Dependent: uTime 5 is only available for iOS 13 and onwards.
– Changed checkmark image for selecting timers on iPhone.
– Fixed an issue on iPad where the color would not return to normal after deselecting a timer.
– Fixed an issue where the launch screen would present an oversized logo image.
– Fixed an issue where the launch screen would present no image at all…
Fixed an issue on iPhone SE (Gen 1) where the image on modify timer wouldn’t completely fill the view.
A new round of uTime 4.4.1 is now out. Called the spring cleaning update this includes:
Added a cancel button to the iPad/Mac modify Window. This will allow you to discard any changes made to a timer while using iPadOS or macOS.
Timer Table For iPhone: The table on iOS 13 will now show a gray color + checkmark to let you know it has been selected. For iOS 12 and earlier it will just be a gray color. This is a fix for checkmarks dissapearing in a long list.
Timer Table for iPad/Mac: When in edit mode and selecting a timer, the color will change to gray to let you know that it has been selected. This fixes disapearing checkmarks and text being cutoff by the mark for a cleaner approach.
Made it so the app now dynamically knows what version it’s running. This means there is less confusion on what version you actually have installed.
Fixed a bug where checkmarks would disappear if a large list is present and the user scrolls.
Cleaned up various parts of the app to make file size slightly smaller and also allow for a better running experience
After a summer of developing I am happy to announce uTime 4 is now available to download on the app store. uTime 4 brings numerous improvements including Split View for iPad (FINALLY) and iOS 13 Support!
A new circular ring lets you visualize how much time is left
The home screen for uTime 4 has a new addition: a circular ring. The circular ring will fill up from the most recent load time till your event occurs. It is a fun way to visualize how much time is left until your event. This is just one of the many feature additions and improvements in uTime 4
Here is the official changelog for uTime 4:
4: Big Changes
iPhone:
Slide Menu: Now instead of hitting timers and going to a different view the list of timers will just slide in, and by swipping right they will also appear
Search is no longer hidden: instead of having to pull down to get to the search bar it will always be present and ready to use
iPad:
Finally you are able to use uTime in Slide Over and Split View multitasking
-Using Slide Over and certain instances of Split View will bring in the iPhone interface for a better experience.
General:
Added an animation for timers (iPhone 6 and up): The circle! The circle animates based on how much time is left from when you select the timer. It will fill and say solid white when time is done.
-Layout Improvements: uTime will work better with all types of screens due to updates on constraints.
iOS 13 Dark Mode: For devices running iOS 13 the slider to toggle has been removed. iOS 13’s dark mode setting is reflected within uTime.
Other iOS 13 Goodies: uTime works with sliding views now! Most notably settings (and for iPhone Modifications!). Grab the top of the view and dismiss them. (13+ Only)
Removed custom WebBrowser with Safari’s default
-New version means a new icon!
uTime 4 is on the App Store now as a free update. Happy Downloading!
With about less than a week to go to WWDC I have made uTime 3.4 available on the app store. 3.4 officially marks the end of the transition of uTime to swift as now every feature has been migrated into Apple’s swift language.
uTime 3.4 brings back the today widget allowing you to see your timers all within the notification today view, or by 3D touching the uTime icon on your home-screen. Every time you open the main app or make a change the widget will update manually or will also update in the background to stay up to date. However with the background updates it is sporadically timed (Apple’s policy not mine) so you may want to open the app if you want it up to date at specific times.
Here is the official change-log:
3.4 Return of The Widget:
The today widget is back and redesigned
Access the today widget in Notification Center or with supporting iOS devices: 3D touch the uTime icon!
Today widget will stay up to date in the background but will manually refresh with you entering the app
An update a year in the making: uSurf 6 is now available. uSurf 5 got to be so hard to maintain and fix that I had to rewrite it from scratch but by doing that there are a lot of improvements. The official change-log:
6.0 The Big One:
– A total rewrite: The app has been completely rewritten to be better optimized!
– WebKit: With WebKit features such as swipe navigation have been implemented
– ProgressBar: See how far the page is loaded with a new progress bar on the top of the webview.
– iPhone X Support: uSurf now supports iPhone X Style Devices
– iPad Pro Support: uSurf now supports iPad Pro (3rd Generation Devices)
– iPad: No more toolbar! Everything is now in the navigation bar!
– iPad: Portrait Split Screen!
– There are new icons all throughout the app!
– Long pressing the add button will allow you to add a bookmark, just pressing it will add a tab…
– Option to clear all history!
– Searching: You can now search through your history, tabs, and bookmarks!
– Better version information: A lot less mess ups when it comes to consistency with information
– Legacy: uSurf still works with legacy devices (going as far back as iOS 9)
– Ad Banners: To try and make a little bit of cash on the side I implemented a single ad banner on the bottom of the settings page. That’s it.
uSurf 6 switches from using UIWebView to WebKit. This brings faster browsing and streamlined navigation. It also allows for a progress bar to determine how much of the page is left to load.
There is also a lot of efficiency upgrades in terms of memory and processing power which is good on devices running legacy versions of iOS.
The final thing… Ads. uSurf has been free for a number of years along with other applications of the uApps Suite. Development of these apps take a lot of time and are not free so I am trying to get a mere couple of cents off of people using them. Therefor, I added an ad banner in the info section of uSurf… That’s all there is going to be for now.
For those of you waiting for this update I appreciate your patience while I got this update ready (took over a year). The redone code structure makes it easier to push updates both feature wise and functionality wise.
As it starts to become Christmas in my part of the world I would like to take a minute to say thank you to everyone who has used something I have developed over 2018.
My hope is that even though there are some bugs along the way that the applications I make and post bring some joy or make your life a little bit easier in some fashion so I would like to say thank you.
As of right now all apps and updates for 2018 are finished! There will not be a new update for any uApps application until early 2019 with big things left to come…
With that said a big piece of the uApps puzzle was absent this year: uSurf. uSurf got to be developmentally challenging to make progress moving forward so I decided I was going to completely re-design and recode the entire thing using swift and webkit. While there are still a lot of things to be developed for uSurf 6 because it is the holidays here is a sneak peak of the new UI you will see when launching uSurf 6:
So exciting things are coming in terms of uSurf, uTime, and something else completely new! However, they take time and I am a busy college student about to graduate so a lot of these projects are done in free time so again thank you for bearing with me.
Again thank you and I hope everyone has a terrific holiday and a happy new year!
Happy July! To start of Summer right( at least where I am) I have updated both iOS and macOS versions of uTime! uTime for iOS is now on version 3.1 while uTime for macOS is now on versions 3.0.5! Take a look at the changes below:
uTime 3.1 for iOS:
Made it so dark mode for the iPad now is on the home screen timer list
Enabling dark mode will have the dark keyboard appear when changing the timer name
The return of date sorting: You can now sort timers by date on both macOS and iOS
Made it so you can slide to delete timers on iPad
Redesigned the launch screen
Fixed an issue with memory leaking on iPad
Fixed an issue on auto layout sometimes not working on the info section of the iPad
uTime 3.0.5 for macOS:
Sorting by date has returned to both macOS and iOS versions of uTime
Adjusted a timer on the back end so the app should not have issues with timer selections anymore.
This was originally supposed to be a “uTime 3.0.1” is now available but while playing aroun with uTime 3.0.1 after it went live on the app store I discovered a critical big that the app would crash on the iPhone after adding a new timer and then navigating to the timer that was just added. I pulled uTime from the App Store shortly after finding this issue and patched, and submitted the fix with uTime 3.0.2. I am not sure if the problem originally was in uTime 3 but everyone who can should update to uTime 3.0.2.
Here is the official changelog for 3.0.1/3.0.2:
3.0.2:
– Fixed an issue on iPad where deleting the current selected timer would result in a crash
– Fixed an issue on iPhone when adding a timer then navigating to the timer would cause a crash
3.0.1
-Added the 3.0 changelog to iPhone…(Oops)
-Switched the Cancel and Save button on iPhone.
– On iPhone the Counting Down To: portion of the label has been removed
After all of the WWDC fun from yesterday I introduced uTime 3 for iOS. I am very happy to announce that right now uTime 3 is officially available to download on the iOS App Store.
The official uTime 3 changelog is massive and here it is:
3.0 The Massive Update:
iPhone:
Added a new screen: Modifications. Now modifications are done in it’s own view that will slide in. It will display the name and the current target time of your timer and allow you to change it.
The timer screen has been redesigned. It now has larger text and will allow you to see the maximum amount of time remaining on the target timer
iPad:
Home screen: The entire home screen has been redone. There is now the list of all your timers on the side bar along with the maximum amount of time remaining.
Modification Screen: Instead of presenting an entire screen a popup view will appear and you can modify the timer and save just by dismissing the controller (by tapping anywhere on screen). The size of the popup does not cover the current timer information so you know what you are modifying.
Web Support Is Now In It’s Own View Instead Of A Popup In The Info View
Both:
Notifications: Instead of a popup alert displaying when the timer fire date is finished a generic iOS banner will appear.
Added the ability to share the timer with various apps using share sheet. This will share the name of the timer and the maximum amount of time there is left.
Changed the background images
Support now opens in a WebKit view meaning there is a progress bar to show you the accurate loading % of the webpage.
Swift: The entire app was rewritten in swift which is why it took so long.
iOS 11: Due to the nature of the app and the newer API’s at the moment uTime 3 is iOS 11+ only.
Even though uTime 3 is 11+ only iOS 10 and below users may still download uTime 2 from the App Store.
uTime 3 is massive for iOS and I hope all of you enjoy it. As always updates will be coming throughout and due to how I set up uTime 3 they will be coming much quicker!
uApps 