Frequently asked questions

What is the Timist Session System?

The Timist Session System enables you to divde your time into sessions and breaks. Once enabled (which you can do in Settings -> Sessions and Breaks), all timers will now run with a countdown (the default is 40 minutes). At the end of the session’s coundown (or earlier by tapping Skip to break), you can start a break (with a default of 5 minutes) - and take a break yourself. And at the end of the break, get back to whatever you were doing.

After a couple of sessions (the default is 4 sessions), Timist will start a long break (the default is 15 minutes). Use that time to take a deep breath, go for a little walk, have a snack, make a coffee… and then get back to it, for the cycle of sessions and breaks starts anew.

On Timist Pro, you can customise all of these settings on a global level (Settings -> Sessions and Breaks) and for every timer (Timer -> Sessions and Breaks), including additional options like automatically starting and ending sessions and breaks after their time is up. You can also enable notifications to remind you every couple of minutes when the countdown has completed.

Sessions and breaks will be active for a specific timer, when:

  1. Sessions and Breaks is enabled in the app settings and the timer is configured with Global override in the timer settings (the default and only option when using Timist free mode)
  2. Sessions and Breaks is enabled for the specific timer and Global override is disabled (requires Timist Pro)

How can I add new timers?

Swipe up on the control panel in the timer view and tap “Add new timer”. You can either add and start it right there, or simply add it and start it later. In the timer detail view (simply tap on one of the timers) you can change the timer’s name afterwards and look at a preview of its data.

What features are only available on Timist Pro?

As of Summer 2020, the following features are only available on Timist Pro:

  • Adding unlimited timers (the free mode offers a maximum of 5 timers)
  • Organizing your timers with tags
  • Beautiful charts for all of your tracked time (the free mode offers only a summary and a preview of the weekly, monthly and yearly data) and taking a deep dive with tags
  • Reminders at the end of sessions and breaks, with the option to keep “nagging” you every couple of minutes
  • Customising everything about the Timist Session System:
    • Session length
    • Break length
    • Long break length
    • Number of sessions between long breaks
    • Automatically ending or starting of sessions and breaks
    • Interval between reminders after the end of a session or break
  • Customizing the Timist Session System for every timer and applying different values than the global settings
  • Alternate app icons for Timist

Why are some features only available on Timist Pro?

Timist is developed and maintained by a single, independant developer. Developing the app takes time and money, so charging for it is the only way to actually keep it going. The revenues enable me to fund future development and offer a premium native experience.

If the Timist Pro value proposition does not work for you, that’s perfectly fine. Time tracking is of different value to everyone and the free version offers a great basic experience. I’d still love for you to give it a try (there is a 14-day trial included in the yearly plan).

If you like time tracking but Timist does not work for you, there are plenty of other services that offer a great free expereince. Clockify and Toggl are some of the best.

What is Global Override in the timer settings?

The settings you specify in the app settings (Settings -> Sessions and breaks) are the global default, and will affect all timers that adhere to the global settings. This is the default and only option when using Timist free mode.

Timist Pro allows you to set different settings for Sessions and breaks for each timer. In the timer’s specific settings (Timer -> Sessions and breaks) you can disable the global override, which means the timer will ignore the global settings and follow its own specific settings. Here, you can enable and disable Sessions and breaks, and customise the timer-specific interaction with the Timist Session System. At any point, you can re-enable the global override to force the timer to use the global settings, regardless of the timer-specific settings.

How can I change the lengths of sessions or breaks?

Head over to Settings -> Sessions and Breaks. There, you can change the lengths of sessions, breaks, long breaks, and the interval at which the long breaks occur.

On Timist Pro, you also have the option to set timer-specific lengths in Timer -> Sessions and breaks. Please note that this requires the global override for the specific timer to be disabled.

How can I enable reminders?

Timist Pro allows you to set custom reminders at the end of each session or break. Timist will send up to 5 reminders in an interval of your choosing. To enable reminders, head over to Settings -> Sessions and breaks and enable Notification on time elapsed. To change the interval of notifications, choose a different value for Notification interval.

The first notification will always show right at the end of a session or break, meaning the remaining time will reach 0. Reminders will only show, when Timer ends automatically for timers and Break ends automatically for breaks respectively, are disabled.

You can interact with reminders with a long press on your iPhone’s home screen or lock screen. Timist will give you the option to stop the timer or break, start the following break or timer, stop sending reminders for this specific session or break, or to simply discard the current notification.

Please note that for reminders to work, you need to enable notifications for Timist. The app will ask for notification permission once you first enable reminders. Should you deny the permission, or revoke it at a later time, iOS will not allow the app to ask again. Instead, Timist will prompt you to go to the app’s system settings to enable notifications. Notification permission is required for reminders to work.

Timist Pro will also allow you to set custom reminder settings for every timer. Please see Global override for more details.

Why can’t I see the full analytics?

In Timist free mode, the app will only show a preview of its full analytics capabilites. If you head over to All history, you can always see a preview of the bar chart for the current week, month and year. If you swipe left, you can also see a preview of the calendar view for the current week and month. To unlock the analytics for the complete time range, a subscription to Timist Pro is required.

However, you can always see the total time tracked and the distribution between different timers in the table below. One tap on the timer (or the total time), and Timist will show you the timeline for the timer (or all of them).

How can I cancel my subscription to Timist Pro?

You can cancel your subscription to Timist Pro at any time, which means the subscription will be active until the end of the current billing cycle (month or year) and will not renew. Head over to Settings -> Timist Pro Subscription and the app will show your current active subscription (if any) and will offer the option Manage subscription.

Tap Manage subscription to go to your active app subscriptions on iOS. Here you can change your current plan or cancel the subscription to Timist Pro.

You can also (starting with iOS 13) go to the App Store on your iPhone and tap on your profile in the top right corner. There, tap on Subscriptions to manage your iOS subscriptions, including the one for Timist Pro (if active).

I have another question that is not answered here.

Great :) That means something about the app is not well explained or not easy to use - and I want to know. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at timist@startpunkt.io and I’ll be glad to help you and learn what I can improve.