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All I want for Christmas is the ability to set multiple timers on my iPhone.
by nknealk 3y ago
All I want for Christmas is the ability to set multiple timers on my iPhone.
- jakear 3y agoNot ideal, but fairly easy to hand roll this with the new web push notification support. I support it as a component of a site I'm working on. The main annoying part is iOS PWA's kill their service workers when off screen even when explicitly told not to via the `waitUntil` command, so you need to have a server running which handles keeping track of the ongoing timeouts and calls the push notification endpoints accordingly. Code for that is here, https://github.com/JacksonKearl/push-simple https://github.com/JacksonKearl/push-simple. There's a Dockerfile, currently deployed via fly.io.
- layer8 3y agoTimers requiring a connection to the internet are a non-starter IMO.
- jakear 3y agoI agree it sucks, but iOS's service worker policy gave me no other option. Every other browser is just fine having the timeout running in the background, and I in fact have both codepaths running simultaneously so any other browser can work offline. Funny that I provide a fully working code sample of how to do what the parent wants, explain the caveats associated with it, and get downvoted because Apple crippled their service workers... ok then, Hackers.
- hazebooth 3y agoWelcome to HN
- layer8 3y agoI think you’re getting downvoted because what you propose isn’t an adequate solution to what people find lacking in the iOS built-in apps. As you say, it sucks.
- jakear 3y agoIf I were on "People Who Only Are Willing To Use Built In Apps News" that would make sense.
- CaptainZapp 3y agoI'd wager that this solution is definitely not in the "just works" department.
- ceejayoz 3y agoIt’s been so long either they’re too embarrassed to add the feature after all these years or there’s some weird deeply embedded technical obstacle too scary to touch.
- happytoexplain 3y agoI guarantee it's a third option: When Apple has a bizarre, unexplainable limitation, it's because of a highly opinionated hyper-pure UX design decision. Having multiple timers running is inelegant and sometimes confusing. So instead of giving users any agency in that situation, they just ban the very concept as a whole. If they feel enough pressure, and they can come up with a satisfactorily simple UX, they will usually eventually fix the hole.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- hombre_fatal 3y ago> So instead of giving users any agency in that situation, they just ban the very concept as a whole. Of course, many apps on the app store offer this feature.
- happytoexplain 3y agoAnnnd they just announced multiple timers.
- CaptainZapp 3y agoCan you seriously not do that? There's a lot of shit I don't appreciate about Android, but setting as many timers as you want is a total no-brainer.
- suchire 3y agoHilariously, you can set multiple timers on the Apple Watch, where screen real estate and battery are even more constrained.
- jrflowers 3y ago“Siri, remind me to check noodles (or whatever) in ten minutes” works when you’ve got another timer going.
- 1_1xdev1 3y agoSimilarly “wake me up in 12 minutes”. But you get alarms instead of “timers”