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ckuttner

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 22, 2015
118
39
Portland, OR
Hoping for some help here: I'm a psychiatrist, have a bright patient (she's a disabled engineer) who needs to take medications on a regular basis. She has issues with sensory processing and ADHD, so the pill timers she has tried have been a problem: the alert sounds, e.g., shaking pill bottle, get her so jangled and irritated that she doesn't remember to take her pills.

The closest she's come to a solution is a gentle meditation gong on Insight Timer, but that's not quite equipped for her regular reminders.

The ideal would be a reminder that can go off several times per day, with some options for a gentle tone that won't get her so edgy that it's counterproductive. She has an iPhone X and and Apple Watch (not sure which one on the latter).

Thanks in advance.
 

bollweevil

macrumors 6502
Feb 1, 2008
410
1
Hahahaha, that's NOT what I thought you were going to ask for.

MultiTimer.ipa is an iPhone app that works really well for - everything?

i would NOT recommend it as a pomodoro timer. Though it HAS that as "one of the kinds of timer".

It is a good world clock, alarm clock, and stopwatch.

I also would NOT use it for things that take longer than rebooting your iPhone by accident. Unless it's okay if you forget.Because that breaks it.

so it is not good at reminding you it is bedtime. But it WILL wake you up. If your iOS device is powered on.

it will make any noise you want. Or it will silently vibrate.

it will not play the radio in any form, though.

Alarmy will play the radio - and is awful. I disrecommend Alarmy.ipa. They make a desktop version, Alarmy.app. It is good for preventing your computer from turning off when you close the clamshell andunplug the power - because it will keep the screen ON. Until you quit the application. Command Q works. So does File > Quit. So does force quit.

yeah, Alarmy is NOT good in 2020. It was good in like 2018.

MultiTimer.ipa is AMAZING in February of 2020. Acabo de darles dinero, I just gave them money.

multi timer. It "just works". It is multiple timers. It is not a pomodoro timer, though.

FYI, "caffeinate" (Unix command) still works in 2020 on Apple products. It is PoSIX-compliant and it is the "better way" to keep your laptop on with the clamshell closed. That's lowercase "caffeinate" in Bash and zsh, if you use a different shell like me. Or sys.check_call(["caffeinate"]) in Python 2.7.x or Python 3.x for large X. Like 3.7.

but for non software engineers, MultiTimer is great.
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It can just vibrate. I don't know if it can use the Apple Watch at all.

MultiTimer, that is.

the volume is the "global volume", you cannot make it quieter or louder than a phone call.

you can make it silently vibrate though.
 

Defender2010

Cancelled
Jun 6, 2010
3,131
1,097
 

gogwit

macrumors newbie
Dec 18, 2017
3
1
Wherever I go, there I am.
I would suggest trying “Round” - which I use to remind me to take meds (including Lithium) as well as to remind me that I have actually taken them so I don’t take them more than once.
As my short term memory is poor, I have set up brushing my teeth and other ad hoc tasks as if they were meds, to ensure I neither forget nor do several times.
The alarm sound cannot yet be configured but as I rely on vibrate this is not a problem for me. The notifications remind you when it is time, then ask whether you have taken whichever meds were due. Scheduled meds can be recorded via the Watch.
The watch app and complication are basic.
The utility and flexibility of the app meets my needs. I currently use it on my Xr and Watch 4.
 
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