What’s New In TimeTune 4.7

TimeTune 4.7 contains new features and several improvements 😍

Let’s see the new changes in detail:

MULTIPLE DEFAULT NOTIFICATIONS

Prior to version 4.7, you could only create a single default notification in the app settings. That was the notification that would appear automatically when creating a new block.

However, many users need multiple default notifications for their blocks (for example, a notification 10 minutes before start and another one at start). The old approach forced them to manually create extra notifications every time they created a new block.

So now, in TimeTune 4.7, you can create multiple default notifications (Settings / Notifications / Default notifications):

We also kept the ‘Default configuration’ setting. That’s the setting that defines the configuration (vibration, sound, voice, pop-up) that appears when you add notifications manually.

CLEARING SCHEDULE HISTORY

Sometimes it might be necessary to clear your schedule history (part of it or completely). Maybe you need to clear a range of dates that are skewing your statistics. Or maybe you want to make a fresh start and clear your past history for good.

To clear your history, position the schedule on a past date, open the top menu and select ‘Clear history’:

The app will show a confirmation dialog before clearing the history, to avoid accidental deletions.

WIDGET THEME

So far, the app allowed you to change any aspect of the widget (background color and opacity, text size and color, etc). That made it possible to create any visual combination according to your preference.

However, some users got confused when they observed the widget didn’t adapt automatically to the device’s light or dark theme 🌞🌙

Therefore, in version 4.7 a new setting will allow you to set the theme for the widget with these options:

• Light
• Dark
• System default (to follow the device’s theme)
• Custom

The ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ options are basically predefined configurations with light and dark backgrounds, while the ‘Custom’ option is what we had so far (all options available for customization).

You can find the new setting on Settings / Widget / Theme:

AM/PM VISUALIZATION

Prior to version 4.7, the format for AM/PM times on the schedule was a bit… awkward. We showed the time as ’08:30a’ instead of ‘8:30 AM’. That didn’t follow any standard conventions and it wasn’t user-friendly either:

Originally, we used that format due to space limitations. In phones with small screens, a full format wouldn’t fit into the available space.

However, we needed to find a different approach. If the full format wouldn’t fit, at least we should find something more pleasing to the eye.

After many tests, we finally opted for:

• Decreasing the font size for the times just a bit.
• Adding the AM/PM indication in small caps, without separation.
• Removing the leading zeros.

The new format is certainly nicer and adheres to UX standards:

TIME PICKER (24-HOUR FORMAT)

A while ago, Google introduced an odd change for the time picker in their Material Components Library. When selecting hours with the 24-hour format, the picker showed all the hours in a single circle (instead of two concentric circles):

That lead to confusion for many users. It wasn’t clear how to select odd hours and very few people use 24-hour clocks.

When that change happened, it forced us to include a new setting in the app so users could change the time picker from the Material Components Library for the time picker from the operating system (which properly showed the hours in two circles).

Finally, after realizing the mistake, Google backtracked the change and their latest version of the Material Components Library shows the hours in two circles again:

Therefore, in TimeTune 4.7 we always show the time picker from the Material Components Library. We also removed the setting to choose the time picker from the operating system, as it’s not necessary anymore.

TIME PICKER (INPUT METHOD)

The time picker from the Material Components Library also allowed us to implement a useful feature:

In TimeTune 4.7, the time picker automatically remembers the last input method used when selecting a time (circles or keyboard).

That’s important because many users prefer to use the keyboard when selecting a time, and with the previous version they had to change the input method every single time.

Besides, when using the keyboard as input method, the app opens they keyboard automatically and positions the cursor on the ‘Hour’ field. So selecting a time with the keyboard is also faster than before:

MINOR AND TECHNICAL CHANGES

As usual, the new version includes other minor changes and technical stuff:

• New icons: praying hands, peace hands.
• The ‘Custom’ button on the sound picker is now a ‘Search’ icon.
• New option to disable notifications for 8 hours (Schedule / Top menu / Disable notifications).
• Solved a bug where the back arrow didn’t work in Help screen.
• Library and translation updates.
• Internal improvements.

We hope you like the new version! 😀

But stay tuned. The app is still growing and we keep working on new improvements 👷‍♂️

Cheers!

(Top illustration by Freepik)