Leaving the house
You’re doing one more thing, you look up, and you were meant to leave ten minutes ago. Set Tempo for the time you have, and you can watch the eclipse close over while you’re still doing that one more thing.
See time instead of counting it.
Tempo is a visual timer for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, built for ADHD and time blindness. A dandelion loses its seeds, an eclipse closes over, and you can tell how much is left from across the room.
Free to download. Pro is a one-time $4.99, with no subscription.
“20 minutes” means nothing until it’s already gone.
If you’ve ever looked up and lost an hour, another number counting down won’t help. When your brain doesn’t track time on its own, digits are abstract and you have to stop and work out what they mean. Tempo makes time spatial, so you can see it draining at a glance.
Built to stay quiet.
You don’t need another app keeping score. Tempo shows you the time and leaves the rest to you.
- No account, sign-up or email
- Works entirely offline
- No streaks, badges or guilt mechanics
- No ads, ever
For the moments time gets away from you.
Pick how long you have, pick a picture, and put your phone where you can see it. These clips are sped up. In the app, they run for as long as your timer does.
A work block
You check the clock and lose your place. Or you don’t check, and the meeting starts without you. With Tempo, a glance at the picture tells you how much of the hour is left, and you haven’t lost your place.
A deadline that still feels far away
It’s three weeks away, and then it’s three days away. The month scale runs against the real calendar, so you can see how much of the month has gone while there’s still time to start. Dots and the month scale are both free.
Pick the one your brain reads.
There are seven visualizations. Dots is free, and a one-time $4.99 upgrade adds Dandelion, Eclipse, Ember, Sand, Snowman and Thunderstorm. See all seven.
Ember
Snowman
Thunderstorm
From one minute to one year.
Most timers stop at an hour. Tempo’s longer scales run live against the real calendar, for anyone who loses whole weeks as well as whole afternoons.
Minute
A focus sprint or a short break
Hour
The meeting, the work block
Day
How much of today is actually left
Month
The deadline that still feels far away
Season
The three months you keep meaning to use (Pro)
Year
The one nobody shows you
On your wrist and Lock Screen.
The Apple Watch app and the Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets keep your current scale in view without opening anything, so checking the time stops being the distraction.
Questions people ask
- What is a visual timer?
- A visual timer shows time passing as a picture that changes, not only as digits counting down. You can read it at a glance, from across a room, without doing any math.
- Does Tempo help with ADHD and time blindness?
- Tempo is built for people who lose track of time, including many people with ADHD. It makes time something you can see, so an hour is harder to lose without noticing. It’s a timer, not a treatment.
- Is Tempo free?
- Tempo is free to download, and the free version includes the Dots visualization and five scales: minute, hour, day, month and year. Pro is a one-time $4.99 purchase that adds the other six visualizations and the season scale. There’s no subscription.
- Do I need an account or an internet connection?
- No. Tempo has no account, sign-up or email, and it works entirely offline.
- How long can a Tempo timer run?
- You can set a custom length, or use one of six scales from one minute to one year. The month, season and year scales run live against the real calendar.
- Does Tempo work on Apple Watch?
- Yes. Tempo has an Apple Watch app, plus Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets, so your current scale stays in view without opening anything.
- Is Tempo available on Android?
- No. Tempo is available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
Tempo won’t fix your relationship with time.
But you can see when to get ready, when the hour is nearly up, and how much of the month is left.