Settings Access

TimeRings Settings

TimeRings Help

Auto Lock Alert

About TimeRings

The application settings for the latest version of TimeRings (v1.1) have been integrated into the application to make it faster and easier to customize the appearance of the clock face. The user is no longer required to exit the application in order to change the settings.

The application settings are accessed by tapping on the small INFO button in the bottom right corner of the main clock face screen. Tapping on the button will result in a transition to the Settings screen. When this new screen is displayed all of the settings for the application are available. Because not all of these settings are visible on the screen at the same time, scroll up and down within the screen to view them all. The screen shot to the right labeled "Settings Access" shows the location of the INFO button.

The "TimeRings Settings" screen shot shows all of the available settings and their default values. Each of these settings will be described in greater detail below.

TimeRings uses a color scheme to colorize each of the key components of the clock face. Selecting a scheme will change the display of these components on the clock face. These components are the actual time display, the date, current day of the week, AM or PM, and DST (Daylight Savings Time, this is only displayed if the current locale is observing DST).

There are four color choices - Red, Orange, Green, and Blue. The choices are shown on the screen shot above and are selected from the segmented button, only a single scheme cab be selected.

The default scheme color of orange can be seen in the screen shot on the home page.

The Auto Lock setting controls whether TmeRings respects the auto lock settings that are set globally for the device. If this setting is turned ON the application will respect the current global setting. This means that after the selected amount of time has passed the screen will be turned off by the system.

By default this setting is turned ON, this means that the screen will be turned OFF, after the specified amount of time, selected in the standard system Auto Lock setting, has elapsed.

It is important to realize that when this setting is turned OFF that unless the device is plugged into a power outlet, the device will eventually run out of power and shut itself down. So it is best to use this setting while the device is plugged into a power outlet.

This setting is intended to primarily be used when the device is being utilized as a nightstand clock where it needs to run without the screen ever being turned off. To use the clock as a nightstand clock turn the Auto Lock setting to OFF and plug the device into a power supply.

When this setting is turned OFF and the device is unplugged from a power supply, the application will display an alert warning the user that using the device while not plugged in, while this setting if OFF, could drain the battery. This alert is shown in the screen shot to the left. When this occurs it is strongly recommended that the user either plug the device into a power supply, or turn the Auto Lock feature ON to avoid battery drain.

The Brightness setting is used to control how bright the colors on the clock face are when active. It allows the user to dim the colors so that they are less intrusive in a night time setting when the clock is being used on a nightstand.

The lower the setting (control closer to the left) the darker the screen will be when dimmed. The feature is activated by double tapping a finger on the screen, to deactivate simply double tap again. A similar and less power hungry approach is to utilize the Brightness setting provided by the standard Settings application as this controls the brightness of the devices back light. The two can also be used in conjunction with one another.

By default this is set to 100%, which means that the brightness setting of the system is respected. To enable the setting move the thumb of the slider to the left.

This setting controls the animation of the time rings on the clock face. When it is turned ON the rings will animate smoothly from one tick to another. When turned off the rings will jump from one tick to another making for a more jerky movement.

The Rotate Clockwise setting controls the direction in which the rings rotate, it also affects the direction the numerals are displayed on the rings. The default is for the rings to rotate clockwise but this can be reversed by turning the setting OFF.

The Show Seconds settings controls whether the second ring and its associated value display and label are visible on the clock face. When this setting is turned OFF the hour and minute rings are adjusted to a larger display size in order to maximize the use of the screen real estate. This also increases the size of the numerals making them easier to read.

The default is for the seconds to be visible on the clock face as this provides more visible feedback that time is progressing as the seconds ring will constantly be rotating. When the seconds ring is hidden there is no visible feedback that the time in moving forward until a minute or hour increment.

This setting should be turned OFF if a larger more readable time display is desired.

The Show Weekday setting controls whether the day of the week is displayed on the clock face. The current day of the week is displayed below the date and time zone if they are visible, otherwise it is displayed at the top of the screen by itself. The full weekday name is always displayed in the current color scheme color.

The Show Date setting controls whether the date and time zone information are displayed on the clock face. When the date is displayed with the time zone, which is displayed below the date. The weekday is always below the date and time zone, if visible.

This feature is used to control the padding of the numerals on the hour ring, When it is turned ON zeros will be added in front of the numerals where appropriate to pad them to always display two digits. This applies to both 12-hour and 24-hour time displays.

The 24 Hour Time setting controls whether the clock is displaying the time in 24-hour format or not. When 24-hour time is displayed the AM or PM indicators will not be visible on the clock face. This setting is OFF by default.

The Ring Transparency setting allows the opacity of the time rings to be controlled. Moving the slider thumb to the left will make the rings more transparent, if moved all the way the ring will be completely hidden. Moving the slider all the way to the right makes it fully opaque. The default is for the ring to be fully opaque, with the thumb all of the way to the right.

The Numeral Transparency setting allows the opacity of the numerals on the time rings to be controlled. Moving the slider thumb to the left will make the numerals more transparent, if moved all the way the numeral will be completely hidden. Moving the slider all the way to the right makes it fully opaque. The default is for the numeral to be fully opaque, with the thumb all of the way to the right.

Tapping on the Help item in the Settings will display a text screen with brief descriptions of each of the settings that have been described ont he page. A new screen containing this information will be displayed when this item is tapped, to navigate back to the settings tap on the Settings button in the navigation bar. All of the text displayed on this screen is shown in the screen shot to the left, it is labeled "TimeRings Help".

Tapping on the "About TimeRings" item will display a screen with information on the developers of the application. This screen is also important because it displays the applications current version number. A screen shot showing this screen is shown to the left with the label "About TimeRings".

General

After changing any settings to return to the main clock face simply tap on the DONE button in the navigation bar, the screen will then switch back .

The TimeRings application has a built-in help system that can be accessed by tapping on the INFO icon displayed on the clock face in the bottom right corner, which will open the Settings screen. From there the Help can be accessed, it is a condensed version of the information displayed on this page.

TimeRings does not currently have a built-in alarm clock. This is due to the fact that TimeRings can only manage an alarm while it is running as there is no support for background tasks in the iPhone OS. The easiest way to setup an alarm that will go off while TimeRings is running is to set the alarm in the standard clock application provided by the system. This clock's alarm can be fired in the background so it is a reliable way of setting up an alarm that will be guaranteed to go off whether TimeRings is running or not. This is the safest approach should the user switch out of TimeRings for some reason. Once setup, launch TimeRings and then when the alarm fires it will wake you up! We do plan on adding support for an alarm in a future version of the application!

We hope you will give TimeRings a try and that you enjoy the different take on viewing time that it provides!

We love to hear from our users so if you have any feedback or feature suggestions please feel free to let us know through the support email address below!

For additional information please feel free to contact us through our support email address - TimeRings Support