CHIME — Clock-Synced Focus Timer

Every pomodoro timer has the same failure mode. You forget to press start, you forget to come back from the break, and after a few days you stop using it. CHIME removes the button you would have forgotten. THE CLOCK IS THE TIMER. CHIME does not count from the moment you press something. Its alerts are fixed to real clock times - in the default 50/10 mode, breaks begin at :50 and work resumes at :00, every hour. Because the schedule is the wall clock, you always know where you are in it without looking, and there is no timer state to lose. Prefer shorter cycles? Switch to 25/5 and the alerts move to :25, :30, :55 and :00. BOOK THE DAY, NOT ONE INTERVAL. Press UP to add an hour-long block, again to add another. The watch shows the end time of the whole session (END 17:50) and how far into it you are (5/8). Starting at 10:30 with eight blocks means a first partial block until 10:50, six full hours after that, and a finish at 17:50 - decided once, in two seconds. UP and DOWN keep working while a session is running, including during a break, so you can extend or cut the day as it goes. A REAL CLOCK FACE, READ AT A GLANCE. The main screen is an analog dial where the break window is drawn as a hatched wedge on the rim. One look tells you how close the next break is, in the same way a wall clock does. The countdown, the current time, and the session position all have their own place on the screen and never move. BREAKS THAT ARE HARD TO IGNORE, AND EASY TO OBEY. When a break starts, the screen inverts to white so the change registers in peripheral vision, and it prompts STAND / MOVE. The break screen shows the countdown to resume and the session end time together, because a break is exactly when you decide whether to add another block. ALERTS YOU CAN SILENCE IN ONE PRESS. SELECT cycles the alert output through four states - vibration and tone, vibration only, tone only, silent. The new state is played back immediately, so you know what you picked without looking, and the first press always takes you to vibration only, the one you need in a meeting. Two small icons on screen show the current state. CHIME never alerts outside the session blocks you booked. TWO DIAL DESIGNS. Round (default) or square, switchable from the on-watch menu (hold UP) or from Garmin Connect. Works with the app closed. The session keeps running after you press BACK. At each alert the watch shows a prompt asking whether to open CHIME; answering it opens the app and plays the vibration pattern for that alert. A silent notification banner is posted as well, so the alert reaches your wrist either way. Turn the prompt off under Wake Prompt if you only want the banner. Note: Connect IQ does not let a background service vibrate or play a tone. That is a platform restriction, not a setting. Garmin's own alarms and timers can buzz with nothing on screen because they live in the watch firmware, not in apps. Keep Alive, for when it has to buzz. Turn this on and CHIME records the session as an activity, which keeps the app running so every alert vibrates on the clock grid whether or not the screen is on. The recording is discarded at the end, leaving your activity history clean. The trade: you cannot leave the app during a session, and it costs more battery. Off by default. While CHIME is open on screen the alerts vibrate and beep exactly on the clock grid; while it is closed, the prompt above is how the watch reaches you. Buttons: UP add a block / DOWN remove a block / SELECT cycle alert output / hold UP settings / BACK close. CHIME is designed around published work on interrupting prolonged sitting (Diaz et al., 2017) and on short structured breaks during focused work (Albulescu et al., 2022), which is why the break screen prompts you to stand and move rather than simply counting down. This is a productivity tool. It does not diagnose, treat, or prevent any condition, makes no health claims, and is not a substitute for advice from a healthcare professional.

KEEP ALIVE — ALERTS THAT BUZZ WITH THE APP CLOSED Connect IQ does not let an app vibrate once you close it. Garmin's own alarms and timers can, because they live in the watch firmware rather than in apps — no third-party app has that access, and no amount of code works around it. There is one way through: an activity. Turn on Keep Alive and CHIME records the session as an activity on the watch. While it does, the watch treats CHIME as running, the app stays open, and every alert vibrates on the clock grid exactly as it does with the screen in front of you. Nothing to answer, nothing to miss. - The recording is discarded when the session ends. Your activity history stays clean; nothing is uploaded to Garmin Connect. - The trade: while a session runs you cannot leave the app, and an activity costs more battery than a closed app. That is why it is off by default. - Settings > Keep Alive. Also in this release: with Keep Alive off, CHIME now asks the watch to open itself at each alert and plays the vibration when you answer, instead of only posting a silent banner. Turn that off under Wake Prompt if you prefer banners.