iPad App Review: Counting time (and contractions) using Chronolite

So, my wife entered labor this morning, and I thought, "what better time to write a blog post?" Kidding.  Seriously, don't judge me as a father just yet. As we wait out the contractions, I wanted to share how we're using an app on the iPad to measure the times of each contraction, as well as how far they are spaced out. No gory details after the jump, I promise...


Where did the Clock go?
Before we went to bed last night, I looked for the stopwatch feature included with the native Clock app as found on my old iPhone. I expected it on the front page, but after a quick scramble through my 100+ apps, I realized that the clock app simply wasn't there, and a google search reminded me of the missing iPad apps, one of which was the Clock. So, I did what any iOS device owner would do - I turned to the App Store and found Chronolite, best of all with a free edition that offered to accomplish what we wanted.

Multiple Count up timers
Our feature request was simple. A working timer to determine length of contractions. A bonus would be an additional timer to measure the time in between contractions. With Chronolite, we got both timers, as well as an additional pair to play with. We ended up setting the extra pair of timers, so we could measure a second set of data and compare to the original. Thus, a set of four timers were used to measure contractions and how far apart they were.

Up to 4 Timers

Simple, yet effective
For $2.99, you can get even more features, including additional timers in the full app Chronology. However, we were satisfied with the free version enough that I didn't feel a pressing need to spend the 3 bucks. I liked how even the free app allows you to name your timers, and offers a "play all" and "stop all" function. The timers work when you are not in the app, and with iOS 4, the app promises to work in the background and enable alerts. There are a ton of Clock apps on the market, most of which offer some sort of "night stand" feature, but all we wanted was a simple stopwatch/timer and Chronolite provided just that.

Both the free version (Chronolite) and the paid version (Chronology) are available in the App Store.

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