A Hangboard Timer That Keeps Going With Your Phone Locked

Most climbers I know run their hangboard sessions with two apps. One to time the hangs, and one (or a notebook, or nothing) to write down what they did. The timer doesn't know what the session is, and the log doesn't know what the timer did.

The Sequence timer lives inside the workout, so the session you planned is the session it runs.

Built for Repeaters

Set up an interval exercise with your hang time, rest, and reps, say seven seconds on and three off for six reps, and the timer runs it for you. You get a count-in before each set, a beep on every transition, a warning ten seconds before the end of a longer set, and a halfway beep on anything over two minutes.

The same interval layout handles Tabata and EMOM work. Rest between sets and between exercises is set once in your defaults, and the timer can roll straight from the last rep into rest so you're not reaching for the phone with chalky hands.

Your Phone Can Go in Your Pocket

This was the part we rewrote the most times. On iPhone the timer runs as a Live Activity, so the countdown sits on your lock screen and in the Dynamic Island, along with the exercise you're on and whether you're working or resting. On Android it runs as a notification showing what's next.

Lock your phone, switch to your music, wander off to the water fountain. The beeps still land when they should, and the final beep still fires at the end of a long interval block. The screen stays awake if you'd rather leave it on the floor in front of you, and opening a workout doesn't pause your music.

Warm-Ups Don't Count

A small thing I'm unreasonably pleased about. Warm-up sets are labelled W1, W2 and so on, and they don't count towards your working sets. One warm-up and three sets reads W1, 1/3, 2/3, 3/3, so you always know how many proper sets are left.

Then It's Logged

Tick a set off and it's in your history. Your hangs build up a progression chart and personal bests for that exercise, and if you record effort per set you can see whether that extra 2.5kg felt like a step up or a wall.

The timer is in the iOS and Android apps. Set your units, rest periods, and count-in under Settings, then Preferences, and take it to the board.