I love being able to have a timer running in the background while I’m working on my Mac. It’s a great way to keep an eye on when I need to take dinner out of the oven, or use as a Pomodoro timer during one of my ill-advised attempts to integrate the Pomodoro technique into my daily workflow. But, it seems that many Mac Apps don’t let you run multiple timers under the auspices of the same program. One Mac App that lets you run multiple timers at the same time is called Howler Timer.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Howler Timer lets you run multiple timers at once. This app is also available for iOS.

Pros

• Lets you create multiple timers/countdowns
• Comes with some nice bonus features that you might not expect from this type of app: measurement references and temperature conversions, for example
• Easy add names to your timers, and set length down to the hour, minute, and second
• Long, sustained howling wolf sound will definitely get your attention!
• Great for fans of nature, wolves, or the great outdoors in general

Cons

• Somewhat boring and bland look to the timers
• Must pay to upgrade if you want to unlock features like chained timers or presets for the timers (this will cost just 99 cents)

Discussion

Howler Timer is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: you set a timer, and rather than a ding or a chime, you are alerted with the noise of a howling wolf. It’s a unique little touch that adds a bit of nature to a tech-heavy day. Some users have noted that the sound the timer makes can set dogs in the house to barking, so beware of that.

While Howler Timer may have a distinctive audio component to its design, the visuals are quite basic, bordering on bland. If you are picky about apps, and tend to buy only the best-designed and most creative-looking apps, you might be tempted to give this one a pass based on its ho-hum visuals alone.

However, while it may not be a very boldly designed app, Howler Timer is perfectly serviceable. I love how flexible this app is, and it’s nice to be able to have multiple timers running at once. You’ll get some visual pop-ups as well as audio notifications when a timer runs down, so if you happen to have the volume on your Mac turned down, you won’t miss your timer. As the clock winds down to the final ten seconds, you’ll start to hear a bird call with every ticking second, up until the wolf kicks in.

Conclusion and download link

If you want a timer app that lets you have multiple windows running, and also has a bit of a nature theme, then Howler Timer is a smart choice. It may not be all that visually stunning, but it works great. And after all, you’re probably gonna just have the timer running in the background where you can’t see it anyway, right?

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 1.4

Supported OS: OS X 10.6 or later

Download size: 1.6 MB

Howler Timer on Mac App Store