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Life & fun · September 1, 2026

OwnTime – a chess clock for your day's priorities

I made OwnTime to balance between competing priorities in my life. The idea is based on two main influences: the concept of "roles" from "The 5 Choices" (2015), and my repeated failure to effectively implement time blocking due to the necessary flexibility in my role. The app allows you to define time budgets, which are not much more than a few mutually exclusive countdown timers. The UX is essentially that of a chess clock for an arbitrary number of players with configurable time. The whole point of the app is to kick you out of the running role/priority when its time is up. One…

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What it does

OwnTime is a chess clock for your day: a few priorities, a daily time budget each, one clock running at a time. When a budget is spent, an alarm goes off. iPhone and Apple Watch. No account, no server.

Define a few priorities and give each a daily time budget. Only one clock runs at a time, so starting one pauses the rest. When a budget is spent, an alarm goes off. iPhone, Apple Watch, or both. The budgets are not much more than a few mutually exclusive countdown timers. You start one when you begin working on something and stop it when you are done, or start the next one and let it pause the first. At midnight, everything resets. Each device works on its own. Phone and watch keep each other in sync when they are paired, and the watch is usually the quicker place to glance, start, and stop. Every action is also a Siri phrase, on iPhone and Apple Watch, and a Shortcuts action for your…from owntime.app

In the maker’s words, at launch

I made OwnTime to balance between competing priorities in my life. The idea is based on two main influences: the concept of "roles" from "The 5 Choices" (2015), and my repeated failure to effectively implement time blocking due to the necessary flexibility in my role. The app allows you to define time budgets, which are not much more than a few mutually exclusive countdown timers. The UX is essentially that of a chess clock for an arbitrary number of players with configurable time. The whole point of the app is to kick you out of the running role/priority when its time is up. One feature that was essential for me was AlarmKit alarms, which only became possible last year (>= iOS 26.1). Another was watchOS support, as a natural surface for time-related matters. The current version is strictly focussed. The timers track time allocation during one day. All timers are reset at midnight. I didn't build any statistics - you can export the raw internal SQLite store and make any evaluation or dashboard you want from there. I don't plan to extend the app nor to convert it into a service. All data stays local on your devices (synced between phone and watch locally) and fully open to you. No need for an account or subscription. Thus, I ask for a small one-time fee of $1.99. The website has a short video and rendered preview: https://owntime.app If you want to go straight to the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6770125662 I look forward to your comments and feedback.

Pricing, as stated on its site

Paid — One-time purchase with no subscription required. Specific USD price not stated on website.

checked September 2026 · prices change

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