Windows phone 8.1 simple timer question

[Paul Lindqvist]

From what i'v gathered Windows Phone 8.1 lacks a simple function such as being able to set a timer/alarm without having the actual application open ?

Can someone explain why Windows Phone can't have applications like this running in the background or when the phone is locked !?!

Isn't that a significant flaw in the Os compared to iOS or android ?

Thanx!

 

[JTDraper]

"Cortana, remind me in 25 minutes to check the roast."

 

[Paul Lindqvist]

Well i'd love to have Cortana to remind me.. sadly she isn't here yet..

Seriously though such a simple task as timer ? If i't can't be done easily with third part apps, the OS should have it built in and use the notification system to alert.

 

[JTDraper]

Just use the native Alarms app until you have Cortana. Alarms does use the notifications system and the next alarm appears on its live tile.

 

[vitorrloureiro]

Alarm is not timer

 

[tallarob]

I use app named "Timer" and it has option to run in background and under lock screen.

 

[Paul Lindqvist]

Yes the alarm is far from a timer... kind of silly to not have a alarm/timer/stopwatch built in to the OS.

Well doesn't matter if it runs in the background or under lockscreen if it doesn't notify you when running behind locked screen or in the background. Which i assume it doesn't.

 

[tallarob]

"Timer" does indeed notify you when under locked screen

 

[Paul Lindqvist]

"Timer" does indeed notify you when under locked screen

Thanx for the reply! So why on earth do people make apps that doesn't notify you when it can been done obviously !?!

I mean what's the excuse ?

Thanx again for clarifying this as i was under the impression that it couldn't be made without using the notification system. And none of "popular" timers i tried could do this.

 

[stooH]

Unfortunately there's a simple flaw with Timer, whilst it works under locks screen and I used it on my previous WP7.5 phone. It doesn't time accurately on WP8.1. The seconds seem to be kept in synch with the phones clock, this means if I want to time for one minute and set the timer it can tick down from 1 minute and 'some' seconds. When I've just set it for a minute it started counting down from 1 minute 30 seconds.

So sadly no longer useful.

If anyone knows of a timer that I can run under lock screen and also times accurately i'd love to know about it.

 

[tallarob]

Unfortunately there's a simple flaw with Timer, whilst it works under locks screen and I used it on my previous WP7.5 phone. It doesn't time accurately on WP8.1. The seconds seem to be kept in synch with the phones clock, this means if I want to time for one minute and set the timer it can tick down from 1 minute and 'some' seconds. When I've just set it for a minute it started counting down from 1 minute 30 seconds.

So sadly no longer useful.

If anyone knows of a timer that I can run under lock screen and also times accurately i'd love to know about it.

Just did a little test and got an interesting result. If I set the timer to 1 minute and shut the phone off, leaving the app open, it seemed to work great. If I closed out the app, and then shut down the phone, the result was different. Sometimes it would go off early, other times late. This does seem to be a problem.
If you leave the app open, all is well, but you can't use your phone and that is certainly not what you want.