Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Hi all,

I noticed a few friends on facebook are using the app "Insight Timer" which is a meditation timer.
For those of you who have been using it, I would be interested to know your thoughts. I generally use a sound file of the recitation of the tikapatthana, sutta that I know goes for a desired period. I also use the timer function on my phone or tablet.
Thanks in advance.
kind regards,

Ben

Ben,

I use it and I like the way it tracks my average sit time and that you can earn stars and badges for hitting arbitrary goals. Even better is the ability to create groups (we could start a Dhamma Wheel meditation group if desired) and to see your friends meditating. I used another timer for years until I switched to this one. Highly recommended!

Thanks KB, I'll be guided by your recommendation and I'll give it a shot.

I use it every morning... works great and you get to make new friends with people who meditate during the same time as you
Its like a little sangha

Thanks Billy.

Ooh this looks good A Dhamma Wheel group would be cool - could link it in with the meditation challenge thread?

i use it. i dont use the social functions but the timer itself is superior to all others i've tried for meditation.

I'm an iPhone developer and I'm considering writing a meditation timer app. Maybe when I'm ready I can get some advice for features fom you guys.

I tried to use Lotus Bud on my iPhone and with Do Not Disturb on, the chime would not sound to indicate the end of my chosen time period for meditation. I've since switched to Insight Timer and it functions properly even with Do Not Disturb on. I have Insight Time for my Kindle Fire as well and I'm satisfied with it's functions.

I use the timer with interval bells function everyday. I also think it is superior to all other timers I've tried.

Is this Insight Timer released under an open source or public license, where is it found, it sounds a decent tool on Android tablets

I recently got myself a new smartphone. Remembered this thread and thought I would download the Insight Timer app for android.

Turns out the singing bowl tone thing is too quiet for my phone. I had turned the volume up to max too. Maybe my phone's speakers just suck or there is too much ambient noise, but when it ended I did not hear the ending sound. I did only try the free version, while the pay version has a thing where you can repeat the tone for a few times, which might help me hear it better, I dunno.

Anyway, I ended up using this talking alarm clock reminder app:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/alarm-clock ... alarmclock

Which is plenty loud enough for me to hear, is free and can repeat the alarms if needed. I also use it for work/home stuff, when I'm doing laundry, cooking, etc... it comes in handy for more than just meditating.

I guess the social thing on the Insight Timer app might be good for some, but it doesn't seem necessary for me. I might try it again later if I can figure out how to boost my new phone's speaker volume. For now I'll just stick to using the alarm clock app though.

poto wrote:I recently got myself a new smartphone. Remembered this thread and thought I would download the Insight Timer app for android.

Turns out the singing bowl tone thing is too quiet for my phone. I had turned the volume up to max too. Maybe my phone's speakers just suck or there is too much ambient noise, but when it ended I did not hear the ending sound. I did only try the free version, while the pay version has a thing where you can repeat the tone for a few times, which might help me hear it better, I dunno.

Hi, poto,
I have had similar problems with new software on computer and discovered after a while that there was a volume setting in the software settings quite separate from the volume setting on the OS, such that you need both of them to be set fairly high to get any volume out of it. I haven't used Insight Timer but it might work that way - worth another look, maybe.


Kim

Edit: fixed typo

Insight timer's been great for me. I love seeing the charts and statistics about my meditation, it is really quite helpful. The social aspect really is very small, sometimes I receive messages from people I don't know thanking me for meditating with them. I feel like responding: "Really? I didn't know I was meditating with you, have you been sneaking into my lounge every time I sit down for meditation?!? "

But for some the social aspect is quite helpful, there are various message boards for people in their respective groups, and it allows people to keep in touch and or ask for advice just the same as this board here.

All in all, I couldn't recommend it more.

BlackBird wrote:Insight timer's been great for me. I love seeing the charts and statistics about my meditation, it is really quite helpful. The social aspect really is very small, sometimes I receive messages from people I don't know thanking me for meditating with them. I feel like responding: "Really? I didn't know I was meditating with you, have you been sneaking into my lounge every time I sit down for meditation?!? "

Sorry about that!