My iOS cube timer was released on the Apple App store the other day and I’m excited to see what people think of the new features. A lot of them are ones people requested directly.
- Random state 2×2 scrambles.
- This is embarrassing, the update notes of FiveTimer 1.0.6 featured “sub-optimal 2×2 scrambles” this was more or less false. I knew that sub-optimal scrambles were 11 moves in length, what I didn’t get was how those 11 moves were picked. The scrambler in FiveTimer uses random moves, and still does for 3×3-5×5 scrambles. The randomness and length of moves are often sufficient for those sizes, but for the 2×2 especially 11 in length are not. I knew I needed to change this in 1.1 and it now uses a random state generator, so it generates a random state and generates the moves to get to it.
- Hold to Start option added.
- Maybe this should’ve been in the initial release, having used a lot of online timers that just use a tap of the spacebar to start and stop I didn’t think it was as important. There were enough requests for me to add it in 1.1 as an option that you can toggle.
- Auto Dim option added.
- This was just as requested as “Hold to Start” there is now an option to prevent the device from going to sleep at all times.
- Stop button occupies entire screen.
- Not sure why I didn’t do this the first time either, it’s a very obvious addition. You can now tap anywhere on the screen to stop the timer.
- 3×3 scrambles fit on 3 lines consistently, Startup image added, Better timing display function, Back end optimizations.
- These are aesthetic changes and the result of code refactoring. The coder I was eight months ago was a little more impatient and sloppy which I’m sure is what I’ll say about myself today in another eight months or so.
I’m already thinking about features for 1.2 and will be taking requests for them too so if you have anything you want to see in an iOS timer send them my way here. (I’ll definitely be changing the icon, the more I look at it the more awkward it looks.) For people who have already purchased the app the update is free otherwise FiveTimer is still just 99¢ in the Apple App Store so check it out!