Fitness Month at Windows Phone Central
Push It! Interval Timer received a great review at Windows Phone Central for health & fitness month. Check out the Health & Fitness Month Roundup for plenty of great fitness apps for Windows Phone.
Push It! Interval Timer is now firmly ranked as the most popular interval timer on Windows Phone, world-wide! And judging by a recent user review might be helping to convert a few Andriod users:
“I’ve tried many interval timers on different phones and this is definitely the best one. I actually stuck with Windows Phone instead of switching back to droid because of this app.” Unl***GT, 4 March 2012, United States.
Other reviews from around the world:
“Excellent interval timer. There are a few apps like this on the marketplace but I needed one with more functionality than I found in others. With this app I can create a load of custom workouts, set a warm up time, set up a specific amount of intervals to perform, set up another set of intervals with different timings (this was a big one for me), and then set a cool down period. I have workouts saved for boxing drills, weight lifting circuits and hiit. Couldn’t ask for more” Ins***go, 27 May 2011, Great Britain.
“Honestly the best interval timer out there. Lets you specify time for workouts, sets, rest periods, warmups and cooldowns. Also lets you copy and modify workouts. Very well thought out. Excellent.” za***fm, 6 August 2011, Canada.
“excellent interval timer, very easy to use, just what I was needing!” Bl***er, 12 June 2011, Australia.
“Sehr gute Umsetzung!” Spi***71, 21 February 2012, Germany.
The next update is coming soon. Spare time has been limited in the last few months but it’s getting back on track now.
Glenn.
Most Popular Interval Timer for Windows Phone
Push It! Interval Timer has consistently ranked in the top 10 applications in the Fitness category and top 30 for Health + Fitness for the last few months. It has become the most popular Interval Timer and general workout timer for Windows Phone. Thanks to you, those that download, try and buy!
Keep the feedback coming and don’t forget to add a review to the Marketplace.
The next release is due in a couple of weeks. It will include some, if not all, of the following features:
- Backup to DropBox
- Description fields added to exercise programs.
- Re-designed session page that improves the visibility of information and includes a landscape layout.
- A free version supported by advertising.
Glenn.
Push It! Interval Timer v2.0
I have added a couple of new Mango features in this latest update: fast task switching and deep linking tiles. With fast task switching you can now interrupt your workout session (perhaps because of an incoming phone call) and resume immediately. Deep linking tiles let you pin your favourite or most used workout programs to your start screen for quick access. The flip-side of the tile also lets you know the last time you ran the pinned workout.
Other additions in this version:
- option to turn off the background image. This was getting in the way of readability for some users. When turned off the background will revert to the selected theme background colour on your phone.
- now record and display the date and time that a workout program was last run.
- fixed exceptions that occasionally occurred when the Marketplace link was selected and the Marketplace was not reachable.
As always, comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Glenn.
Push It! Interval Timer Featured
Did you miss it? I did. Push It! Interval Timer was the featured app on Windows Phone 7 about a week ago. Thanks go to the Microsoft people who thought it was good enough to feature. Some apps seem to be featured over and over again. Make this one of them!
The app has also been featured on the Windows Phone Developer App Showcase Facebook Page.
Updates coming soon:
- fast task switching
- the ability to pin individual workout programs to your start screen.
Both of these require the Mango update which is rumored to arrive in a couple of weeks!
Glenn.
Push It! Interval Timer v1.6
Another requested feature added in this update: Run Under Lock! This should have been there from the start but, to be honest, I didn’t fully understand what “run under lock” actually did. If you turn this feature on you can now lock your phone and Push It! Interval Timer will continue to run while the phone is locked. So if you start an interval program and lock the phone the countdown timer continues to run and interval warning sounds and vibrations will be played as normal. When you unlock the phone you are presented with the application immediately, without going through the tombstone resumption process.
One caveat is that when you change this option you need to restart Push It! Interval Timer for the setting to take effect. Don’t forget!
This update also fixes an issue whereby the warning sounds sometimes played when the application resumed. This depended on how far through a training session you were.
A timing issue has also been fixed in preparation for the Mango release. If you are running Mango then you might have noticed that the timer was interrupted whenever a warning animation was played. This has now been fixed. For those interested in the technicalities I’m now using my own background System.Timer thread rather than using the System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer.
As always, feedback is most welcome.
Glenn.
Push It! Interval Timer v1.5
It seems that a couple of the latest updates to Push It! Interval Timer were not to everyone’s liking. The full screen pausing capability added in version 1.3 was good for those people doing exercise routines on spin bikes, exercise equipment or the like (which is what I do mostly), but not good for the runners out there! It was too easy to accidentally pause a routine without noticing. So, I’ve made this feature a user option. You can now revert back to the original pause button rather than the full screen pause by changing the “enable full screen pause” setting.
Another feature that a few people have commented on is how the session does not start immediately when you tap the “play” icon, it starts out paused. I’ve added another setting that you can use to change this behaviour. If you want the session to start immediately when you tap “play” you can do so by turning on the “start session immediately” setting. If you like the old behaviour then leave this setting off.
Glenn.
Push It! Interval Timer v1.4
Version 1.4 has been submitted for application verification. Only a couple of small changes in this release:
- You can now copy an exercise program. The view program page now has an additional copy icon on the action bar. This icon will copy the entire contents of a program to make it easier to create similar exercise routines (see screen shot on right). Thanks to John M. for this suggestion.
- Fixed an exception that occured when the add program label was clicked on the main page.
Additional features are in the works including the ability to start or resume a program from any set/interval and the ability to categorise programs. I also have to look into a timing issue that seems to have been introduced by the Mango updates.
Stay tuned!
Glenn.
Push It! Interval Timer v1.3
An update has been submitted for application verification. The following changes have been made to this version:
- You can now automatically pause at the end of a warm-up.
- You can also automatically pause at the end of specific sets.
- Feedback suggested that the pause/resume button on the session page was a little hard to hit during a workout, so it has been replaced with the ability to tap anywhere on the page.
As you can see in the screen shot on the right, you can set the program to automatically pause after the warm-up period has completed. This is useful for preparing exercise equipment or transitioning to different equipment after the warm-up. For example, you might perform a warm-
up on a spin-bike or step machine and then move to weight machines or free weights for the first interval set this can take a few seconds and with the automatic pause, the interval timer will not start the first set until you are ready. The new version also lets you optionally pause between sets. This lets you transition between equipment or change weights before the next set starts.
The screen shot at the left shows how pausing and resuming a session is now easier. The previous version used a button at the bottom of the session screen which was difficult to tap, especially in the middle of a tough workout. You can now tap anywhere on the session screen to pause or resume, there is no longer a need to aim for a relatively small button.
As usual I welcome any feedback, good or bad. I have a few ideas for updates when Windows Phone 7 Mango arrives but would love to hear from users about any suggestions they might have.
My Favourite Interval Training Blogs
BODYROCK.TV (also on Facebook)
An excellent home workout site with new workouts almost daily and great diet plans. Almost all of the workouts are based on interval training. Judging by the physique of the instructor Zuzana, these workouts really work!
Great blog from Eartha covering a good variety of circuit and interval training routines. Normally only a few posts a month but always good routines and quality.
Push It! Interval Timer v1.2
An update has been submitted for application verification. The update includes the following fixes:
- Fixed the cause of an exception which was thrown when the back button was used if the intensity list options were expanded.
- Stopped the list of intensity options from growing when the interval edit page was tombstoned.
And a price reduction! You now get more flexibility and functionality than other similar products, for the same price.
The update should appear on your phones in the next few days.
