As a kid I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' place. They had that grandfather clock you never see nowadays. When it struck twelve I knew it was lunchtime and my Grandma had almost certainly cooked something delicious. Later, when I started school, I was given a Casio with an hourly beep. Then I got my first Symbian smartphone and the very first app I installed was a cuckoo clock. Now I've written my own iPhone app that brings back those good times at my grandparents' and lets you know the time without having to look at the screen.
Long story short Tinny(not) is the result. It's an hourly chime and speaking clock for iPhone. It rings the hour from your lock screen with the app closed, using one of 14 built-in sounds, or a voice that speaks the time aloud in whatever voice you have installed. The name is a joke about the one thing people feared it would sound like - it is Tinny and it is not tinny.
It is free, not just free to try. The hourly chime and 5 of the built-in sounds cost nothing for as long as you use the app. The speaking clock, custom notification text and the rest of the sounds come as a single one-time purchase. No subscription.
The main controls carry VoiceOver labels and announce their state: the chime switch, the hour grid, the sound list, the custom text field. What I like is you can turn off Lock Screen, Notification Centre and Banners for the app and leave sounds on and the whole thing becomes sound-only so there is nothing to read and nothing to miss.
Each quarter hour can have its own sound, set right from the hour grid, or stay silent if you would rather not hear it. You can also import a recording of your own in case you want something more personal than the built-in sounds.
The whole app is just 9MB. It is available on the App Store - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tinny-not-hourlychime-bell/id6762549292.
If something does not read right with VoiceOver or you just have a question, please, mail to: [email protected]
Comments
Sounds
Does it has those sounds from the grand father clock, I like them very much. Also big Ben? Is it on the app store and what is the name, how much is it?
@Holger
Sure, it does have. And many more. Just give it a try - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tinny-not-hourlychime-bell/id6762549292. 5 of the built-in sounds cost nothing
question
Hi,
question: Will this app shine every quarter hour? I have an app that's similar that will chime every quarter hour. Also, does this app have the old digital watch beep?
@JC
Yeah, it chimes on the hour, every 30 minutes, or every 15. And it does have beep sound. Did you try it?
no
no. however, it sounds interesting. I'll think about it.
Eldar S.
Please give me the name and not the link, using my window PC to check applevis. I do nnot use my phone or iPad to do. Thanks and be cool.
@Holger Fiallo
Here it is - Tinny(not): HourlyChime & Bell
A small accessibility issue…
Thank you for this app, which works quite well overall, particularly thanks to the alarm volume being perfectly audible.
However, I would like to report an accessibility issue with VoiceOver. When I select an option, such as “Hourly” or “Every Day,” VoiceOver does not announce that the option has been selected or indicate its selected state. This makes it difficult for VoiceOver users to know which option is currently active.
I’m using iOS 26.6.1 on an iPhone 13 Pro Max.
@Laurent
Thank you for the kind words, and especially for taking the time to report this.
I'll certainly work on fixing that issue. It'll be in the next update.
If you notice anything else that doesn't read the way it should, please let me know. I'd rather hear about it.
Haven't tried it yet
Hello,
It is nice to see other developers making new apps, adding to the community. I've personally not downloaded it yet as I do have a clock app that fits the bill. Could you perhaps give a bit more details on how this app compares to the competition, such as Val?
excited to try this
Hi.
I'm excited to see more clock apps coming out of the woodwork.
I'll report my findings and feedback.
first impressions
First impressions, not great. There's no real semblance of structure, there's several unlabeled elements, a random set of buttons labeled 1 to 24, something about schedules with no real explanation on anything, etc. I'm not trying to be discouraging but this needs to go through much more testing with as many people you can find, because currently it is not app store ready.
@Zach M
Thanks so much for taking the time to review the app. Appreciate the feedback!
Tinny(not) is 9mb but features rich, zero subscriptions, collects zero data, and gives you a single, distraction-free screen. That’s the whole philosophy: simple, light, minimalist, and out of your way.
Now to your specific points:
Unlabeled elements are the hour grid buttons labeled 1 through 24 (those are the labels). It’s a manual toggle for power users.
But you don’t have to touch it at all. The presets (Work hours, Waking hours, Weekdays, etc.) are right there and do the job in one tap.
No structure is by design. It’s a single-screen app so you don’t dig through menus. Presets for simplicity, a manual grid for control that’s the structure.
It’s already live, approved, and working reliably in the background for lots of users. It does exactly what it promises: a gentle, nostalgic chime without the bloat.
Thanks again for the honest take. Hope this clears things up!
Unlabeled elements
Can they be name? I think that is the issue the person is pointing out.
@Eldar S
Hi Eldar S,
You wrote,
AppleVis is a community for blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users of Apple products and services. We love it when developers come to AppleVis to share their app with the community. This is a critical part of how real-world accessibility moves forward, and our forums are a testament to what can happen when developers genuinely connect with users to improve accessibility. That said, the implicit expectation is that developers sharing their app with our community will be receptive to feedback (including criticism) about how their app works with VoiceOver and other accessibility features; and statements like "It’s already live, approved, and working reliably in the background for lots of users" come across as incredibly dismissive.
What voice does this use for telling the time?
Voice does this app used to tell the time? Is it just using the built-in voice of our screen reader voiceover? Does it have its own built-in voice in the app? Thanks haven’t tried the app yet.
@Michael Hansen
Thanks for moderating this and for setting expectations clearly.
I want to draw a distinction, though, between the two comments in this thread, because I don't think they're the same kind of feedback.
Previously Laurent reported something specific and reproducible and that's a real actionable bug report, and I committed to a fix, which is already in progress.
Zach's comment was a general verdict, "not app store ready," without a device, OS version, or any steps to reproduce. It also stated as fact that elements are "unlabeled," which isn't accurate: every control in the app, including each hour-grid button, carries an accessibility label. The grid format itself (12-hour AM/PM vs 24-hour) follows the user's region on purpose, so it matches how people in that locale actually read time rather than showing everyone the same layout.
Pointing out that the app is already live on the App Store wasn't meant to wave off the feedback. It was a factual response to being told the app isn't "app store ready," when it already is. I'm glad to be told exactly what didn't work for Zach the same way Laurent told me, and I'll fix whatever turns out to be a real issue. What I can't act on is a general impression with no specifics behind it.
Happy to keep this constructive.
@Zach, if you can point to which elements didn't announce correctly and on what setup, I'll look into it directly.