OnTimer FAQ

A calendar alarm app connects to your existing calendar and fires persistent, interruptive alarms before each event — not passive notifications that disappear on their own. Unlike standard calendar reminders from Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook Calendar, these alarms stay on your screen until you actively dismiss them. OnTimer is a calendar alarm app for iPhone.

Google Calendar doesn't natively support alarms — it sends notifications that disappear automatically. OnTimer connects to Google Calendar and turns every event into a persistent alarm on iPhone. Download OnTimer, connect your Google account, and every calendar event gets an alarm automatically — no per-event setup required.

Outlook Calendar's built-in reminders are notifications, not alarms. OnTimer connects to Outlook Calendar and fires persistent alarms for every scheduled event — they don't disappear until you dismiss them. Multiple Outlook accounts are supported.

A notification informs you — it appears briefly and disappears whether or not you act on it. An alarm interrupts you — it stays on screen and requires a response before it stops. Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and Outlook Calendar send notifications. OnTimer turns those calendar events into alarms.

The Last 5 Minutes Problem is the gap between knowing about a meeting and actually acting in time. You had the reminder set. You saw it. You planned to act in a moment. The notification disappeared, and the window closed before you did anything. Persistent alarms close this gap by staying on screen until you respond.

A persistent alarm stays on your screen and continues alerting until you actively dismiss or dismiss it — unlike a standard notification, which disappears after a few seconds whether or not you acted. OnTimer fires persistent alarms for every calendar event, requiring explicit acknowledgment before they stop.

OnTimer is free and includes automatic alarms for one calendar provider. Time To Fly can set an initial airport departure estimate on the free plan; OnTimer Pro can update it for traffic when background conditions allow. Pro also adds multiple calendar providers, Time To Leave, Early Warning, and additional controls.

OnTimer connects to your calendar and creates loud, persistent alarms before meetings and events so they are harder to miss.

Most calendar apps send standard notifications. OnTimer is built to create a stronger, more persistent alert before it is time to join or leave.

Yes. OnTimer works with Google Calendar.

Yes. OnTimer works with Outlook Calendar.

Yes. You can use OnTimer with multiple calendars and accounts.

Yes. For events with a location, Time To Leave can alert you when it is time to leave based on travel time and traffic. Time To Leave is a paid feature.

Yes. In Settings, open Which Meetings Ring and choose Only meetings I choose. Then tap the bell on any meeting you want to ring. For a repeating meeting, you can turn on one event or the whole series.

Yes. Tap the meeting's bell, or Alerting on its event card, and choose This Event Only or All Events in This Series. To undo a series setting, open Which Meetings Ring in Settings and tap Reset.

Choose an alarm sound and assign a different sound to a specific event when it needs a distinct signal.

Early Warning provides a lighter heads-up before the main alarm, with a default time that can be adjusted for a specific event.

Time To Fly automatically discovers flights in your calendar and sets a leave-time alarm using the trip to the airport and the airline-recommended airport arrival time.

On iOS 26.1 and later, High Alert can ring through Silent mode and Focus or Do Not Disturb when it is enabled and iOS permissions allow it. Without High Alert, sound and delivery still depend on the iPhone's notification, sound, and Focus settings. See the current setup details.

OnTimer is especially useful for busy professionals, people with back-to-back meetings, people who miss standard notifications, and people who struggle with time blindness or chronic lateness.

Knowing about a meeting and leaving on time are two separate steps. The gap between a reminder and the moment you need to stop working and leave is where lateness happens. Calendar notifications inform you — they don't interrupt you. The fix is an alarm timed to when you need to leave, not when the meeting starts. See why this gap exists and how to close it.

Most calendar notifications are passive — they appear, you tap away, and they disappear. There's no persistence, no escalation, and no interruption of what you're focused on. Do Not Disturb, Focus modes, and notification volume settings can all silently block them on top of that. Full breakdown: why calendar reminders fail.

Manual alarms require you to remember to set them, update them when meetings change, and delete them when events get cancelled. OnTimer reads your calendar and creates, updates, and removes alarms automatically. When a meeting is rescheduled, your alarm moves too — with no action from you.

No. OnTimer is completely on-device. It reads your calendar locally and never sends your data to any server. Your schedule stays private on your iPhone.

Not yet, but it is coming. Join the Android waitlist to be notified as soon as it is available.

It depends on your flight type, security setup, bags, and how you are getting there. Domestic flights typically require arriving 2 hours early; international 3 hours. Add your drive time and any parking buffer on top of that. Use the Airport Time-to-Leave Calculator to estimate your exact departure time.