We make Always On Time. Everything below about other apps comes from their Google Play listings as of October 2026 (US store). Prices and features change, so check the listing before you install.

Features compared

From each app's Google Play listing, October 2026. "Not listed" means the listing doesn't mention it. "Pro", "PRO+" and "Premium" mean the feature needs that paid upgrade. "No ads" means the listing has no "Contains ads" label. ¹ Always On Time's Wear OS app is in open testing on Google Play. ² Always On Time's connector for Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini isn't in a released version yet.

Prices at a glance

Option 1: Google Calendar's own settings

Start here. It costs nothing, and for some people it's enough.

According to Google's help page, on Android you can:

• Set default notification times for each calendar, and add more than one notification per event.
• Change the tone and vibration under Settings > General > Calendar notifications.
• Get notifications on your phone, by email, or both.

On the Android side, Do Not Disturb and Modes can allow reminders and calendar events through. That matters if your phone is often silenced during focus time.

Where it falls short: these are still notifications. The tone plays once, and the banner can be swiped away or covered by other notifications. If you're deep in a task or the phone is across the room, it's easy to miss. Our step-by-step guide to making Google Calendar ring like an alarm covers every built-in setting in detail.

Pick this if you usually notice notifications and want to keep things simple.

Option 2: Always On Time (our pick)

Always On Time is our app. It turns calendar events into full-screen alarms with sound and vibration, and it can show over your lock screen once Android's permissions are on. It reads any calendar synced to your phone's Android calendar, including Google Calendar. It's free on Google Play, with no ads.

What it does, per its Play listing and app:

• Full-screen alarms, not banners. By default an alarm rings for a minute, and you can set it to ring until you snooze or dismiss it. Alarms play at your alarm volume, not the notification volume.
• One tap from the alarm to the meeting. It detects Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex links, so you can join from the alarm screen.
• Alarms that fit your day. Choose which calendars to watch, set several alarms per event (such as 10 minutes before and at the start), and adjust settings per calendar or per event.
• Snooze or dismiss from your wrist on a compatible Wear OS watch.
• Guided setup for reliable alarms. It walks you through notifications, exact alarms, full-screen alerts and battery settings, and alarms are restored after a restart.
• Leave-on-time alarms. Optional travel-time alarms for events with an address ring when it's time to leave. Live traffic for these is part of Always On Time Plus, which is free for a limited time.
• Designed with ADHD and time blindness in mind, with no scores or streaks.

Trade-offs: it's Android-only and still new. It isn't a full calendar app, so you keep using Google Calendar to create and edit events.

Pick this if a missed notification has cost you a meeting, most of your day is video calls or appointments, or you want one tap from the alarm to the call.

Option 3: Calendar Alarm Clock Reminder

Its listing describes alarm clocks for calendar events with custom ringtones or your own MP3s, plus snooze. It also includes a standard wake-up alarm clock, a combined calendar view, and weather forecasts for event locations. It works with Google, Outlook and Android calendars, though Outlook needs a short manual setup. It has the most downloads of the calendar-focused apps here (100K+).

Trade-offs: the free version contains ads. If you only want meeting alarms, the extra features may feel like clutter.

Pick this if you want your calendar, wake-up alarm and event alarms in one place.

Option 4: ZenLendar

ZenLendar replaces small banner alerts with full-screen alarms. It works with Google Calendar, Outlook, Exchange and other calendars linked to your device. The free tier includes unlimited calendars and global sound, vibration and snooze settings. Pro adds per-account and per-calendar rules, postponing events, backup and no ads. A separate PRO+ purchase adds a Wear OS companion. Its optional Focus Mode uses Android's Accessibility Service, and the listing explains what that permission is used for.

Trade-offs: the free version contains ads, and per-calendar sound and vibration rules and the watch app are paid.

Pick this if you want full-screen alarms and are happy to pay for extra control.

Option 5: Events Notifier for Calendar

This app listens for the reminders your calendar already sends and repeats them, with your choice of sound, vibration and repeat interval. You can stop the repeats manually, when the event starts or when it ends, and you can show alerts as a full-screen popup. The setup asks you to turn off your calendar app's own notifications.

Trade-offs: the listing shows its last update in January 2024, and it has ads in the free version.

Option 6: BuzzKill (a notification rules app)

BuzzKill isn't a calendar app. It lets you write rules for any notification. Its "Alarm" and "Remind me" actions can turn a Google Calendar notification into something much harder to ignore, and it has a Wear OS companion. It's a one-time $3.99 purchase with no ads, and the listing says it doesn't access the internet.

Trade-offs: it works from the notifications Google Calendar sends, so those need to stay on and set up correctly. Writing the rules also takes some setup.

Pick this if you want one tool to manage all your notifications, including calendar ones.

Option 7: Meeting Alarm and Callendar

Two newer, meeting-focused apps:

• Meeting Alarm plays a persistent alarm and shows a full-screen alarm screen before meetings. You choose which calendars and meetings to track.
• Callendar syncs the primary calendar of a connected Google account (Premium allows more than one account) and can open Zoom, Google Meet and Teams links. Its listing says the full-screen call-style alarm needs Premium on supported devices. It doesn't sync Outlook, shared calendars or secondary calendars.

Both are new, with 10+ downloads each on Google Play.

Which should you pick?

If calendar notifications keep slipping past you, we recommend Always On Time. You get:

• Free, with no ads and no paid tier needed for full-screen alarms.
• A full-screen alarm, not a notification, that can ring until you snooze or dismiss it.
• One-tap joining for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex.
• Any calendar synced to your phone, not only a primary Google calendar.
• Leave-on-time alarms for events with an address.

Get Always On Time on Google Play, then run a test alarm from Settings.

Other picks for other needs:

• You sometimes miss notifications but want nothing new installed: tune Google Calendar's sounds and your Do Not Disturb exceptions first.
• You want all your notifications under control, not just calendar ones: BuzzKill.
• You want a calendar, a wake-up alarm and event alarms in one app: Calendar Alarm Clock Reminder.
• You want per-calendar alarm rules and don't mind ads or a paid upgrade: ZenLendar.

Whatever you choose, run a test alarm before you rely on it, and check your phone's battery settings. Some phones restrict background apps by default, and that can delay any alarm app.

Below are the main options, then a list of what to record. We make one of the apps here, Coffee Roast Tracker, and its section lists what it doesn't do. Prices and ratings come from the App Store and Google Play (US) as of October 2026.

Features compared

From each app's store listing or website, October 2026. "Not listed" means the listing doesn't mention it. "No ads" means the Google Play listing has no "Contains ads" label (Roastmaster is iPhone-only, and Artisan is desktop software). Prices are in the next table.

Prices at a glance

Coffee Roast Tracker (our pick for a quick log)

Coffee Roast Tracker is our app, and it's deliberately small. You start a roast with the bean origin and green weight. After roasting, you enter the final weight, and the app calculates the weight-loss percentage and the roast level it corresponds to, from Light (City-) to French. It keeps a searchable history grouped by date, shows quick stats (average weight loss, most common roast level, total roasts), and includes a reference chart of weight-loss ranges for each level. There's no account, and your data stays on your device.

What it doesn't do: there's no timer, temperature log, crack markers or roast curve. If you want those, Artisan, CrackLog or a spreadsheet will serve you better. Coffee Roast Tracker suits roasters who mainly judge roasts by weight loss and want a quick, tidy record of every batch.

It's $0.99 on iPhone and free on Android, with no ads or in-app purchases.

Spreadsheets and paper logs

Many home roasters stick with a notebook or a Google Sheet, and that's a reasonable choice. You decide the columns, you can chart anything, and it costs nothing.

Downsides: typing numbers into a spreadsheet on a phone next to a hot roaster is awkward, and the weight-loss formula is one more thing to get right. A good compromise is to jot times on paper during the roast and enter everything afterward.

There's a ready-to-copy column list in the "What to track" section below.

Artisan

Artisan is open-source roasting software released under AGPLv3. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi. Its site lists support for roasting machines from 80+ brands and 50+ devices. It calculates rate of rise, development time ratio and area under the curve, and it can detect events and project phases. An optional paid cloud platform, with a three-month free trial, adds inventory management.

Where it's strong: it's free, it has a large user base, and it supports a wide range of hardware.

Trade-offs: it's desktop software, and it's most useful when it's reading temperatures from a connected roaster or probe. If you roast in a popcorn popper with no probe, most of its features go unused.

Pick this if you have, or plan to buy, a probe or a connected roaster.

Roastmaster

Roastmaster, from Rainfrog, is a long-running Apple app. It covers green coffee inventory and purchase planning as well as roast logging. You can log temperatures from supported probe hardware or DIY Bluetooth electronics, or enter readings by hand, then build profiles from past roasts. It's free to download, and features vary by subscription tier. In-app purchases include Data Logging ($14.99) and monthly tiers from $4.99 (Basic) to $39.99 (Premium), with yearly options. It's rated 3.9 from 32 ratings on the App Store and needs iOS 26 or later.

Where it's strong: one of the most complete roasting apps on iPhone, especially if you manage a lot of green coffee.

Trade-offs: it's Apple-only, and its higher tiers are aimed partly at roasting businesses, so a casual home roaster may not need everything they include.

Beanconqueror

Beanconqueror is a free, open-source coffee companion that's mostly about brewing. It also lets you add green beans, roast them in batches with the variables you care about, and pass finished roasts into your brew log. It's rated 4.9 (139 ratings) on the App Store and 4.8 (754 reviews) on Google Play.

Pick this if you want one app that follows a bean from green to cup.

CrackLog, RoastTrace and Coffee Roaster Pro

Three smaller apps to consider if you log by hand:

• CrackLog (iPhone and Android, free) gives you a big button to tap at first and second crack while you type in temperatures as you read them. It draws a curve as you go, works out total time and development time ratio, and saves each batch as a card. There's no account, logs stay on your phone, and you can export them to a file. An optional one-time Roaster's Kit ($7.99 on iPhone) adds a replay guide and multi-curve overlay. It doesn't connect to probes by design.
• RoastTrace (Android, free with a one-time Premium) records beans and batch setup, runs a roast timer, captures events and temperatures, and calculates development ratio and weight loss. It also has cupping notes and JSON backup. The free version has capacity limits that Premium raises.
• Coffee Roaster Pro (Android, $3.49 with in-app purchases, rated 4.8 from 61 reviews) stores coffees, batches, roasts and roasters, shows roasts as charts, and can export and import them. Its listing mentions support for Yocto-Thermocouple and MQTT for recording roast progress.

What to track in a roast log

Whatever tool you use, the same handful of numbers does most of the work. Start with the first group and add more as your setup allows.

Every roast (no special equipment):

• Date, bean name, origin and process
• Green weight and roasted weight
• Weight loss percentage: (green − roasted) ÷ green × 100
• Time of first crack and total roast time
• Roast level or color you were aiming for, and what you got

If you can measure it:

• Roaster, batch size and preheat or charge temperature
• Time to yellowing (end of drying)
• Drop temperature
• Development time (first crack to drop) and development time ratio (development time ÷ total time)
• Heat and fan changes, and when you made them
• Room temperature

After resting and brewing:

• Days rested before brewing
• Brew method and a few tasting notes
• One change to try next time

The last line is the most useful one. A log only improves your roasting if each entry leads to a decision about the next batch.

About weight-loss targets: weight loss is a good, cheap stand-in for roast level, but the numbers vary between machines. Sweet Maria's, for example, notes that its weight-loss figures average air and drum roasters. Treat any chart as a starting point, and build your own reference from roasts you liked.

Which should you pick?

If you roast by sight, sound and a scale and want a quick record of every batch, we recommend Coffee Roast Tracker. It's built to be quick:

• Two numbers per roast. Green weight in, roasted weight out, and the app does the math.
• Roast level from weight loss, matched to a reference chart from City- to French.
• No account and nothing to set up, with your data kept on your device.
• $0.99 on iPhone, free on Android, with no ads or in-app purchases.

Get Coffee Roast Tracker and log your next batch.

If you want more data than that:

• You have a probe or a connected roaster: Artisan.
• You're all-Apple and want inventory, profiles and logging in one place: Roastmaster.
• You also want a detailed brewing log: Beanconqueror.
• You roast by hand and want times, temperatures and cracks on your phone: CrackLog or RoastTrace.
• You want total flexibility and don't mind typing: a spreadsheet.

Spelling Bee is a New York Times game. Word Garden and the other apps here are independent and not affiliated with The New York Times.

Features compared

From each game's store listing or website, October 2026. "Not listed" means the listing doesn't mention it. In the No ads row, ✓ means the listing says there are no ads, "Not labeled" means it has no ads label and doesn't mention ads, and ✗ means the App Store or Google Play listing carries an ads label, or the site shows ads.

How Spelling Bee-style puzzles work

You get seven letters, usually arranged in a hive or grid, and you make as many words as you can. In NYT's version, per its own How to Play screen:

• Words must be at least 4 letters long.
• Every word must include the center letter.
• Letters can be used more than once.
• 4-letter words are worth 1 point, and longer words earn 1 point per letter.
• Each puzzle has at least one pangram, a word that uses every letter, worth 7 extra points.
• A new puzzle comes out daily at 3 a.m. ET.

Your score moves you up a ladder of ranks. NYT bases ranks on a percentage of the points available in that day's puzzle, climbing from Beginner, Good Start and Moving Up through Good, Solid, Nice, Great and Amazing to Genius, with Queen Bee for finding every word. Most of the alternatives below use a similar ladder, though the rank names vary.

Most alternatives copy these rules closely and differ in price, ads, how many puzzles you get, and how much you can change the rules.

Spelling Bee alternatives compared (October 2026)

Ratings and prices are as shown on each listing on October 17, 2026. Store ratings move, so treat them as a snapshot. In the Ads column, "Yes" means the App Store or Google Play listing carries an ads label (or the site shows ads), and "Not labeled" means the listing has no ads label and the description doesn't mention ads.

Which one to pick

You're playing with kids, or you want a calm daily puzzle with no ads: Word Garden (our pick). Word Garden lets you switch off the center-letter requirement and drop the minimum to three letters, and its scoring is designed to keep younger players motivated, so they find enough words to stay interested. Google Play shows it as Teacher Approved for ages 6+, and both store listings say no data is collected. It's free with no ads and no in-app purchases, on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web. None of the other listings we checked describe settings made for children, though Pangram's adjustable minimum word length could serve a similar purpose.

You want the original puzzle. NYT Spelling Bee is hand-edited (the puzzle page credits editor Sam Ezersky), and NYT runs a Spelling Bee forum where solvers swap tips on each day's puzzle. If you play every day, the Games subscription also unlocks the archive of past puzzles and NYT's other games. It is the most-rated app on this list by a wide margin.

You want to play more than once a day. SpellBee and Spelling Queen Pangrams both offer unlimited puzzles alongside a daily one, and both are free with ads. SpellBee also has a free web version at spellbee.org with a daily puzzle and an unlimited mode. Spelling Queen adds an Apple Watch version and a short-game option for quicker rounds.

You don't want ads. Word Garden has no ads and no in-app purchases on any platform. On Android, Spelling Bee – Unlimited also describes itself as free, ad-free and offline, with no accounts.

You like tweaking the rules. Pangram on iOS lets you set the number of center and outer letters and the minimum word length, and offers Merriam-Webster word lists as a paid add-on. It also has shared games and leaderboards.

You'd rather play in a browser. spellsbee.com, spellbee.org and Word Garden's web version (wordgarden.zombit.io) all run without an install.

Why we recommend Word Garden

Word Garden is our app. It's a calm daily puzzle: a fresh set of letters each day, a progress bar with ranks, pangram bonuses, light and dark themes inspired by Japanese zen gardens, a celebration screen when you find every word, and a way to share your result. What sets it apart:

• No ads and no purchases at all. Nothing is locked behind an upgrade or a subscription.
• Settings for kids, with a Teacher Approved listing on Google Play for ages 6+.
• No data collected, according to both store listings.
• No timers, so nobody feels rushed.
• Every platform: iPhone, iPad, Android and a web version.

It is a daily game, so if you want ten puzzles in a row, SpellBee or Spelling Queen suit you better. It also doesn't have the archive and community that come with NYT's puzzle.

Tips for scoring higher in any pangram puzzle

These work in NYT Spelling Bee and every game above.

1. Hunt the pangram early. It's worth the biggest bonus, and spotting it often reveals word families you'll use later. Look for a common ending among the letters, then build backward.
2. Work through prefixes and suffixes. If the letters allow RE-, UN-, IN-, -ING, -ED, -ER, -ION or -LY, add them to every base word you find. One root can give you four or five words.
3. Remember letters repeat. Doubled letters (like LL, EE, OO, TT) are easy to miss because the hive shows each letter once.
4. Go letter by letter. Pick one starting letter and list everything you can think of before moving on. It's slower but misses less.
5. Shuffle and step away. Rearranging the letters breaks the patterns your eyes are stuck on, and coming back after a break usually turns up a few more words.
6. For kids, lower the bar first. Allowing three-letter words and dropping the center-letter rule (where a game allows it) gives younger players early wins. Tighten the rules as they get faster.

A note for spelling bee families

Pangram puzzles build vocabulary and word-finding, but they aren't spelling bee practice. A school spelling bee asks children to spell a word they hear aloud. If that's your goal, Scripps, which runs the National Spelling Bee, offers a free study app called Word Club.

For a relaxed daily word puzzle the whole family can play, free and with no ads, try Word Garden on your phone or at wordgarden.zombit.io.

Features compared

Waze details are from Waze Help and its Google Play listing, October 2026. Both apps need a full address in the event's location. ¹ Live traffic is part of Always On Time Plus, free for a limited time; without it, driving estimates use typical traffic for that time of day.

Why a normal reminder isn't enough

A calendar reminder counts back from the start of the event. Getting there on time means counting back from when you need to leave. That gap changes with the place, the time of day, traffic, and whether you're coming from home or work. A fixed "30 minutes before" reminder is too early for a short trip and too late for a long one.

Two things help: a reminder based on the actual trip, and an alert that's hard to miss.

Option 1: Travel-time alarms in Always On Time (our pick)

Always On Time is our app. It turns calendar events into full-screen alarms, and it can also plan the trip to an event and ring when it's time to leave. By default, alarms show "Leave in 10 minutes" and then "Time to leave", and the alarm screen has a Directions button. It's free on Google Play, with no ads.

How to set it up

1. Install Always On Time from Google Play and finish the normal setup: choose your calendars and allow notifications, exact alarms and full-screen alerts.
2. Turn on Plan time to leave. It's under Getting there in Settings, and new users also see an optional Getting there step during setup.
3. Choose where trips start. "Use my location" plans from where you are. "Use my places" plans from places you save, such as Home, Work, School or Gym (up to eight), found by address search.
4. Set a weekly schedule if you use your places, such as at work 9 to 5 on weekdays and home otherwise. The trip to each event starts from the place you're scheduled to be.
5. Choose how you travel: Driving, Public transit, Biking or Walking. You can change it for one event on its Getting there card, and the change applies to every occurrence of a recurring event.
6. Pick your buffer and alarm times. "Arrive early" adds a cushion (5 minutes by default). The default leave alarms are 10 minutes before leaving plus one at the leave time, and you can change them.
7. Make sure events have a real location. Travel planning only applies to events with a physical address and no video-call link.

What happens next

For events with an address coming up in the next few days, the app estimates the trip from your starting point, beginning the day before, and refreshes the estimate as the event gets closer. If a refresh fails, it usually keeps the existing plan rather than dropping it. While a trip is planned, the leave alarms take the place of your default "before the event" alarms, which come back if travel planning is turned off. Directions opens Google Maps with the destination and travel mode filled in.

For driving, live traffic lets the leave time move when roads are slow. Without it, driving estimates use typical traffic for that time of day. Live traffic is part of Always On Time Plus, which is free for a limited time right now.

Things to know

• Location is your choice. With "Use my places," your location is never used. "Use my location" needs location access set to "Allow all the time," because leave times are planned while the app is closed.
• Addresses go to route providers. To estimate the trip, the event's location and your starting point are sent to TomTom or Google, and address search uses Google. The app's privacy policy explains this.
• Online meetings are skipped. Events with a Meet, Zoom, Teams or Webex link get normal alarms, not travel alarms.
• Estimates aren't guarantees. Road closures and late trains happen, so keep a few minutes of "Arrive early" buffer.

Pick this if you want a real alarm rather than a notification, you travel by transit, bike or on foot, or you'd rather not share your location.

Option 2: Waze calendar sync (free, driving only)

Waze can read your phone's calendar and send a "time to leave" notification based on live traffic. Per Waze Help, the setup on Android is:

1. Open Waze, tap the menu, then Plan a drive.
2. Tap Connect calendar and allow access.
3. Under Plan a drive > Settings > Time to leave reminder, choose Early and Time to leave (alerts 90 and 10 minutes before you should leave) or Time to leave (10 minutes before) only.
4. Set Waze's location permission to Allow all the time.

What to watch for:

• Each event needs a full address with street, house number and city. If Waze shows "Set address" next to an event, no reminder will be sent until you fix it.
• Waze uses your device's default calendar. Other calendars need to sync to it.
• It's built for driving: the reminders are for planned drives.
• The alert is a notification, so Do Not Disturb or a missed banner can still make you late.
• Waze Help says this feature isn't supported on Android Auto, Android Automotive or CarPlay.

Pick this if you mostly drive and already use Waze.

Option 3: Add travel time by hand (free, no setup)

1. Add an earlier notification to the event. Open the event in Google Calendar, tap Edit, then Add notification, and set it for your travel time plus a few minutes of buffer.
2. Or block the trip as its own event. Create a "Drive to dentist" event that ends when the appointment starts. Its start time is your leave time, and its notification is your leave reminder.
3. Check the trip in a maps app when you add the event, so the estimate isn't a guess.

In Google's help community, the answer to the travel-time question is that there's no automatic option, so you pick a route and add the time yourself.

Some reports say Google can show a leave-time alert for events that have a location, but Google Calendar's help pages don't document it and there's no setting for it, so don't count on it.

Limits: it doesn't react to traffic, it's easy to forget, and the reminder is still an ordinary notification.

Which should you use?

For most people, we recommend Always On Time's travel alarms. Of the three options, it's the only one that rings a full-screen alarm at leave time. It also:

• Plans transit, biking and walking trips, where Waze's reminders are for drives.
• Works without location access when you plan from saved places. Waze needs location set to Allow all the time.
• Adjusts for live traffic on drives with Always On Time Plus, free for a limited time.

Get Always On Time on Google Play and turn on Plan time to leave under Getting there in Settings.

If you only drive and already use Waze, its calendar sync is a good free alternative. If you'd rather not install anything, add travel time by hand.

Tips that help whichever option you use

• Put a full address in the event's location field, not just "Dentist". Both Waze and Always On Time need it.
• Leave a buffer for the last stretch, like parking, building entrances, or finding the right room. Travel estimates stop at the door.
• Keep video-call links in the event for online meetings. Apps can then tell an online meeting from one you need to travel to.
• Test once. Add a test event with a real address a couple of hours from now and see what happens.

If you mainly need meetings to stop slipping past you, start with our guide to making Google Calendar ring like an alarm on Android.

What a mil is

A mil is a small unit of angle. Real-world artillery uses it because it scales neatly with distance: one milliradian covers about one meter at a range of one thousand meters. NATO divides a full circle into 6,400 mils.

You don't need the geometry to fire in Hell Let Loose. Each gun has a sight with a mil scale, and every distance maps to one setting on that scale. Learn your faction's table, or let a calculator hold it for you, and the rest is measuring distance well.

Why bigger numbers land closer

The stationary howitzers fire high, lobbing shells at a steep angle. Above 45 degrees, raising the barrel sends the shell higher but not as far. As a result, the table on these guns runs the opposite way from what new players expect. A higher mil value lands closer to the gun, and a lower one lands farther away.

If your first shell falls short, lower the number. If it flies long, raise it.

Hell Let Loose artillery tables by faction

Each faction's gun has its own scale. The numbers below come from the formulas Artillery Let Loose uses for stationary howitzers, rounded to the nearest mil. Each table is a straight line, so you can estimate between rows.

As formulas (d is distance in meters):

• US / Germany: mils = 1001.47 − 0.237 × d (about 23.7 mils per 100 m)
• Soviet: mils = 1120 − 21.33 × (d ÷ 100 − 1) (about 21.3 mils per 100 m)
• Britain / Canada: mils = 551 − 0.1775 × d (about 17.75 mils per 100 m)

A worked example: your US gun is 850 m from an enemy garrison. 1001.47 − (0.237 × 850) = 800, so dial 800. On a Soviet gun the same 850 m is about 960 mils, and on a British gun about 400.

Self-propelled artillery uses its own tables

Update 19 (December 3, 2025) added self-propelled artillery (SPA), one vehicle per faction: the KV-2, Sherman M4A3 105, Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär, Churchill AVRE, Panzer III Ausf. N and Bishop SP 25pdr. Only the new Artillery Squad can use them. The same update cut static artillery from three guns to one buildable gun per team.

SPA differs from the howitzers in two ways:

• Shorter ranges, per vehicle. The ranges in our app run from 100–250 m for the Churchill AVRE to 100–800 m for the Bishop, with the others in between.
• The scale runs the other way. In the SPA tables our app uses, the number goes up as the distance goes up. Don't carry your howitzer habits over.

Because a tank can sit on a slope, vehicle tilt also matters. Artillery Let Loose lets you enter the vehicle's slope (−90° to +90°) alongside the distance and adjusts the elevation for it.

Common mistakes that waste shells

1. Using the wrong faction's table. British numbers are roughly half the US/German ones. A US value dialed on a British gun misses completely. Check which faction you're playing every match.
2. Measuring from the wrong spot. Measure from your gun to the target, not from HQ or the center of a grid square. With only one buildable gun per team now, the gun may not be where you're used to.
3. Ignoring height. The tables assume the target is level with you. A target on a hill or down in a valley needs a correction. Artillery Let Loose's terrain setting uses standard mil geometry (height difference × 1000 ÷ distance), and the app states that this is a strong theoretical estimate that hasn't been fully validated in-game.
4. Doing the math in your head under fire. 23.7 mils per 100 m is easy at a desk and easy to fumble mid-match. Small slips add up when you're walking fire onto a target.
5. Mixing up SPA and the howitzer. The tables point in opposite directions. Make sure the number you dial came from the right gun.
6. Not walking your fire. If a shell misses, adjust in small steps rather than re-measuring from scratch. A fixed step (say 25 m) toward or away from the gun is quick to apply and easy to track.

The Vietnam mortar

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam came out on August 13, 2026, and it has a Mortar Squad. Artillery Let Loose includes a mortar mode for both sides (US and NVA) covering 100 to 450 meters, using the same numbers for each side. As with the howitzers, a lower number reaches farther.

WARDOGS artillery

WARDOGS is a separate game from developer BULKHEAD, in Steam Early Access since September 10, 2026. Instead of a formula, Artillery Let Loose uses community-measured firing tables for its guns and interpolates between the measured points.

• L81 Mortar: 132 to 684 m, one mil solution.
• SPH-2: 780 to 2,629 m, with a high-arc solution across the whole range and a low-arc solution from 1,181 m.

On the L81 and the SPH-2's high arc, a higher number lands closer, like the Hell Let Loose howitzers. On the SPH-2's low arc, the number goes up with distance.

The tables were measured on flat ground, so park the SPH-2 on level ground: vehicle tilt changes the range. Fire one ranging shot, see where it lands, and adjust from there.

How Artillery Let Loose helps

The math is easy on paper and harder with tanks rolling toward your gun and your squad lead calling targets. Artillery Let Loose takes over every error-prone step above:

• The right table every time. Pick your faction or vehicle once, and every number comes from that gun's scale. No more British numbers on a US gun.
• Speed. Type the distance and read the mils straight away, on a large readout you can glance at mid-match. It also accepts input from a connected USB or Bluetooth keyboard or numpad.
• Several targets at once. History mode keeps your targets in a grid, color-coded by range, with optional labels, so you can switch between fire missions without re-measuring. It's included in the iPhone app; on Android it's a one-time purchase, or you can unlock it free for 3 hours by watching an ad.
• Walk buttons. Optional − and + buttons step the distance by 10, 25, 50 or 100 m after each shot.
• Terrain and slope. Height and vehicle-tilt adjustments are built in where the game needs them.
• Every gun in one app. Hell Let Loose howitzers for every faction, self-propelled artillery, the Vietnam mortar, and the WARDOGS L81 and SPH-2.

A note on fair play: a pinned post on the Hell Let Loose Steam forum says third-party modification tools or overlays that give some players an unfair advantage are "not condoned," and that players who use them risk anti-cheat action. Artillery Let Loose is a separate phone app; it doesn't modify the game, read its data or draw over it. Servers can set their own rules, so check yours if you're unsure.

As of October 2026, Artillery Let Loose is rated 4.7 on Google Play from over 1,200 ratings and 4.9 on the App Store. It's free on Android (with ads) and $1.99 on iPhone, with no ads on iOS. It's listed as "Wardogs & HLL Calculator" on Google Play and "ALL - HLL Artillery Calculator" on the App Store.

Stop doing mil math under fire: get Artillery Let Loose for iPhone or Android, and join the Discord to report a number that looks off.

Artillery Let Loose is an unofficial companion app. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Black Matter, Expression Games, Team17 or BULKHEAD.

Always On Time vs the built-in options

Google Calendar details are from Google's help pages, October 2026. ¹ Always On Time's Wear OS app is in open testing on Google Play.

Below are the built-in steps first, then the app option. Menu names vary a little between Android versions and phone makers, so look for the closest match on your phone.

Step 1: Set notifications for each calendar

Google Calendar sets notifications per calendar, and new events use those defaults.

1. Open Google Calendar and tap Menu > Settings.
2. Tap the calendar you care about, such as your work account.
3. Under event notifications, choose when you want to be notified. Tap Add a notification to add a second one.
4. Do the same for all-day events if you use them.

Two notifications help: one early enough to finish what you're doing (10 minutes, say) and one at the start. To change a single event, open it, tap Edit, then Add notification, then Save.

Make sure the notification type is set to your device and not only email. Google's help page notes that you can get notifications on your device, by email, or both.

Step 2: Pick a louder, longer tone

The default notification sound is short and easy to miss.

1. In Google Calendar, go to Settings > General.
2. Under Notifications, tap Calendar notifications.
3. Tap Sound and choose a tone that stands out. Set vibration here too.

A tone you don't use for anything else helps. When you hear it, you know it's the calendar.

Step 3: Make the notification pop on screen

Android lets you choose how each type of notification behaves.

1. Open your phone's Settings > Notifications > App notifications and find Calendar.
2. Open the event notification category.
3. Choose Alerting rather than Silent, and turn on Pop on screen so a banner appears while you're using the phone.
4. Check your lock screen settings so calendar notifications aren't hidden there.

If your phone has Notification cooldown turned on, repeated notifications from the same app can get quieter. Android's help page lists alarms among the exceptions, but ordinary calendar notifications aren't exempt.

Step 4: Let calendar alerts through Do Not Disturb

This is a common reason people "never got" a reminder. On recent Android versions, Do Not Disturb lives under Settings > Modes.

1. Open Settings > Modes > Do Not Disturb (or your focus or work mode).
2. Open Notification filters.
3. Under Alarms & other interruptions, allow Calendar events and Reminders.
4. Or, under Apps, add Google Calendar to the apps that can interrupt you.

Do this for every mode you use, such as Bedtime or a work mode.

Step 5 (Samsung phones): Check Samsung Calendar's alert setting

If you use Samsung Calendar instead of Google Calendar, it has its own Alert type setting, separate from Android's notification settings. Open Samsung Calendar, tap the menu, open Settings and look for the alert setting. Try each option with a test event and keep the one you notice most. Names differ between One UI versions, and Samsung's documentation notes that some alert options aren't available in a work profile.

Step 6: Add your watch

A buzz on your wrist is harder to miss than a phone in another room. Google Calendar for Wear OS notifies you before an event starts, even when the watch isn't connected to your phone. Google's help page lists a few limits: Work Profile, managed Workspace and non-Google accounts aren't supported, and events more than 30 days out aren't on the watch.

Step 7: For the one meeting you can't miss, set a Clock alarm

For an interview or a flight, set a regular alarm in your Clock app as well. It's manual, though, and it won't move if the event does.

The limits of the built-in options

Even with all of this, Google Calendar is still sending a notification:

• It plays once. The tone is short, and if you miss it, it doesn't repeat.
• It's easy to swipe away. A banner sits among other notifications and can be cleared by accident.
• It depends on several settings. Notification channel, Do Not Disturb, cooldown and battery settings all have to line up.
• It doesn't help you join. You still have to find the meeting link.

For many people that's fine. If you're deep in focused work, have ADHD or time blindness, or have back-to-back calls, a notification may not register. That's the gap a calendar alarm app fills.

The app option: turn events into real alarms with Always On Time

A calendar alarm app reads the calendars already on your phone and schedules a real alarm for each event. We built Always On Time for exactly this, and it's the app we recommend. (We compare others in our roundup of calendar alarm apps for Android.) To set it up:

1. Install Always On Time from Google Play. It's free to download, with no ads.
2. Allow calendar and notification access, then choose which calendars to watch. The app reads calendars synced to your phone's Android calendar, including Google Calendar and Outlook if it syncs there.
3. Pick your alarm times. The app suggests 10 minutes before and at the start, and a live preview shows when an alarm would ring.
4. Turn on exact alarms and full-screen alerts. The setup checks these and links to the right system screen. On Android, exact alarms appear as "Alarms & reminders".
5. Follow the battery steps for your phone so the system doesn't delay alarms.
6. Run a test alarm from Settings to see and hear it before a real meeting.

When an event comes up, the alarm fills the screen with the event title and how soon it starts, with sound and vibration. By default it rings for a minute, and you can set it to keep ringing until you snooze or dismiss it. If the event has a Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Webex link, you can join from the alarm screen in one tap. You can also snooze or dismiss from a compatible Wear OS watch.

A few details that matter for alarms:

• It uses the alarm volume. Alarms play through Android's alarm sound, not the notification sound, so check your alarm volume.
• It holds off during calls. If you're already on a call when an alarm is due, it vibrates once and tries again five minutes later.
• It survives restarts. Upcoming alarms are restored after you reboot.
• You can adjust or pause alarms. Change alarms per event, per recurring series or per calendar, skip one, or pause all alarms for a while.

Summary

Start with the free steps: two notifications per event, a distinct tone, pop-on-screen alerts, and Do Not Disturb exceptions.

If calendar notifications still slip past you, install Always On Time. Compared with tuning notifications, it gives you:

• An alarm instead of a notification, full-screen and at your alarm volume.
• Ringing that lasts, for a minute by default or until you act.
• One-tap joining for video calls.
• One setup that checks the permissions and battery settings alarms depend on.

It's free on Google Play, with no ads. Run a test alarm before your next important meeting.

Features compared

From each app's App Store and Google Play listings, October 2026. "Not listed" means the listings don't mention it. "No ads" means the listing says so or Google Play shows no "Contains ads" label.

What to look for in a visual timer app

For children, these features matter most:

• A clear visual. A colored area that shrinks as time passes, readable without numbers.
• Child-friendly controls. Can your child start it alone?
• A way to stop fiddling. A lock, so the time doesn't get changed mid-routine.
• Ads and upsells. A timer you hand to a four-year-old shouldn't show ads.
• Presets. One-tap timers for routines you repeat every day.
• Price model. One-time purchase, subscription, or free with ads.

Visual timer apps compared (October 2026)

Ratings and prices come from each app's US store listing on October 17, 2026. Ratings change often, so treat these as a snapshot. In-app prices are from the App Store unless noted.

A note on Tiimo, which often appears in "visual timer" searches: it's a visual daily planner with a focus timer, rated 9+ on the App Store. It's well reviewed (4.6 from 21K ratings) but built for planning a day rather than as a simple timer for young children.

Which app suits which family

You want calm, no ads, and locked controls: Montessori Visual Timer (our pick). That's what we built it for. A colored section of the clock face shrinks as time passes, with no ads or clutter around it. Quick timers start routines like Brush Teeth or Cleanup in one tap, a PIN keeps small hands from changing the time, and it can lock automatically when a timer starts. Both store listings say no data is collected. It doesn't do pictures or characters. If your child is motivated by those, one of the apps below may suit them better.

You want the classic, everywhere. Time Timer's app comes from the makers of the red disk timer, and it's listed for more devices than any other app here, including Mac and Apple Watch. Teachers who already have a physical Time Timer will recognize the red disk right away. The free version is limited to three timers; a $9.95 purchase unlocks the premium features.

Your child responds to pictures and color. Visual Countdown Timer has by far the most ratings in this list and uses green, amber and red stages plus a picture that reveals itself. Visual Timer for Kids also reveals a picture, with a large picture library, though its subscription pricing adds up if you only need a timer.

Your child loves characters. Mouse Timer and Little Timer turn the countdown into a small animation. Both are free to start. Note that the iOS version of Little Timer was last updated in 2021, according to its listing, while the Android version is new.

You just need a simple Android timer. Visual Timer - Countdown is free, rated 4.6 from over 24,000 ratings, and has no ads label.

Physical Time Timer vs an app

Time Timer also sells physical timers. Prices on timetimer.com on October 17, 2026:

The Original and MOD models are 60-minute disk timers that run silently (no ticking), with an end alert you can switch off. They run on AA batteries: two for the 8" Original, one for the MOD. The TWIST is different: a small digital timer that goes up to 90 minutes. Several Time Timer product pages say the timer includes limited-time premium access to the Time Timer app (one page says one year).

A physical timer is better when:

• You want no screen in the room, or the child shouldn't handle a phone or tablet.
• The timer needs to stay in one place, like a classroom wall or a bathroom shelf.
• Several children need to see it at once from across a room.

An app is better when:

• You want it free or cheap, or need timers in several places.
• You use presets for different routines.
• You want a choice of end sounds, or need it on the go (in the car, at a grandparent's house, in a waiting room).
• You already have a tablet set aside for your child.

Many families end up with both: a physical timer at home for daily routines and an app on the phone for everywhere else.

Choosing a visual timer

If you want a quiet timer your child can run alone, we recommend Montessori Visual Timer. You get:

• A PIN lock, so the time can't be changed mid-routine, plus an option to lock as soon as a timer starts.
• No ads, and no data collected according to both store listings.
• Quick timers for daily routines, one tap each.
• A low price: free on Google Play and $1.99 on the App Store.

Try Montessori Visual Timer on iPhone, iPad or Android.

Other good fits: Time Timer if you want the matching physical product and the most devices, Visual Countdown Timer for picture reveals, and Mouse Timer or Little Timer if characters win your child over.

Timer options compared

From the apps' store listings, timetimer.com and NCPMI's guidance on sand timers, October 2026. "Not listed" means the listing doesn't mention it. "No ads" means the listing says so or Google Play shows no "Contains ads" label.

Why young children struggle with time

To an adult, "five more minutes" is precise. To a three-year-old it means almost nothing. The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI), which produces early-childhood guidance funded by the US Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs, notes in one of its family handouts that to young children there is little difference between five minutes and an hour.

When a parent says "time to go" and the child melts down, it often isn't defiance. From the child's point of view, the change came without warning.

A visual timer shows the change coming. The same NCPMI handout recommends timers, sand timers in particular, because they have a clear beginning, middle and end that children can watch. It also says sand timers can help with transitions and let children manage timed tasks without help from an adult.

How visual timers help with transitions

Transitions are the moments between activities: leaving the park, turning off a show, coming in from the garden, starting homework. They're also where a lot of family friction happens.

NCPMI and the Mount Sinai Parenting Center give similar advice:

• Warn before the change. Both suggest giving a warning before a transition, and both mention timers as one way to do it.
• Make the day predictable. NCPMI pairs timers with visual schedules. It says that the more a child can predict and take part in the day's schedule, the less likely challenging behavior is.
• Keep it concrete. Mount Sinai suggests a timer to show young children how long they have left, says sand timers work best, and suggests turning routines like bedtime into a simple visual chart.

A visual timer works like a sand timer: the child watches time run out.

Warnings from a parent vs. from the timer

In a 2016 diary study, University of Washington researchers followed 28 families with children aged 1 to 5 and found that children who got a two-minute warning from a parent before screen time ended were more upset, not less, while routines made the switch easier. The study didn't test timers, but the researchers suggested a reminder from the technology itself might go over better than one from a parent.

Many families find that "the timer says it's time" lands differently from "I say it's time." The timer is neutral, and the child saw it coming.

Ways to use a visual timer at home

Start with one routine that regularly causes friction, and keep the times short at first.

• Brushing teeth. Two minutes is hard to judge. A timer shows when they're done.
• Clean-up time. Five minutes to put the blocks away turns a vague demand into a small, finishable task.
• Screen time. Set the timer where the child can see it before the show starts, not when it's about to end.
• Taking turns. Two children, one toy: each gets the toy until the color runs out. The timer settles the argument.
• Quiet time or rest. A longer timer shows that quiet time has an end.
• Getting out the door. A ten-minute timer for shoes and coats makes "hurry up" visible.
• Homework blocks. Older children can work for a set period and then take a break.

A few habits help:

• Show it before you start it. Say "when the red is gone, it's time for bath," then start the timer together.
• Hand over control. Let your child press start. NCPMI notes that children are more cooperative when they can be part of the process.
• Follow through. If the timer ends and nothing changes, it stops meaning anything.
• Keep it calm. A gentle sound at the end is enough.

Visual timers in the classroom

Teachers use visual timers for many of the same reasons, across a whole group:

• Learning centers and rotations. Everyone can see when the group moves on.
• Clean-up and transitions. A shared countdown helps the room finish together.
• Brain breaks. Understood.org suggests a visual timer so students can see how much of a break is left.
• Independent work. Understood.org lists a visual timer among common classroom accommodations for time management, and many teachers use one with any student who benefits from seeing time.

Many parents and teachers of children with ADHD or autism also use visual timers. A timer is a practical tool rather than a treatment, so if your child has support needs, talk to their clinician or school about what fits.

Visual timers and Montessori principles

Montessori education puts a lot of weight on two ideas that a visual timer can support.

Independence. The Montessori Family Alliance sums up the child's side of it as "help me do it myself," and describes independence as starting with the environment: set things up so the child can manage without an adult stepping in. A timer the child can read and start supports that, because they don't need to ask how long is left.

The prepared environment. AMI describes the prepared environment as one the adult arranges for the learner, built around order, reality, beauty and simplicity. A simple timer with one clear job fits that better than a busy screen full of options.

Montessori curricula also treat time as something to explore. The Montessori Foundation's sample scope and sequence for ages 3 to 12 lists exploring how time is measured with timers and clocks among a child's first experiences with time, alongside a timeline of the school day.

One caution: Montessori classrooms protect long stretches of focused work. AMI's guidance on the three-hour work cycle says children should never be interrupted and asked to put their work away so the group can gather. Use timers for routines, transitions and turn-taking, not to cut short a child who is deeply absorbed in something.

Choosing a visual timer

You can use a physical timer, a sand timer or an app. Whatever you pick, look for:

• A clear visual. A shrinking colored area children can read at a glance.
• Simple controls a child can use without help.
• A gentle end signal rather than a harsh alarm.
• No distractions. No ads, games or pop-ups competing with the routine.
• A way to stop fiddling. If small hands keep changing the time, you'll want a lock.

We built Montessori Visual Timer to tick every box on this list, and it's the app we recommend:

• A clear visual. A colored section of the clock face shrinks as time passes, and you can set anything from a few seconds up to 60 minutes.
• Simple enough for a child to run. Quick timers start common routines in one tap. It comes with Brush Teeth, Cleanup, Quiet Time and Screen Time, and you can edit them.
• A gentle alert when time is up.
• No distractions. No ads on iOS or Android, and both store listings say it collects no data.
• A PIN lock keeps the controls from being changed, and it can lock automatically when the timer starts.

It runs on iPhone, iPad and Android: free on Google Play and $1.99 on the App Store. Get Montessori Visual Timer and try it with one routine this week.