Herotime returns: the single-button multi stopwatch, rebuilt

The site you are reading is the first piece to land. The second is bigger: Herotime — the patented single-button multi stopwatch for coaches — is about to relaunch, rebuilt from the ground up for the latest iOS.

We first put Herotime on the App Store the better part of ten years ago, back when timing a whole squad still meant a fistful of stopwatches and an evening of transcribing. In 2021 the method behind it became a granted United States patent. And in between, quietly, something we did not fully expect happened: coaches kept using it. Not a crowd — a small, stubborn group of swim and track coaches around the world who found that timing many athletes with one thumb genuinely changed their sessions, and who never quite stopped asking when the next version would arrive.

This is that version.

What changed

The heart of Herotime is untouched, because it is the part that works: the patented Tap & Arrange™ method, where the mode of your tap assigns the time — a rapid double-tap for a group start, a short tap for the next athlete, a long press for everyone remaining, and circular assignment through the run phase so you never aim at a per-athlete button. What changed is everything around it:

• Rebuilt for the latest iOS — modern from the frameworks up, so it stays fast and current on today's iPhones.
• A cleaner, calmer interface — the same one-button speed under the whistle, with less between you and the times.
• Timing history, groups, and cadence per split — every session stored on device, every squad organized, stroke and stride rates captured for each split.
• Clean CSV export through the iOS Share Sheet — your data, in a form that opens straight in a spreadsheet.
• Volume-button timing — tap by feel, eyes on the athletes, exactly as the patent describes.
• Private by default — your athletes and times stay on your device. No account, no cloud, no sign-in.

A high-end instrument for manual timing — not a clock app with extra buttons. What Herotime is, and always was

The idea, restated

Herotime exists for the one job the built-in stopwatch cannot do: timing several athletes at once, by hand, without looking away. That is a small, specific, professional need — and it is worth doing properly. The relaunch is a chance to say it plainly: this is a serious tool for coaches who time real people against a real clock, and we would rather it be the best multi stopwatch for a few thousand coaches than a mediocre one for everyone.

It returns with a full month free, then an introductory relaunch price for the coaches who come on board now — our way of thanking the people who make the next decade of Herotime possible.

What comes next

A relaunch is a starting line, not a finish. The roadmap from here is deliberately shaped by the people holding the phone on the pool deck: the more feedback we get from coaches and timekeepers, the faster the right features arrive. If you have wanted Herotime to do one particular thing for years, now is the moment to tell us.

One honest note: the app itself needs a few more days while the final App Store assets come together. So consider this the first flare. If you time athletes for a living — or just want to retire your tangle of stopwatches — keep an eye on this space. It is almost here.