SharingTimer, like HandHold Adaptive’s other apps, is pleasing to the eye. They put some time into the interface and it shows. Presentation is important. But functionality is even more important, and the developers put time in there as well.

SharingTimer does what its name implies – it acts as a moderator when two or more people need to share something. Not just an autism app, this one could be invaluable for all children who are learning the concept of sharing whether they have a disability or not.

Setup is very straightforward. From the opening screen you press the button that says “Setup”. On the Setup screen you add the players, set the duration, pick the sound of the audible alert, and choose the activity/item. As a bonus you can even change the background to one of several presets.

When adding a player you can use a photo of the actual person or you can use a generic image if you like. You type in the player’s name and choose the order of play or you can have SharingTimer shuffle them.

Choosing the activity or item is just as easy. This iPad/iPhone app comes with lots of default images that are nicely done. But, again, if you like you can take a picture with your device’s camera and set that as the activity.

Time per Turn is easily set. You have two banks of three buttons each. Touching the appropriate button will either increase or decrease the time by 15 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes. Just like the other options, pressing “Setup” in the upper left corner saves your settings and moves you back to the main setup screen.

Although everything is easily setup in SharingTimer, I’d prefer if the app’s navigation was a bit more intuitive. I’d like to be able to set the Time per Turn by dragging my finger around a clock face rather than having to press buttons that keep me at increments of 1 & 5 minutes, and 15 seconds. There are some other similar navigation changes I think could benefit this app. But, those are just my preferences. The app runs solid as is.

Once you are happy with the way you’ve setup SharingTimer, you touch “Back” in the upper left corner to return to the main screen where play is ready to begin. You’ll see the first player and their name, the activity, the time remaining, and who’s up next. All that’s left is for you to touch “Start” and the first person’s turn begins!

The hand on the colorful little clock face starts moving around incrementally as time begins to elapse visually in a few different ways. When time is up you hear the alert and SharingTimer shows who gets to play next. You touch to start that person’s turn. That’s it!

SharingTimer is a nice little app that does what it says and does it well! You choose one activity and multiple players. In the future it would be cool to have the ability to choose multiple activities and have only a single player! That’s just my own wish list. SharingTimer is spot on!