Pond Reviews

I’ve being waiting for a fix to this problem for months now, but so far all recent updates have not fixed it. Pond for whatever reason don’t work in the background anymore. I would turn it on, and it would run in the background for a tiny bit and then it would stop. If Pond. Can not run in the background, then it isn’t useable for me anymore. This is so upsetting as this was my favorite app. It was that good and still can be, but without the ability to have Pond run in the background it is USELESS!!!

Pond was working perfectly for me for years until the most recent update. As of today, whenever I switch screens, the timer stops running. I’m resorting to posting this review because, as at least one other reviewer has pointed out, Pond and “application support” link to a tumblr page, which displays a different email address than the contact address given in Pond and its most recent posts were in 2014. I’ve tried contacting the other email address—the one given in Pond (I can’t be sure that email address is even still in use)—but haven’t heard back.

Used to love Pond and have used it for a long time. Since most recent update, it doesn’t keep the time anymore, which makes it kind of useless as a Pomodoro timer. Can you fix this??

Update: After waiting a month, finally gave up and am deleting Pond from my phone. Doesn’t keep the time anymore when screen locks. I found another app that actually works. Too bad, it was a great app until the developer stopped supporting it. I had gotten the pro version to get the “customizability”. Oh well, nothing lasts forever.

Pond works great. However I’m only giving two stars because of the family sharing problem. I’ve now bought Pond twice! The first was my fault because I didn’t read where “in app” purchases couldn’t be shared. I had upgraded to pro in Pond , but couldn’t share with my son who was the intended user. So I went back to Pond Store to purchase the Pro version. It STILL won’t let me share Pond with my son even though the description clearly states that up to 6 family members can share it. My daughter was able to download the pro version without paying more, but not my son! I don’t want to buy it a third time just to get the thing on my son’s iPad!

Pond used to work great until this past year. App automatically shuts down whenever I try to change the color scheme. Also the timer always reflects “25 min” even though I have changed the study session time in the options menu. Pond was suppose to be an upgrade of the other time keeper app by pixio, but it seems that they have now made the two apps completely separate from each other

Daily experience with Pond: start the timer, go to some other apps, then an hour later find out the timer stopped in the middle for no reasons...didn’t the developers use Pond themselves?

Edit: okay, so Pond stops counting when you leave it or lock screen now, making it pretty much useless to me. I didn’t see any option that might change this and I definitely will not keep my screen on all time for Pond.

So, Pond is largely good, but a few small issues really detract from the overall effectiveness and quality of Pond .

First, the inability to quickly restart a “group” of pomodoro timers. For example, if you have a lunch in the middle of one group, and want to start fresh when you get back, you have to manually pretend you did the rest of the first group. So if I do 3 rounds before a long break, and I’ve done 1, to start fresh at zero, I have to set timers for 2 and 3 to zero to get back to 1. This is really bad design.

Second...the volume controls do nothing. I like the idea of ticking on my short breaks. But, you know, not loud. So I set the volume for those to 0.9. Except that doesn’t work. If it is ticking at that moment, it lowers. But when the next short break hits, it’s back to whatever my phone volume is. This makes that feature useless.

The same is true for alarms. I don’t want to have to pick up my phone to change it every time, so I have to choose between turning off ticking or remembering to set my phone volume where I want it for Pond, change it for other apps, then come back and change it for Pond.

The core is good. The errors render it a frustratingly incomplete app.

Edit: I didn’t heed my own warning I updated and now it stops what I’m listening to and doesn’t restart it following each already and cycle change I have to figure out how to make what was playing play again not so great for my easily distracted brain. For me this renders Pond almost useless please fix ASAP, Thanks!

OP: This is a great app and I’ve used it for a long time In a variety of settings. Easy to learn and use while still giving you options to customize for your specific needs. I love that you can choose your own color for each cycle, I am very color motivated. Be wary of updates there have been some bad ones in the past that at times rendered Pond almost useless. However, in its current form all is well and this little app can be quite helpful in keeping you on task.

Great options, but the interface is confusing and there are no help documents at all.

Turns out that the "long break" only kicks in after 4 work/break cycles and there's no way to change that. Huge missing feature. I write in 48 minute work /12 minute rest cycles, and four of those is way too long for a longer break.

There are great options for sounds and charting of how much focused time is spent on tasks, but interface clarity could be better, and for all this customization, how weird that you can't set the option for the long break. I guess it's back to PushPress timer for me...

For people complaining about the sound clips: you can find and download whatever sounds you want, put them in your music library, and Pond will play those instead. A really great feature.

I have been waiting for months to see if they would add a "Break Volume" and it still hasn't happened. As it stands, the only volume controls are for "alarm" and "ticking", but I do not want the same volume level for "ticking" and "break" periods. I need to have "ticking quiet and in the background. Break should be a little louder. Let me adjust this, please. It almost makes me want to design a similar app with more control, because this seems like an easy fix.

I have loved Pond at times. It has a few glitches which is causing me to seek a temporary replacement. For example, try adjusting the study time and check if it is altered (without having to mess around with finding a fix - opening and closing Pond doesn’t work, but skipping forward will cause your new time to be held). There are others, but it’s time for me to study.

Pond works overall fine and has been useful.
That said, starting from earlier this year/late last year, the first round of 4 sessions would go smoothly, but after I skip the 25 minutes break and go directly to the next group of 4, each interval is that 25 minutes break (instead of the 5 minutes one). Was this done on purpose to promote a 25 mine break? Would much prefer being able to skip/jump as I wish.

I had Pond (the free version) on my older device, it worked perfectly! Switched to a new phone and used the auto backup process to set it and now it is all messed up.
First Pond version I had didn’t even open (the only app that failed the auto move process), so I had to delete and reinstall it.
Then, the new version I installed didn’t support any of the cool features I loved so much, they are all blocked now under the “get pro version” wall.
Very poor experience to have it all open and then get a crippled version when upgrading my phone...

Ok, so I bought the pro version and guess what, the main feature that made me do it won’t even work!!
Trying to set a song from my music library as the ticking sound keep failing, and actually does nothing (won’t even open my songs list to pick from).
For me it was the main feature (it is an awesome feature) that distinguished Pond from the rest of the similar apps out there.
Not only that I could set a song as ticking sound but I could also have it keep playing in the background when other sounds (videos, lectures etc) were playing simultaneously.
And now it is all gone....
Rather than that Pond is fine but doesn’t offer any key advantage compared to many free timer apps.
Please fix it.
Pond support link leads to a tumblr page 😩 so I had to write this review as a support ticket in addition to a message I’ve sent on tumblr (didn’t get any response to it).

—- UPDATE—-
They have finally fixed it!

I rarely write reviews, but I couldn't help myself to write a review for Pond that has actually work for me. I'm currently taking medical terminology, so yes, staying focused and memorizing terms is a must to pass the class. I couldn't believe my luck when I found this little gem, and to my surprise, it is actually working to keep me focus with my studies outside of a classroom. Thank you so much!

Pond has really helped me in setting up a system in which I know I get to take a break after working for a certain period of time. The detail that you can choose what sound you want to hear on your breaks is awesome Pond is great you just have to be dedicated to using it!

The attention to detail in the number of options... Bravo 👏 — its as if I made the exact Pomodoro app I've always wanted. From the ability to easily add a few more minutes with a swipe, vibrations although my phone is on silent mode, fine-grained sound options. Easily the best one available. Kudos to the developer. This is an exceptionally well done app.

I’ve tried just about all the popular pomodoro apps, and in my opinion this one has by far the best interface.

You can easily adjust the length of the timer from the main screen, even during a session, which is very convenient. And Pond is very customizable. So, you can make timer a nice professional looking blue or gray if you like, instead of the tomato-themed look that most of these apps favor.

A watch app would be a nice addition.

Look, a “minimalist” aesthetic pomodoro timer was charging $30/month, and this is free. What can I say? There is no feature-bloat here.

They’ve nailed it by not overdoing it. There is basic customization, and I like how the digital timer countdown is overlaying a horizontal kitchen-timer dial that you can use to extend/progress your timer as you wish.

Simple is enough.

I love this pomodoro timer!! I’ve tried a number of them and some are too complicated by trying to be simple and others way too many features to distract me with.
Pomodoro timer is great!! I didn’t even think of using a sound with my pomodoro until I heard the clock tick to keep a steady pace too. It’s just simple don’t think on it use and let it do its thing in the background

Just found Pond and I love it. No ads. Easy to use. And is accurate (no lags). What more could you ask for. However, you can’t adjust the time for more or less than 25 minutes but that doesn’t really bother me much