Support

How do I start?

Tap Start playing and play. When you stop, tap Rest now. The app takes the time you just played, multiplies it by your multiplier, and counts the rest from there. There is nothing to set up first, and no passage length to enter.

What is the multiplier?

Rest target = played time × multiplier. Choose one of the presets or set your own value. Which one suits you is your decision, or your teacher's. BrassPause does not recommend a number.

I changed the multiplier during a rest and nothing happened.

That is deliberate. A rest keeps the target it began with, so a countdown you are watching does not jump. The new multiplier applies to the next rest.

Can I play again before the rest is over?

Yes, at any time. Play again is always available. The session records the target and what you actually rested, including that it ended early. It is a record, not a rule.

What happens when the target is reached?

The screen says the target was reached and starts counting the extra rest you are taking. The app never starts a playing phase on its own, and it never claims you have started playing.

How does pausing count?

Pause freezes whichever phase is running. Paused time is added to neither your played total nor your rested total.

The sound and haptic at the rest target

One setting covers both, and it is on by default. When a rest reaches its target and the app is in front, BrassPause plays a short system sound and a haptic tap. Turning the setting off stops both; they cannot be turned on separately.

The sound follows the ring/silent switch and your volume, like other system sounds. The haptic does not. iPhone haptics are governed by your Sounds & Haptics settings, so a silenced phone can still tap.

BrassPause configures no audio session and bundles no sound file, so it does not take audio away from anything else you are listening to, and it plays nothing in the background.

The notification for a locked screen

A separate setting from the sound and haptic above, off until you turn it on. Switching it on is when iOS asks for notification permission; if you decline, the app tells you and leaves the setting off rather than pretending it is working.

It is a notification, not an alarm. Whether it reaches you depends on iOS: notification permission, Focus, your notification settings for this app and silent mode all affect it. We cannot promise it will sound regardless of those, and we will not claim otherwise.

One cue is scheduled per rest, and only one is pending at a time. Pausing or ending the session cancels it, and resuming schedules the time that is left. While the app is in front the banner is suppressed, because the screen already shows the rest reaching its target and the in-app cue has its own setting.

Does it keep the screen on?

Optional, and on by default. The screen is held awake only while a phase is running and the app is in front. Leaving the app, backgrounding it or ending the session releases it, so it is not held on while you are elsewhere.

Where are they kept?

On your iPhone, in the app's own folder. There is no account and no server copy. Three files hold everything: your finished sessions, the session in progress, and your settings.

What if I lock the phone or the app closes mid-session?

The session in progress is written to disk at each transition, so reopening restores it. Elapsed time is computed from timestamps rather than by counting ticks, so a backgrounded app does not lose or invent time. If a restored session cannot be trusted to keep running, for instance because the device clock moved, the app says so instead of guessing at a number.

Can I get a session out of the app?

Yes. Open a session and share a plain-text summary through the normal iOS share sheet: mail, messages, notes, whatever you have. It lists the date, your label, the totals and each passage with its target and actual rest. There is no score or grade in it, because the app does not have one.

Can I delete one?

Yes, explicitly, one session at a time. Deleting the app removes all of its data from the phone.

Something went wrong with a file

Each save keeps the previous good copy beside the new one and writes atomically, so an interrupted write leaves either the old file or the new one, never half of one. A file that cannot be read is moved aside into a quarantine folder with a timestamp and reported to you rather than deleted or silently replaced. If the app cannot create its folder at all it tells you plainly that sessions cannot be saved; timing still works, but nothing is kept.

One purchase?

One purchase, $2.99 in the United States. Apple sets the equivalent price elsewhere, so what you pay depends on your country or region. Everything on this site is included. There is no subscription and no in-app purchase.

Refunds

Purchases go through Apple, so refunds do too: reportaproblem.apple.com. We cannot issue one on Apple's behalf.

Requesting something

Email us. BrassPause is meant to do one job well, so some requests are out of its scope, such as a tuner, a metronome or lessons. We would rather say so than build a different app on top of this one.