Aether Ember app icon

Aether Ember

A quiet heat for restless minds.

A focus timer that catches the sparks so you can stay in the work. Designed for minds that wander, built to reduce the cost of coming back.

Coming Soon to iPhone & Apple Watch. Join the TestFlight beta below.

Settle in →
Aether Ember focus timer on iPhone, showing the warming dial in dark mode
The Dial

The dial is an ember.

One warm object in a dark room. Tend it while you work.

A glowing arc in a quiet void. As your session deepens, the dial warms — gold, amber, coral — so you feel time pass without a countdown pressing on you. No alarm at the end. When it settles, it just settles.

  • Count-up timing — progress, not countdown pressure
  • Overtime flows in quietly, no forced stop
  • Pause banks the coals, resume stirs them
  • Biophilic soundscapes warm with the dial
  • Completion is a long soft haptic and one line: "That's tended."
Close-up of the Aether Ember dial, a glowing arc in dark mode
Thought Parking

Sparks, not a to-do list.

When a thought pulls at you, catch it as a spark in under five seconds. It won't get lost. You don't have to chase it. Your work stays where you left it.

Settle in

Pick an intent, tap once, and let the dial hold the rest. Starting stops being the hardest part.

A warming dial

The dial warms as your session deepens — gold to amber to coral. Ambient time, never a number pressing on you.

Tend a little longer

Hit your target and keep going. The session flows into overtime quietly — no alarm, no forced stop.

One quiet start

Open the app, tap once. The dial remembers how you like to sit with the work.

What's included free:

  • The warming dial, count-up with quiet overtime
  • Spark catch — voice-first thought capture
  • Dispatch to Reminders & Notes
  • Share Sheet — save text from any app
  • Private, on-device categorization
  • Gentle return after interruptions
  • Biophilic soundscapes
  • Smart session naming
  • Session summary & export
  • Dark by design
  • Live Activity & Dynamic Island
  • Siri Shortcuts & App Intents
  • Interactive Home, Lock Screen & Control Center widgets
No Streaks

Tended, not tracked.

No streaks. No scores. No shame if yesterday got away from you. Ember counts hours by the fire, not broken chains. Showing up is the whole thing.

Settle in

Pick an intent, tap once, and let the dial hold the rest. Starting stops being the hardest part.

A warming dial

The dial warms as your session deepens — gold to amber to coral. Ambient time, never a number pressing on you.

Tend a little longer

Hit your target and keep going. The session flows into overtime quietly — no alarm, no forced stop.

One quiet start

Open the app, tap once. The dial remembers how you like to sit with the work.

Bank the coals

Pausing doesn't lose the heat. Handle the interruption, come back, stir the coals, keep going.

Catch the spark

When a thought pulls at you, speak it in. It's caught as a spark, sorted later. Your work stays where you left it.

Design Philosophy

Built to reduce the cost of coming back.

01. A warm place to sit

Ember isn't forcing — it's settling in. The dial gives you somewhere warm to land, so starting stops being the hardest part.

02. Nothing is lost

When a thought pulls at you, it gets caught as a spark. No chase, no spiral. The work stays where you left it.

03. Tended, not tracked

No streaks. No shame. Missing a day doesn't erase anything. Presence is the whole metric.

04. Voice before typing

Typing is friction when a thought is already leaving. Speak it in, and it's caught before it's gone.

05. A soft return

Pause banks the coals. Resume stirs them. Interruptions don't cost the whole session.

06. Private by design

Your thoughts stay on your device. No servers, no tracking, no analytics.

Design

Dark by design.

Dusk in a cabin. The dial is the only light. Dark mode isn't a setting — it's the whole point. Nothing else competing for your attention.

One warm object

The dial is the only thing lit. Everything else recedes. A coal held in the palm — warm, sturdy, alive.

Liquid Glass

Built on iOS 26's Liquid Glass. Surfaces respond to light and touch, so the dial feels held rather than drawn.

A single quiet start

Open. Tap once. Settle in. No setup, no choices pressing on you, no decision cost before the work begins.

Silence as feedback

A soft haptic when you settle in. A longer one when it settles. No badges, no fanfare — the warmth lives in the quiet.

Coming Soon

Ember+

For those who want to tend the fire a little closer. Apple Watch, quiet session insights, and on-device intelligence — all without leaving the work.

Apple Watch Digital Crown as the dial. Voice capture, Spark mode, Live Activity.
Session Insights Quiet patterns and smart duration suggestions from your sessions.
Foundation Models On-device intelligence for categorization and session refinement.
CloudKit Sync Your sessions and captures, private and synced across your devices.

Ember+ is an optional subscription. Free tier stays free, always.

Watch & Live Activity

On your wrist, on your lock screen.

The dial follows you. A glance at your watch, a look at your lock screen — the session is right there, warm and quiet, so you never have to go looking for where you left off.

Apple Intelligence

On-Device Categorization

Your captured thoughts are automatically categorized using on-device machine learning. Tasks, notes, ideas — sorted instantly, privately.

Private by Design

All processing happens on your device. No servers, no tracking, no data leaves your phone.

Always Learning

Apple Intelligence adapts to your patterns, getting better at understanding your thoughts over time.

Platform Features

Liquid Glass Design

Built on iOS 26's Liquid Glass. Surfaces respond to light and touch — the dial feels held, not drawn.

Live Activity

Your session on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. A glance keeps you anchored.

Interactive Widgets

Start, pause, resume, and capture right from the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center.

Apple Watch

The Digital Crown becomes the dial. Tap to start. Dictate a spark from your wrist.

Siri & App Intents

"Start a focus session." "Capture a thought." Just say it.

Share Sheet

Save text from any app — article, tweet, email — straight to your captures.

Swift 6 Concurrency

Strict concurrency, zero third-party dependencies. Built for performance and longevity.

Aether Ember focus timer on Apple Watch Aether Ember focus timer on iPhone in dark mode
Technical Specs

Built to the highest standards.

iOS 26+ iPadOS 26+ / watchOS 26+
Apple Intelligence M1+, A17 Pro+ compatible
Swift 6.0 Strict concurrency enabled
SwiftData Native persistence
ActivityKit Live Activities support
Dependencies Zero third-party