A production timer, free to use
Mr Time Man is a countdown and timing app for live events. I built it because I wanted a timer that did the job properly and stayed out of the way. It's free — download it, use it on your shows, keep it. Nothing is locked, there's no account, and it doesn't expire.
demo.mp4
A timer I built for a use case I haven't seen yet.
I wanted to make a timer app that solved a problem I kept running into working AV for live corporate events.
I'd have an event all set up — one comfort monitor, presentation notes ready for the client — and then a last-minute request would come in for a timer. So, like a good little AV tech, off I'd go scrambling for another monitor and another laptop to get it running before doors.
To make my own life easier, I built a timer that overlays on top of the notes and still lets the presenter click through their slides. Then I figured there was no reason not to let everyone else use it too.
I'd rather build this with the people using it than guess at what's needed. If something is missing, awkward, or broken on your setup, say so and it goes on the list. Plenty of what's here already came from that kind of feedback.
If it saves you some grief and you want to put something toward it, there's a way to do that below. Entirely optional, any amount, and it changes nothing about the app — everyone gets the same thing either way.
Everything in the app right now, and why each part is there.
The core of the whole thing. When you're outputting to a single foldback monitor showing presentation notes, the timer sits on top of them — transparent, rescalable, and click-through, so the presenter can still work their slides normally. One screen does both jobs.
overlay-over-notes.mp4
Drive the timer from another device — your phone, a tablet, a second machine — as long as it's on the same network. Scan a QR code or type the IP address into a browser and you have full control. Password protected, naturally.
remote-control.mp4
Pre-save your own messages so you can put one on screen instantly — that they need to start wrapping up, or that they've drifted off the microphone. No typing while the clock is running.
send-a-message.mp4
Building a list of timers usually means press add, click the text box, click the duration field, repeat. That always annoyed me. Here you just type the lot — a name, an =, and a duration — and the whole run is built. No clicking between fields for every single entry.
easy-timer-setup.mp4
The industry standard, and it isn't going anywhere. A full-screen timer on its own foldback monitor, big and readable from wherever the presenter is standing. It ships loaded with presets you can use as they come, or pull apart and rearrange until the layout is exactly what you want.
dedicated-foldback.mp4
What I'm working on for the timer, and what has landed recently.
There's a Bitfocus Companion module, free on the download page. It gives you a program and preview pair: dial the next speaker's time up on the preview page without the room seeing it, then press TAKE to put it on air. Six ready-made pages come with it, so there are no buttons to build by hand.
Your agenda and your preset messages come across on their own — the cue keys and message keys read the lists out of the app and relabel themselves when you edit them, with nothing to re-import.
In the app, the REMOTE tab has a new STREAM DECK / COMPANION section that issues the connection token. The phone remote is unchanged, and the token only exists once you ask for it.
Mac only for now — the Windows build is still 3.1.0, which doesn't have the token. A Windows 3.2.0 has to be built on a Windows machine.
On macOS the confidence monitor used to seize a whole display the moment you switched it on. Now it opens as an ordinary window: drag it between screens, resize it, park it wherever suits the desk. It comes back where you left it.
When you do want it filling a screen, the FULL SCREEN button measures whichever monitor the window is sitting on and fills that one at its own resolution, with the close and minimise buttons out of the way. Esc — or the EXIT FULL SCREEN button that slides in top right when you move the mouse — brings the window back.
Windows 3.1.0 went up alongside it. Nothing changed for Windows: there the monitor still fills its display outright, which is what a dedicated screen wants.
There's a macOS build. It's one universal disk image that runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel, so there's no wondering which one to grab. Windows 3.0.0 went up alongside it — same app, same version, both on the download page.
The Mac build isn't notarised yet, so the first launch needs one command in Terminal to clear macOS's quarantine flag. The download page walks through it. Say the word if that trips you up.
Nothing posted yet — the first update will appear here.
Mr Time Man runs on the machine you already use for your events, Windows or Mac. Download it, run it, done — there's no sign-up and no key to enter.
certutil -hashfile "<file>" SHA256
shasum -a 256 "<file>"
.dmg and drag Mr Time Man into Applications.xattr -cr "/Applications/Mr Time Man.app"Run the timer from a Stream Deck. This is a Companion module plus six ready-made pages — Program, Preview, two pages of your own saved cues, a Messages page, and an Actions page — so there are no buttons to build by hand.
Preview works the way a vision mixer does: dial the next speaker's time up on the preview page without the room seeing it, then press TAKE to put it on air.
.tgz from the zip.mrtimeman, and paste in the address, port and token..companionconfig onto six free pages.Needs Mr Time Man 3.2.0 or newer — that's where the connection token was added. On an older copy the REMOTE tab has no STREAM DECK / COMPANION section and there's no way to connect. On Windows: the current Windows installer is still 3.1.0, so the module can't connect to it yet — the Mac build is 3.2.0.
The zip holds a README with the same steps in full, and what to check if a button doesn't respond. Importing a configuration can overwrite existing pages — back yours up first if you have any.
The app is free and stays free. If it's saved you some trouble and you want to put something toward keeping it going, you'll be able to do that here — you choose the amount, and there's no wrong one.
To be clear about what it gets you: nothing extra. No features behind a wall, no supporter build, no badge. Everyone runs the same app. It just helps cover the time and the hosting.
Support the project STRIPEDownload the app, run your show, and tell me what should change.