ChromaClock is a color‑coded clock that changes its background and greeting based on the time of day. This guide covers how the app works and how to solve the most common issues.

Getting Started

When you open ChromaClock, you’ll see:

• A large clock showing the current time, the date, and a greeting message.
• A weather chip in the top‑left corner showing the current temperature, conditions, and your location.
• Two buttons in the top‑right:
  • ? — Opens the in‑app Help screen.
  • ⚙︎ — Opens Settings, where you customize your time slots and colors.

The whole screen background shifts color throughout the day based on the time slot that’s currently active.

How Time Slots Work

ChromaClock has four customizable time slots. Each slot has:

• A Start time and End time
• A Message (the greeting that appears above the clock)
• A Background color

When the current time falls inside a slot’s window, that slot’s color and message take over. If the current time is outside all four slots, the “Outside Scheduled Times” color is used and no message is shown.

Default slots (you can change any of these):

Slot	Start	End	Message	Color
1	8:01	11:59	Good Morning	Yellow
2	12:00	12:59	Lunchtime	Green
3	13:00	16:59	Good Afternoon	Blue
4	17:00	23:59	Time to go home	Red

The default outside‑hours color is Teal.

Editing Your Slots

1. Tap the gear icon (⚙︎) in the top‑right of the clock screen.
2. Each of the four slots has its own section. For each one you can change:
   • Message — the greeting shown when the slot is active.
   • Start — the time of day the slot begins.
   • End — the time of day the slot ends.
   • Background — the color used while the slot is active.
3. Scroll to the bottom to change the Outside Scheduled Times color (used when no slot is active).
4. Tap Done to return to the clock. Changes are saved automatically.

Available colors: Red, Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Pink, Purple, Teal, Indigo, Gray.

Weather

The weather chip in the top‑left shows your current local conditions.

• Tap the chip to refresh.
• Weather data comes from Open‑Meteo, a free public weather service.
• ChromaClock needs Location While Using the App permission to know where to look up weather. Your location is sent only to Open‑Meteo to get conditions and to Apple Maps for the city name.

Troubleshooting

The greeting is missing / the screen looks plain

This means no time slot is currently active, so the clock is using your “Outside Scheduled Times” color and no message.

Fix it by:

• Opening Settings (⚙︎) and checking that one of your slots covers the current time.
• Make sure each slot’s End time is after its Start time. A slot where End is earlier than Start will never activate.
• Pick an “Outside Scheduled Times” color you’re happy to see during gaps between slots.

My time slot isn’t activating when it should

A few things to check:

• Start must be earlier than End. Slots that wrap past midnight (for example, 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM) are not supported — split them into two slots if needed.
• Slots shouldn’t overlap. If two slots cover the same minute, the first slot in the list wins. Adjust the times so they don’t collide.
• The clock checks every second. If you just edited a slot, the new color should appear within a second or two.

The weather chip says “Location off”

ChromaClock needs location permission to load weather.

1. Open the iOS Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap ChromaClock.
3. Tap Location and choose While Using the App.
4. Return to ChromaClock and tap the weather chip to refresh.

The weather chip says “Tap to retry”

This usually means the weather request failed. Common causes:

• No internet connection. Check Wi‑Fi or cellular data.
• A VPN or content blocker may be interfering with api.open-meteo.com. Try disabling it briefly.
• Open‑Meteo is temporarily unavailable. Wait a minute and tap to retry.

If the problem persists, force‑quit ChromaClock and reopen it.

The weather chip is stuck on “Loading weather…”

Most often this is a slow network or a location lookup that hasn’t returned yet.

• Tap the chip once to retry.
• If it stays stuck for more than 30 seconds, force‑quit ChromaClock and reopen it.
• Make sure Location Services is turned on globally in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services.

The weather shows the wrong city

The city label comes from Apple Maps’ reverse geocoding of your current location. In some areas it may show a nearby neighborhood, landmark, or point of interest rather than the city name. The temperature itself is still based on your exact coordinates.

I want the temperature in Celsius

ChromaClock currently displays temperatures in Fahrenheit. A unit toggle is on our list — let us know if you’d like it sooner.

The screen turns off after a few minutes

That’s iOS Auto‑Lock, not ChromaClock. To keep the clock visible all the time (for example, on a desk stand):

1. Open the iOS Settings app.
2. Tap Display & Brightness → Auto‑Lock.
3. Choose Never.

Remember to plug the device in — leaving the display on continuously will drain the battery quickly.

The clock looks too bright at night

ChromaClock uses your selected slot colors at full brightness. To dim things at night:

• Lower the screen brightness using Control Center.
• Enable Night Shift or True Tone in iOS Settings → Display & Brightness.
• Create a dedicated nighttime slot in ChromaClock that uses a darker color (for example, Gray or Indigo).

The clock keeps showing the wrong time

ChromaClock uses your device’s clock. If the time is wrong:

1. Open the iOS Settings app.
2. Tap General → Date & Time.
3. Make sure Set Automatically is on.

My settings disappeared after reinstalling the app

Slot times, messages, colors, and the default color are stored locally on the device. Uninstalling the app removes that data. There is currently no iCloud sync — back up your preferred settings by writing them down before deleting the app.

Tips

• Keep your slots non‑overlapping for clean color transitions.
• Use the Gray or Indigo color for nighttime slots to reduce glare.
• ChromaClock looks great in landscape orientation on a stand or dock.
• A short greeting (1–2 words) reads best — the message scales down if it’s too long.

Privacy

• Location is requested only when you tap the weather chip or open the app. It is used to fetch weather from Open‑Meteo and a city name from Apple Maps. It is not stored, shared, or sent anywhere else.
• No account is required.
• No analytics or tracking are collected by ChromaClock.

Still Need Help?

If something isn’t working and the steps above didn’t solve it, contact support at info@mickeydesigns.com and include:

• Your device model and iOS version
• A short description of what happened
• A screenshot if possible

Weather data courtesy of Open‑Meteo.