Life In 19x19

Have people here have experience with using a smart phone app as a timer/clock during games and tournaments?

Many questions:
- which one?
- how did you like it?
- in what setting, club game, club tournament, official tournament?
- allowed by tournament leader/referee?
- and more

Just curious.

(if this should be in an other forum, please let me know)

Thank you for response.

I've seen it in some tournaments where organizers have not had enough clocks. Generally smart phone apps are not suited for serious tournament clocks. As an example, I've seen iphone screen go black once one player spent several minutes thinking about next move. Reopening the screen required smartphone owner to type in their password (or some other form of authentication, don't remember exactly). Obviously these are settings that can be changed when using smart phone as go clock but then you also have to deal with incoming notifications, phone calls, battery life and other similar things. While dealing with a single detail might be trivial, it's hard to remember how to deal with all of these details. Also different phones tend to have different settings.

Go clock apps are best suited for informal club games. I've seen them a lot in situations where proper clocks were not available in clubs. If you are ok with interrupting a game for a phone call or something similar, then smart phone apps are just fine.

Chess Clock by LR Studios

I've used that clock a couple times at my local Go club for casual games and was pleased with it.

However, having other people "tap" my phone made me so nervous that I wouldn't volunteer my phone for this purpose again. Some people might respect the fact that smart phones are $500+ devices, but in the heat of the game, even the best intentioned of people might forget that and start hitting the button with more force than is necessary... never mind all those who don't even consider the fact that someone had to pay for the phone to begin with, and would again should it become damaged.

LocoRon wrote:Chess Clock by LR Studios

I've used that clock a couple times at my local Go club for casual games and was pleased with it.

However, having other people "tap" my phone made me so nervous that I wouldn't volunteer my phone for this purpose again. Some people might respect the fact that smart phones are $500+ devices, but in the heat of the game, even the best intentioned of people might forget that and start hitting the button with more force than is necessary... never mind all those who don't even consider the fact that someone had to pay for the phone to begin with, and would again should it become damaged.

Your view makes sense.