Appliance Timer is a simple countdown timer application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

There are several other timers available, but they tend to be designed like computer programs. You shouldn't have to learn to use a timer. This one works just like the timer on your microwave oven, so you already know how to use it: just enter the time on the keypad and press Start.

You can save your frequently-used times on the three “quick set” buttons, adjust the remaining time while the timer is running, pause and resume, and even exit the application and return to find the timer still running as if it had been going the whole time.

(Of course, since applications cannot run in the background, an alarm is not possible while the app is not actually running.)

Four different display colors are available to choose from, and the sound effects are really nice.

I wrote this app to use while developing film, but it is really a general-purpose timer that can be used as a kitchen timer or anything else you can think of. Turn your expensive phone into a cheap kitchen timer! The sound effects are much cooler than a standard kitchen timer, and it's much cheaper, too.

Note for users of the First-Generation iPod Touch: this model does not have an external speaker, so the sound effects will only be audible through the headphones, which may not be useful unless you are already listening to music. However, on this device, the piezoelectric transducer will be used to play the standard alert sound when the timer expires, so there is still an audible alarm.