How to use the potty timer
Open your child, go to the Activities tab, tap Timer, drag the dial to pick a wait time (1 minute minimum), then tap Start. Your phone will alert you when it's time.
The potty timer tells you when it's time for your child's next potty break. Timers are free, and each child has one timer at a time.
Start a timer
- Open your child from the dashboard.
- On the Activities tab, tap Timer.
- In Select Timer Duration, drag the dial to choose how long to wait. The shortest timer is 1 minute.
- Use the switches under the dial to turn the alarm's sound (speaker) and vibration on or off. On iPhone with iOS 26 or later there is only the sound switch: "Vibration follows your iPhone's settings."
- Tap Start.
If your child already has a timer, the dialog says "This replaces the timer that goes off at" with its time, and Start replaces it with the new one.
The first time, your phone asks to allow notifications, and Android may also ask to allow alarms and reminders. On iPhone with iOS 26 or later, it also asks to let Potty Whiz use alarms. Allow them so the alarm rings when Potty Whiz is closed or your phone is on silent.
If you don't allow alarms on iPhone, the dialog says "Alarms are off for Potty Whiz, so the timer only rings while the app is open." Tap Settings there to turn them on.
Where you see a running timer
- At the top of the child's Activities tab.
- On the child's card on the dashboard.
- On iPhone, on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. With iOS 26 or later, it has Restart and Dismiss buttons.
- On Android, in an ongoing notification with the end time.
Cancel a timer
- Tap the trash icon next to the countdown.
- Tap Yes to confirm Delete this timer?.
When the timer goes off
On iPhone with iOS 26 or later, the timer rings like an alarm from the Clock app, even when Potty Whiz is closed or your phone is on silent. The alarm says "Potty alarm for" with your child's name. Stop it to silence it, or tap Restart to run the same timer again from now.
On Android and older iPhones, your phone rings or vibrates, even if Potty Whiz is in the background, and shows a "Potty alarm for" notification with your child's name. Tap Stop potty alarm in the notification to silence it.
In the app, the timer turns red and shows Potty Time!.
- Tap Restart to run the same timer again from now.
- Tap Dismiss to stop it and remove it.
Timers and your family
If you're signed in and share your child with family, they get a notification when you start or cancel a timer. Your child still has one timer: when a family member starts one, it replaces yours, and you see their countdown. The alarm rings on the phone that started the timer last.
Start a timer with Siri or the app icon
- Say "Start a potty timer in Potty Whiz" (Premium, iPhone with iOS 18 or later) to start a timer with the same settings as your child's last one. End with "in Potty Whiz": "Start a potty timer" on its own starts a timer in the Clock app instead. With iOS 26 or later and alarms allowed, it starts without opening Potty Whiz; otherwise Potty Whiz opens and starts it.
- Say "Restart the potty timer in Potty Whiz" (Premium) to run it again from now.
- Say "Stop the potty timer in Potty Whiz" (Premium) to dismiss it.
- Add Start potty timer to Control Center or the Lock Screen (iPhone with iOS 18.2 or later): with one child it starts a timer at once; with more, it opens Select Timer Duration.
- Touch and hold the Potty Whiz icon and tap Start a potty timer for with your child's name to open Select Timer Duration (free, iPhone and Android).
Select Timer Duration starts with the length, sound and vibration of your child's last timer.
See How to use Siri and app icon shortcuts in Potty Whiz.
Start timers automatically
A smart reminder (Premium) can start a timer each time you log an activity, such as Went Potty. The new timer replaces your child's running one, unless you started a timer after that entry's time. See How to set up potty reminders.
Troubleshooting
- You see "Turn on push notifications": tap Settings, allow notifications for Potty Whiz, then come back and tap Timer again.
- The alarm didn't ring on iPhone with iOS 26 or later: in your iPhone's Settings, open Potty Whiz and turn on Alarms.
- The alarm didn't ring on an older iPhone, or with alarms off: don't swipe Potty Whiz away in the app switcher while a timer runs. You then see "Your potty timer won't ring", and only a notification arrives when the timer is up; open Potty Whiz again to bring the timer back.
- A family member dismissed the timer, but it still rang on your iPhone: this happens when Potty Whiz was swiped away, because the change can't reach a closed app; opening Potty Whiz clears it.
- No countdown on the iPhone Lock Screen: in your iPhone's Settings, open Potty Whiz and make sure Live Activities is on.
- More than one timer is running: each child has their own timer, so with two children you can see two countdowns. One child never has two: a new timer, whether you, a family member or a smart reminder started it, replaces that child's running one. A smart reminder with Start a timer on starts your child's timer each time you log its activity, such as Went Potty, so a timer can appear without you tapping Timer. A timer a smart reminder started says so under the countdown, for example "Started by the Went Potty smart reminder". To stop that, open the reminder on the Reminders tab, turn off Start a timer, and tap Save.
- The alarm is late or silent on Android: see Why am I not getting reminders or alarms?.