About WODrounds

By Jarl Lyng · IAMJARL · Copenhagen

WODrounds is a single-purpose timer app for CrossFit, HIIT and interval training. I built it because every workout timer I tried wanted something from me. This page explains who I am, why I made it, and the principles that keep it small.

Who builds this

I'm Jarl Lyng. I work as a developer in Copenhagen and have done consulting and software design for over a decade. Outside work I do CrossFit, lift weights, and play music. WODrounds is one of my indie projects under IAMJARL — a portfolio of small, focused tools that solve one problem each.

I built WODrounds alone. The code, the design, the marketing site, the App Store screenshots — all of it. That's a deliberate choice, not a humble brag: it means decisions are fast, scope is narrow, and there's no roadmap pressure from anyone but me.

Why I built it

Every CrossFit timer app I tried wanted something from me:

An account to sign up for
An ad break before I could start
A subscription to unlock "premium" features that should be standard
Permission to track my behavior across the web
A pop-up asking for a 5-star review mid-WOD

I just wanted a timer. So I built one. WODrounds does EMOM and intervals. Nothing else. Press start, train, done. No friction.

The constraint that mattered most: not letting scope creep. I could add AMRAP, For Time, calendar integration, workout libraries, social features. I won't. The wedge is "minimal, private, Apple-first" and adding features weakens that.

How it's made

Technical principles I stick to:

SwiftUI only. One target serves iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS. A separate target serves watchOS. The timer engine is shared code.
Date-based timing. No frame timers — the timer computes from Date() on every tick, so it stays accurate when the app is backgrounded.
No third-party dependencies in the timer code. The only external library is Sentry, used optionally for crash reporting on iOS. Workout state, sync, audio, HealthKit — all Apple frameworks.
HKWorkoutSession on Watch. Keeps the Watch app alive throughout a workout. No suspension mid-WOD.
iPhone → Watch sync via WatchConnectivity. Start on iPhone, follow on Watch. State is delivered immediately when the Watch is reachable.

Privacy as a feature, not a clause

WODrounds doesn't have a backend. There's no server collecting your workout data. No accounts to compromise. No tracking pixels. The full Privacy Policy covers the small honest exceptions: optional iOS crash reporting via Sentry (opt-in), HealthKit write-only integration (if you enable it), and aggregate page-view stats for this website via Umami (no cookies, no fingerprinting).

If you want to verify any of this, the source is open at github.com/JarlLyng/WODrounds.

What I do and don't promise

I promise: WODrounds will stay free, ad-free, and subscription-free forever. The features will stay narrow. Updates will respect your time — no notification spam, no "what's new" dialogs in the way of starting a workout.

I don't promise: Android support, web version, AMRAP/For Time modes, workout libraries, or social features. If those matter to you, other apps handle them well.

How to reach me

App feedback or bug reports: Support page
Security issues: SECURITY.md in the repo
General hello: iamjarl.com
Code contributions: CONTRIBUTING.md