Make every countdown a little adventure
Dino Hatch is a kids' timer and wake-up alarm app where every countdown ends with a dinosaur egg hatching — rewarding your child with a new dinosaur to collect and learn about.
Built for kids, designed with parents in mind
Three core principles guide every part of Dino Hatch.
Privacy-first by design
No accounts, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. The only things stored are your child's general age, unlock progress, and timer and alarm settings — kept on the device and optionally synced through your own private iCloud.
Keeping it kid-safe
Settings, data deletion, and the optional tip jar all sit behind a parental gate. Nothing is paywalled, there is no purchase button a child can reach, and the interface is light, simple, and free of outside links.
Educational & fun
Thirty dinosaurs with real facts: era, diet, length, estimated weight, where their fossils were found, and a press-and-hold x-ray view of the skeleton underneath.
What's inside Dino Hatch
Everything the app does today — no backend, no subscription, no catch.
A timer that survives anything
Dial in any duration on the circular picker. The countdown keeps its end time, so closing or even force-quitting the app won't lose it.
Dino wake-up alarm
Pick a time and the weekdays it repeats. Get up within fifteen minutes and a dinosaur hatches — with a streak counter for consecutive on-time mornings.
Hand-drawn hatch moment
A four-frame hatching sequence that shifts to match the dinosaur inside, so the silhouette peeking out actually resembles what's coming.
X-ray anatomy
Press and hold a dinosaur to switch from skin to skeleton, with a VoiceOver-friendly alternative built in.
Found-in region maps
Every dinosaur is mapped to the real part of the world its fossils came from, shown on a simple highlighted world map.
Widgets & Live Activity
Home Screen widgets for the collection, a quick 5/10/15/30-minute timer, and the next alarm — plus a Lock Screen and Dynamic Island countdown.
Six languages
English, German, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Russian — including every dinosaur name, era, and fun fact.
Private iCloud sync
The collection follows your child across their iPhone and iPad through your own iCloud account. No server of ours is ever involved.
Free, with an optional thank-you
Everything is unlocked from day one. Parents can leave a small one-time tip that unlocks nothing but a little heart badge.
Peek inside the app
Three screens that turn daily routines into delightful moments.
Set a timer and watch the egg get ready to hatch.
Pick a wake-up time and hatch a dinosaur for getting up on time.
Collect and learn about new dinosaurs.
Frequently asked questions
Widgets, streaks, the collection, and what parents see.
What do the widgets show?+
There are three Home Screen widgets: a collection widget showing how many dinosaurs have hatched, a quick timer widget with 5, 10, 15, and 30-minute taps, and a next-alarm widget. Tapping any of them opens straight to that part of the app.
How does the Live Activity work?+
When a timer is running, the countdown appears on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, so you can see how long is left without unlocking the phone. It ends automatically when the egg hatches.
What happens if the app is closed during a timer?+
The timer stores its end time rather than a ticking count, so closing or even force-quitting the app won't lose it. Reopen the app and the countdown is exactly where it should be.
How do alarm streaks work?+
Set a wake-up time and the weekdays it repeats. If your child gets up and dismisses the alarm within fifteen minutes, a dinosaur hatches and the streak counter goes up by one. Missing a morning simply resets the streak — there is no penalty, nothing is lost from the collection.
How many dinosaurs are there, and can they be lost?+
Thirty dinosaurs. Once hatched, a dinosaur stays in the collection permanently. Each one has its era, diet, length, estimated weight, a map of where its fossils were found, and a press-and-hold x-ray view that swaps skin for skeleton.
Is anything locked behind a purchase?+
No. Every dinosaur, timer, alarm, and widget is unlocked from day one. There is an optional one-time tip for parents who want to say thanks, and it unlocks nothing but a small heart badge.
What does the parental gate feel like in practice?+
Tapping settings, data deletion, or the tip jar shows a short challenge that a grown-up clears in a couple of seconds and a young child cannot. The kid-facing part of the app has no links out, no ads, and no purchase buttons at all.
Which languages are supported?+
English, German, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Russian — including every dinosaur name, era, and fun fact.
Want the full detail on data and safety? Read the privacy & kid-safety page.
Ready to hatch some dinosaurs?
Join the waitlist to be first in line when Dino Hatch launches and makes screen time, bedtime, and morning routines more fun.
Coming soon — join the waitlist