Remove 'seconds' and 'hours' options from sleep timer

[keunes]

Checklist

• I have used the search function for open and closed issues to see if someone else has already submitted the same feature request.
• I will describe the problem with as much detail as possible.
• This request contains only one single feature, not a list of multiple (related) features.

App version

2.7.0

Where did you get the app from

Google Play

Problem you may be having, or feature you want

There is a drop-down selector in the sleep timer dialog, that allows the user to select between seconds, minutes and hours. For a sleep timer, setting only a few seconds (which @ByteHamster had indicated to use for testing) or listening for hours (possibly used to function as a pomedoro timer) doesn't make sense.

The drop-down menu adds another choice for the user which clutters the interface and potentially increases the mental burden. The sleep timer dialog is already quite full, so any simplification is welcome.

Suggested solution

Remove the drop-down menu completely, and maintain only input in minutes. Only a static string should be displayed: 'minutes'.

Screenshots / Drawings / Technical details

• Ideally, this should be implemented together with Sleep Timer: Stop at end of episode #2146, so that the 'loss' of one functionality is compensated with the addition of another, much-requested functionality.
• As is currently the case, it should be possible to enter maximum three digits, so that edge case users could still set 'hours'.

[ByteHamster]

The "hours/minutes/seconds/ selection was implemented from the beginning. So it was not added by user request. I don't have a strong opinion about this but I guess people will complain if we remove it. Thinking in hours is somewhat easier than thinking in minutes.

Ideally, this should be implemented together with #2146

I'm still not sure about that. My gut feeling tells me that the vast majority of people who want this simply don't know that they can turn off "continuous playback". Adding it, we would have two different settings for the same use-case.

[loucasal]

I'm inclined to agree with @keunes on this one. Yes, someone out there might be using the feature in entirely unorthodox ways, but is it really worth that separate setting? (Did the user research give us any insight into how the feature is used?)

I'm still not sure about that. My gut feeling tells me that the vast majority of people who want this simply don't know that they can turn off "continuous playback". Adding it, we would have two different settings for the same use-case.

Counterargument: disabling "continuous playback" requires the user to turn it back on the next time they use the app (assuming it is their default daytime setting). On the other hand, sleep timer-related features are rather of the "set it and forget it" type.

[keunes]

I don't have a strong opinion about this but I guess people will complain if we remove it. Thinking in hours is somewhat easier than thinking in minutes.

Users will always complain, whatever we do ^^ I think it's a fair balance between supporting edge-cases and long-term usability vision.

[Matth7878]

Another point is who really set his sleep timer more than one hour long? The number of people doing that must be marginal. Still they would be able to translate hours to minutes.

Same for seconds? Why would someone use seconds? The only explanation I can think of is if you want to stop at current episode end.

[rubo77]

If you want to keep the possibility to stop earlier than a minute without the selector, we could allow to enter fractions of a minute like

0.5 minutes

[keunes]

If you want to keep the possibility to stop earlier than a minute without the selector, we could allow to enter fractions

That could be an option indeed. But given that (as far as we're aware) it's only used for testing purposes, I doubt it's worth the added code complexity.

[Mrnofish]

Based on my limited usage of the Sleep timer, I'd say if anybody wanted to make it easier to use, then it should probably default to something close to either the remaining time the currently playing episode, or if none is actually playing, then the length of first-in-queue (?).

Admittedly, I only use Sleep timer for a minimal fraction of the considerable time I spend with AP and my reason for doing so, is making sure that AP doesn't eat through the queue should it happen that I fall asleep, as that requires a non-negligible amount of manual work to undo.

If I am listening or about to listen to an episode that's, say, 50 minutes long, I typically set the timer to something like 48 or 49. This way, the episode doesn't get dropped from the queue if I get some Zs: if I slept through most of an episode, then I'm going to need to go back to it.

If, on the other hand, I don't fall asleep, then I don't want to be swatting away the sleep timer constantly.

Based on my current recollection of timer selectors from other apps, I am failing to conjure to mind an alternative that is unreservedly better than AP's under every aspect, though.

Granted, the dialog isn't the prettiest piece of UI design to ever grace the human eye, but it's functional.

I personally value functional over "beautiful, minimalist app" that barely does anything. There's usually already plenty of choice for the latter, especially in the FOSS arena, where people are inclined to start new projects from scratch for learning and/or fun.

On the contrary, full-featured apps are hard to come by.

[VishnuSanal]

Hi! I'd like to work on this issue.