MindBell Support

What is MindBell?

MindBell is a meditation timer that stays out of your way. You set three phases: a bit of preparation time to get settled, the meditation itself and a gentle wind-down at the end. A bell marks each transition so you never need to peek at a clock. While you sit you can watch a softly flickering candle, a calm face lit by candlelight or nothing at all.

No accounts, no subscriptions, no streaks to guilt you. It works completely offline. New to meditation? Tap the ? button on the home screen for a short guided tour covering five simple techniques and how to begin.

Starting your first session

Everything lives on one screen, so this takes about a minute:

1. Set your times. The default preset gives you 2 minutes of prep, 20 minutes of meditation and 3 minutes of wind-down. To change them tap the pencil icon, adjust each phase with the arrows and tap Save. Meditation can run from 1 minute to 2 hours. Prep and wind-down can be zero if you want none.
2. Choose your bell. Pick from the dropdown: Tibetan bowl, Zen bell, Crystal bowl, Soft chime, Deep gong or Silent (flash). Tap Test to hear it first. The Silent option flashes the screen white instead of making a sound, for meditating where noise would be awkward.
3. Choose what you’ll look at. The selector offers Blank, Candle or Calm face. The candle flickers gently and slowly. The calm face is a bronze statue lit by soft candlelight.
4. Pick a session colour. This is the screen background during your session and it’s more than decoration:
   • Black - neutral, any time of day.
   • Deep red - for evening sessions. Red light has the least effect on melatonin, the hormone that helps you sleep, so you can drift from cushion to bed.
   • Daylight blue - for morning sessions. Blue light tells your body clock it’s daytime, which helps you wake up.
5. Tap Begin session.

What happens during a session

A bell rings to start. If you set prep time, use it to settle in. The bell rings again and your meditation begins with your chosen visual on screen and a quiet countdown. When the meditation ends the bell rings, the candle fades out and the wind-down begins on your chosen colour. A final bell closes the session and a small summary appears with Meditate again and Home buttons.

While a session runs you’ll find Pause and End controls plus a snowflake button. The snowflake freezes the candle or face animation completely still, which some people find less distracting. Tap it again to resume the flicker. No adverts appear during a session.

Presets

If you meditate different ways at different times of day, presets save you fiddling:

1. Tap + next to the preset dropdown.
2. Set the name, times, bell, visual and colour, then tap Save.
3. Switch between presets from the dropdown any time.

Three combinations worth trying: a 5 minute emergency (no prep, no wind-down, zen bell, blank screen), a 20 minute morning (daylight blue with the candle) and a 15 minute evening (deep red with a 5 minute wind-down).

If the bell isn’t sounding

• Check your phone isn’t in silent mode and the volume is up.
• Use the Test button next to the sound selector to check quickly.
• If you’ve selected Silent (flash) there is no sound by design. The screen flashes instead.
• MindBell times sessions while the app is open on screen, so leave it open while you sit. The screen stays awake automatically during a session.

Need help?

Email Thomas@ThomasDStoker.com with questions, problems or suggestions. We aim to respond within 2 to 3 working days.

Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.