iPhone · iPad · Apple Watch · Amazon Alexa
Ish Clock
The internet's oldest fuzzy clock. Tells you roughly what time it is, in plain English.
What it does
Ish Clock tells you roughly where you are in the day: "It is about quarter past nine in the morning." No numbers, no hands, no stress.
The clock rounds to the nearest five minutes and expresses it naturally.
The app updates automatically and cycles through gentle pastel colours on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
Available now on the App Store for all supported platforms.
App information
- Developer: dubar.com / Roger Dubar
- Contact: info@dubar.com
- Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
- Price: Free
- App Store: Ish Clock on the App Store
- Source: github.com/rdubar/ish-clock
- Privacy: privacy policy
- Support: support page
Screenshots
History
Ish Clock started in 1994 as a Perl script — a version of a 'joke' utility I saw on a Unix box at the University of Strathclyde around 1990 or so. My first web version appeared in JavaScript in 1996. It has been running quietly on the internet, in various forms, ever since.
| Version | Language | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Original | Perl | 1994 |
| Web | JavaScript | 1996 |
| Script | Python | 2020 |
| CLI | C | 2023 |
| iPhone / iPad / Apple Watch | Swift | 2026 |
| Amazon Alexa | Python | 2026 |
Source code for the command-line versions is on GitHub.
How it works
The clock rounds the current time to the nearest five-minute interval and expresses it in natural language:
| Time | Ish Clock says |
|---|---|
| 9:02 | It is about nine o'clock in the morning. |
| 9:14 | It is about quarter past nine in the morning. |
| 9:31 | It is about half past nine in the morning. |
| 9:44 | It is about quarter to ten in the morning. |
| 21:55 | It is about ten o'clock in the evening. |