Support

Common questions

How do I use the timer?

Pick a tea, set your vessel size so the app can work out the dose, and tap Begin Session. Each infusion waits for you: pour the water, tap Pour, and the countdown starts. A gong sounds when the steep is up, and the next one is queued automatically.

The countdown kept running while my phone was locked. Is that right?

Yes. The timer is anchored to the wall clock rather than counting ticks while the app is on screen, so locking the phone, switching apps or taking a call doesn't stretch your steep. The running infusion also appears on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.

Where do the temperatures and times come from?

Each tea's parameters are a median of several independent gong fu brewing sources rather than one person's preference, with rinse rules applied by tea style — roasted and rolled oolongs get a short rinse, compressed and fermented dark teas a longer one, most greens and whites none at all.

A steeping time looks wrong to me.

Quite possibly — brewing numbers are a starting point, and leaf age, vessel and water move them. If you think a value is actually mistaken rather than just not to your taste, send us the tea and what you brew instead. Corrections ship in app updates.

Does it need an internet connection?

No. The whole library is inside the download and the app makes no network requests at all. It works in airplane mode, on a train, or anywhere else with no signal.

Which iPhones does it run on?

Any iPhone on iOS 17 or later. Live Activities appear on the Lock Screen on all of them; the Dynamic Island presentation needs an iPhone 14 Pro or newer.

My tea isn't in the library.

There are 74 teas so far, chosen for being named, canonical styles that many producers make rather than one shop's blend. If a well-known tea is missing, tell us which one — the library grows with the app.

Is there an Android version?

Not today. Steaper is a native iPhone app built around Live Activities and the Dynamic Island, so an Android version would be a separate project rather than a port.