Meet Moo

The cow who keeps the clock company.

She is never a button that does anything else, and she never carries a meaning. She is just there, the way a good night light is there. Tap her.

Her day

She has a schedule, like everyone else in the house.

On a black Night Stand with A livelier Moo turned on. Over a photo she only dozes in the corner, so the picture stays the picture.

EveningAwake along the bottomShe blinks, glances about, flicks an ear, grazes for a moment, and every minute or so strolls to a new spot at a cow's pace, facing the way she goes. She keeps out from under the clock and the details.

Wind-downOff to bedAt the house's wind-down time she walks off the nearer edge of the screen and stays gone. No cow in the corner all night; she is asleep, like the kid should be.

Night, on the chargerOver the moonEvery few minutes a small Moo arcs over the crescent moon for three seconds, and the kid's gold stars for on-time mornings gather around that moon. Shooting stars cross the upper sky every minute or two. There is only one of her, so the bottom stays empty while she is up there.

DawnBack in from the edgeWhen the sky starts its dawn (from your time zone, or your exact sunrise), she walks back in from the side she left by, to a spot of her own.

Before the alarmA stretchIn the sunrise window before an alarm she gets up with a stretch, ears up, whether or not dawn has come. An alarm that already rang means the day is on.

The wake-up screenAbove the timeWhen the alarm rings in the app she is there above the clock, awake. After the challenge, she is in the corner of the morning screen while the message plays.

Where she lives

Four quiet places, and the Night Stand if you ask.

Off by default, Moo appears in exactly four places and does nothing. With A livelier Moo (Settings › This device) she grows, blinks, answers a tap, and moves onto the clock.

The first screenAsleep, while you set the app up.

The bedtime check-inAsleep, above the five faces.

The wake-up screenAwake, above the time.

The Barn's toolbarAwake, thirty points tall, keeping the parent company.

The Night Stand, with A livelier MooBody and all, along the bottom of the clock, with her day above. On the charger the sky comes with her: stars, the moon, shooting stars, and the leap.

The rules she keeps

Company, never a distraction.

Never a button that does anything else. A tap gets a hop and a "Moo!", and that is all.
Never carrying meaning. Nothing in the app depends on noticing her.
Nothing animates continuously. Her moments last a second or two, a walk at most eight seconds, with quiet gaps between.
Still under Reduce Motion. In Low Power Mode she keeps the small moments and skips the walks.
Out of the way. Her walks avoid the stretch under a clock or details block the kid placed low.
Hidden from VoiceOver on the clock, so the screen reader hears the time and nothing else.
A detail, not a feature: eleven percent of the screen's height, at most 96 points, a little less on an upright iPhone.

Why a cow

The farm words

The app's family words are farm words, and the family's cow needed a name. Moo keeps them company. One switch in Settings turns the farm words into plain ones; Moo stays either way.

The Herd: Your family.
The Barn: The parent area, behind the PIN.
The Rancher: The parent.
Sunrise: The wake-up flow: the ring, the challenge, the message, the morning.
Moonrise: The bedtime flow: the check-in, the sounds, the timer.

Turn her on and leave the clock up tonight.

Settings › This device › A livelier Moo, a black Night Stand, and the charger. The Night Stand section has the rest.

The Night Stand The sky that follows the sun