Walkthrough: Log a seizure with the timer

If you are reading this in the middle of a seizure, take a breath. The app is built so you can start the timer in a couple of taps and then put the phone down and stay with your person. Everything else can wait until it is over.

This walkthrough covers timing a seizure with the built-in stopwatch Available, the gentle "consider calling 911" warning at five minutes, the timer that keeps ticking on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island so you never have to unlock the phone Available, recording rescue medication, and looking back at the history afterward.

The app does not give medical advice. If a seizure is severe, does not stop, or this is the person's first one, call your local emergency number (911 in the U.S.). The 5-minute warning below is a reminder, not a diagnosis.

Before you start

You do not need to set anything up in advance. The timer is there whenever you open it. If you have a moment beforehand, you can build a seizure crisis plan that holds the rescue-medication details and emergency contacts ready for the moment you need them.

Start the timer

1. From the Home screen, tap the + button and choose Seizure. The seizure screen opens with a built-in stopwatch.
2. Tap Start the moment the seizure begins. The stopwatch starts counting up from zero.

That is the only thing you have to do right away. The timer is now running and will keep running even if you lock the phone or switch to another app to make a call.

Watch it from the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island

You do not have to stay in the app. Lock the phone or open something else, and the timer follows you so you can keep both eyes on your person.

• On the Lock Screen, a card shows that a seizure is in progress, the person's initial, and a large, clear count of how long it has been going. You can read it at a glance without unlocking. Available
• On newer iPhones with the Dynamic Island, the same timer counts up near the top of the screen while you use other apps. Touch and hold it to see the full view; tap just outside it to shrink it down to a small icon. Available

The timer keeps ticking accurately whether the phone is locked, in your pocket, or you have stepped away to dial for help. When you come back into the app, the stopwatch shows the correct elapsed time.

If you have turned Live Activities off for CareHaven in your iPhone's Settings, the in-app stopwatch still works perfectly. You just will not see the Lock Screen or Dynamic Island version.

The 5-minute "consider calling 911" warning

A seizure that runs five minutes or longer is less likely to stop on its own, so current guidance is to call for emergency help once it reaches that point.

When the timer crosses five minutes, the app changes its look so you cannot miss it:

• The timer text turns red.
• The Lock Screen card turns red and shows a clear consider 911 reminder with a phone icon.
• On the Dynamic Island, the icon turns red too.

This is a prompt, not a command. You know your person best. Call your local emergency number whenever the situation feels like it needs it, even before five minutes.

Stop the timer when it ends

1. Open the app again if you stepped away.
2. Tap Stop the moment the seizure ends. The exact duration is captured for you.

The Lock Screen and Dynamic Island briefly show when it ended, then tidy themselves away on their own a few seconds later.

Record what happened

With the seizure over and your person settling, take a quiet minute to fill in the details while they are fresh. This is what turns one stressful moment into useful information for the neurologist.

1. Choose the seizure type if you can (for example tonic-clonic, absence, focal, febrile, myoclonic, or unknown). "Unknown" is a fine answer.
2. Write recovery notes in the notes field — how confused or sleepy they were afterward, how long it took them to come back to themselves, and how they behaved.
3. Check the boxes for whether you gave rescue medication and whether you called 911.
4. Tap Save.

A few things worth jotting in the notes, when you can:

• What they were doing right before it started
• Which parts of the body were involved
• Any eye movement or where the eyes were looking
• Any change in skin color
• Possible triggers — illness, a short night's sleep, a missed dose

You will not always have time for all of this, and that is okay. Save whatever you have.

After: looking back at the history

Every seizure you log lands in the seizure history, with its date, time, exact duration, and your notes. Over a handful of episodes, patterns you could not hold in your head start to show up — a short night before, a missed dose, a high-sensory day.

When a neurology appointment comes up, you can generate a clean PDF of every episode with dates, times, durations, and notes, and hand the phone over or send it ahead. See Sharing & reports.

What it looks like elsewhere

• Rescue-medication and emergency details, ready in advance — a seizure crisis plan can hold the rescue-med name, dose, and who to call, with its own live timer that speaks the next step out loud.
• First aid — the Safety area has a post-seizure recovery card and choking first aid, each leading with "Call 911." See Safety & crisis plans.
• What to watch for — for a person with epilepsy, the Medical area carries a plain-language card of seizure warning signs and everyday tips on triggers and keeping rescue meds ready. See Medical.

A note for the worried moment

The timer exists so you can put the phone down. Start it, then go be with your person — hold their head, clear the space around them, talk gently. The app will keep time, warn you at five minutes, and remember everything so you do not have to. You can fill in the rest when it is over.