Neil Hughes
This weekend's highly anticipated release of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" clocks in with an epic-length runtime of 2 hours and 32 minutes. That's a lot of Star Wars action for your eyeballs, but can your bladder handle it? If not, the iPhone app RunPee is here to help.
Before we get started, we'll note that the RunPee app is not exactly a shining example of iOS software development. It's serviceable, but its web-like interface is rather spartan.
But we're not talking about RunPee for its design chops — this tip is all about practicality, and the RunPee service is certainly unique in the problem it addresses: Ideal bathroom break times during a movie.
In the app, select your movie to find a quick summary of "Peetimes" from a reviewer, who might note that it was tough to find some downtime in a particularly action- or laugh-packed flick.
RunPee is also spoiler-conscious, giving users a vague, out-of-context line of dialogue that precedes the pee break. Movies often have at least two or three listed "Peetimes," and a review often recommends one as the best option to run to the loo.
The app even comes with a built-in timer that can be started when the movie begins, vibrating in the user's pocket when it's an OK time to take a trip to the restroom. Just, please, leave your phone in your pocket so as to not disturb other moviegoers.
While you're doing you business, you can tap on the "Peetime" you took advantage of to get a quick text summary of what you're missing.
The RunPee app goes beyond bathroom breaks, too, offering relevant data for users who might be pressed for time. It lets users know if the film has any bonus content that plays after the credits (count on that if it's a Marvel movie), and it even provides a synopsis of the first three minutes of a film for those who are running late.
RunPee is a free download on the App Store, supported by interstitial ads that display when opening the app or viewing lavatory suggestions.
Users can support the app by buying "Peecoins," "priced at 7 for 99 cents, in bundles up to $3.99. Peecoins remove the ads from the app at a cost of 15 cents per movie. Unfortunately, it apparently does not sync purchases with your iCloud account (remember what we said about design?), so the developer requires that users share their email address in order to purchase "Peecoins."
RunPee requires iOS 6.1 or later, and is a 52.8-megabyte download.
Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
Charles Martin
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
15 Comments
I've used this app before. It's all right. For me, the smart thing to do is not to eat or drink anything just before or during the movie. Which is good anyway as I don't have to buy over priced food and drinks.
If you didn't know, you can get a MoviePass subscription for $9.95 a month these days. See any move, at any time, pretty much anywhere. As many as you can watch in a month. So long as it's not 3D or IMAX and you can only see a movie once using it. For me, that's the cost of 1 movie ticket for the first showing before prices go up after that. It's really a great deal. I think you can get a Subscription from Costco for a even lower price paying for a year which I think gets it down to $5 a month or something.
www.moviepass.com
I get nothing out of that link. I've been using them for a number of years and was paying $45 a month after it went up in price from $35 a month. For whatever reason, it dropped to $9.95 a month and it's still as good as ever. I still use my Movie Theater Club Card to get free drinks, popcorn and movie tickets. The free movie tickets I'll use if there's something I really want to see in IMAX or 3D, or 3D IMAX. I can use that ticket to reduce the overall price. Then I see it once again a second time for free using MoviePass.
58 megabytes*? I would have thought that all the data for this would be "in the cloud" and accessed as needed. So either that's not the case or this is a grossly inefficient app from a resources perspective. Frankly, I'm surprised this is an app at all, rather than simply a website.
*For reference, I remember having to install MS Office on my Mac SE back in the day off a huge stack of 30 or 40 floppy disks. Roughly the same size as this silly little app.
It's already out this past Wednesday here in Netherlands. And we get an intermission at our cinemas, as a rule.
Never understood why American cinemas don’t have an intermission. Even a short 10 minute to use the restroom.