Pattern Keeper for iPhone? Here's how to track your patterns on an iPhone
Pattern Keeper only runs on Android. Its makers say an iOS version is in early development, but for now you can't install it on an iPhone or iPad. If you've got a folder of PDF patterns from Etsy and want to mark off stitches on your phone, Skeinshot does that job in Safari, with nothing to install from the App Store.
Open Skeinshot and import a pattern
What you can do with a PDF pattern you bought
- Import the PDF straight from your Files app, Mail or a download. Skeinshot reads the grid, the symbols and the thread key, and gives you the DMC numbers.
- Picture-only PDFs work too. Some designers save their charts as images, which many apps can't read. Skeinshot reads the chart from the picture and gives each color its own symbol.
- Tap or drag to mark stitches done, and watch the count for each color go down as you finish it.
- Zoom in to a few squares or out to the whole chart, and highlight one color at a time so the symbols stop swimming.
- Keep track of how many stitches you did each day and how long the rest will take.
Set it up on your iPhone in a minute
- Open skeinshot.com in Safari.
- Tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen. Skeinshot now opens like an app, full screen, and keeps your patterns safer than a browser tab does.
- Tap Import a chart and pick the PDF you bought.
- Check the thread list it found, then start marking stitches.
Your patterns stay on your phone. Nothing is uploaded and there's no account to make. Because of that, use Back up in Settings now and then, so a lost or replaced phone doesn't take your progress with it.
Free or Pro
The free version tracks one imported pattern at a time, so you can try it on whatever you're stitching now. Pro imports as many as you like and lifts the size and color limits for patterns you make from photos. It's one payment of C$34.99, with no subscription.
A few honest limits
- If a designer has turned off copying in their PDF, or it needs a password, Skeinshot won't import it. You can still stitch from the PDF itself.
- Imported patterns are for your own stitching, so Skeinshot won't export or print them. Print from the original file.
- Very unusual charts sometimes have a symbol missing from the key. When that happens Skeinshot tells you which one and lets you pick its thread.
Also on Android, tablets and computers
The same app works in Chrome on Android, on an iPad, and on Windows or Mac. If you're moving from Pattern Keeper on an Android phone to an iPhone, import the original PDFs again on the new phone.
Pattern Keeper is a trademark of its owner. Skeinshot isn't affiliated with Pattern Keeper or its makers.