What is a tally counter?

A tally counter is a device that adds one to a running total each time you press a button. It can be mechanical, electronic or software, and it's typically used to count things that come and go, like people walking through a door.

How a mechanical tally counter works

The classic version is a small handheld case with a button on top and a window showing digits. Inside are rings numbered 0 to 9. Most have four rings, so they count up to 9999.

Pressing the button turns the first ring one step. When it passes 9 it goes back to 0 and the next ring moves up by one, the same carry you see in a car's odometer. That's the whole mechanism.

To start over, you turn a knob on the side, which brings the rings back to zero.

How electronic and digital counters work

An electronic tally counter swaps the rings for an LCD screen and a button that advances the count. Some models add a second button that subtracts, for example to fix a mistake.

A software counter, such as a phone app or a web page, does the same thing on a screen. "Digital tally counter" can mean either the handheld LCD version or the app version.

What people use them for

Counting people is the classic use: concerts, stadiums, rides, or any door where someone keeps a tally. The same tool turns up in inventory, traffic counts, research and industrial lines, and in smaller jobs such as counting prayers or keeping track of knitting rows.

When a phone counter fits better

A handheld counter keeps one number. That's fine for one job. It gets awkward when you're counting several things, or when you'd like each count to have a name.

A phone counter helps when:

• You count more than one thing. Push-ups, laps and pages can each have their own counter in the same list.
• You want labels. A counter called "Visitors" is clearer than the second of three identical devices.
• You'd like a record. Insights (Premium) show a counter's total actions, daily average and peak hour.
• You already carry your phone. There's nothing extra to buy or lose.

The trade-off is that you need your phone in your hand.

Tally Counter on iPhone

Tally Counter is built for that case. You can create as many counters as you want, each with a name. Tap New Counter on the Counters screen, type a name such as "Push-ups", and tap Create.

Inside a counter, the large + adds one and − takes one off, but never below zero. The reset button asks "Reset this counter to 0?" before it does anything. Your iPhone gives a haptic tap when you add, subtract or reset, and you can turn that off in Settings.

Counting is free, with unlimited counters. Premium adds Insights per counter: total actions, daily average, peak hour, an hour-by-hour chart and a recent activity log grouped by day.

Counts are saved on your iPhone. There's no account and no syncing between devices, and the app doesn't count for you: it has no camera or sensor mode, so you press the button each time.

If you only need a quick count at your computer, the click counter guide has a counter you can use right in the browser.