Countdown Timer

How to Use the Countdown Timer

1. Enter hours, minutes and seconds, or choose a preset. Any amount works in any box: 90 seconds is the same as 1 minute 30 seconds.
2. Press Start. The time left is shown large, and also in the browser tab's title.
3. Pause and Resume as often as you like. Reset goes back to the setup with the time you last used.
4. At zero the timer says "Timer complete", and plays a short sound unless you have turned it off.

How the Timer Stays Accurate

The timer does not count seconds one by one. When you start it, it works out the exact moment it should end, and every time it updates it shows the time between now and then. Pausing keeps the time left, and resuming sets a new end from it, so repeated pauses do not add or lose time.

Using the Timer in Another Browser Tab

Browsers slow down pages in background tabs, so the screen may not update every second while you are elsewhere. Because the time is worked out from the clock, it is correct the moment you come back. While the timer is running, the time left appears in the tab's title, so you can read it without switching tabs.

The page has to stay open. Closing or reloading it ends the timer, because nothing is saved. There are no notifications and no alarm when the page is closed.

Common Uses

• Study sessions and focus blocks, such as 25 minutes on and a short break.
• Cooking and baking.
• Workout intervals and rest periods.
• Meetings, presentations and speaking practice.
• A quick break from the screen.

The longest time is 24 hours. To measure time that counts up from zero, with laps, use the Stopwatch.

Countdown Timer FAQ