Countdown timer
Set a free online countdown timer for minutes and seconds. Pause, resume or reset it, with an optional sound when time is up.
Set a duration and press Start.
What the presets are good for
One minute covers a plank or a quick stretch. Five minutes is a short break or a pot of black tea. Ten minutes suits a tidy-up or a lightning talk. Twenty-five minutes is the work interval of the Pomodoro Technique, which Francesco Cirillo developed in the late 1980s with a tomato-shaped kitchen timer: work for 25 minutes, rest for five, and take a longer break after four rounds. Forty-five minutes is a school lesson, a half of football or one block of focused work. For anything else, type your own minutes and seconds, from one second up to 24 hours.
How the countdown keeps time
When you press Start, the timer works out the clock time at which it should finish and keeps comparing that moment with your device’s clock. It does not count ticks, so it does not drift when the browser pauses screen updates. Switch to another tab and the remaining time is still correct when you return; it also appears in the tab title while the timer runs. If you reload the page in the same tab, the countdown carries on. Closing the tab ends it.
Why a browser timer can ring late
Browsers slow down pages in background tabs to save power, and phones suspend them when the screen locks. The timer then cannot play its sound until the page wakes up. For anything that matters, such as medication, an oven or an exam, keep this page visible and the screen on, or use your device’s built-in alarm as well. The finish signal is three short beeps. Browsers only allow sound after you have interacted with a page, which pressing Start does; check the volume and silent mode before you rely on it.
Questions and answers
What is the longest timer I can set?
Twenty-four hours, entered as 1,440 minutes. The shortest is one second. Once the remaining time passes an hour, the display adds an hours column.
Will the timer ring if I lock my phone?
Not reliably. Most phones pause web pages when the screen locks, so the sound plays only when you unlock the phone. The remaining time will be correct, but the alert may be late. Keep the screen on, or set the phone’s own timer as a backup.
What is the difference between Pause and Reset?
Pause keeps the remaining time so that you can carry on from the same point. Reset stops the countdown and returns to the full duration you chose.
Does the timer work without an internet connection?
Once the page has loaded, yes. The countdown runs entirely in your browser and sends nothing to a server, so losing the connection does not stop it.
Calculations run in your browser. No account is needed, and your inputs are not sent to our server. Read how our clocks work.