A countdown timer for every part of your day
This free online timer counts down any length of time, from a few seconds to almost a full day, and rings when it reaches zero. It runs in your browser on a computer, a tablet or a phone, with no app and no account. Use it in the kitchen, at the gym, in the classroom, at your desk or at bedtime.
The digits are big enough to read from across the room, a progress bar shows how far along you are, and the tab title displays the time left, so you can keep an eye on it while you work in another tab.
Common durations also have their own pages, ready to start in one tap: the 1 minute timer for a plank, the 30 minute timer for a workout and the 60 minute timer for an exam.
How to set the timer
Turn the minute wheel
The minutes sit on a wheel in the center of the screen. Turn it with the mouse wheel, drag it with a finger or use the arrow keys. It is the fastest way to set 5, 10 or 25 minutes.
Type the time like on a microwave
Tap the digits to open a keypad and type the time from left to right, the way you would on a microwave. Typing 8, 0, 4 sets 8 minutes and 4 seconds. Typing 1, 3, 0 sets 1 minute and 30 seconds.
Add hours and seconds
Tap Hours in the bar below the timer to add an hours wheel, and Seconds to add a seconds wheel. Tap them again to remove those columns. Your choice is kept for next time, and a preset that needs seconds adds them on its own. The timer goes up to 23 hours and 59 minutes, enough for overnight dough or a slow-cooked dish.
Start, pause and reset
Press Start to begin. Pause stops the countdown where it is, Resume picks it up again and Reset brings it back to the time you set.
Pick the sound
The sound list opens in a large wheel in the middle of the screen. Turn it to hear each sound, then tap the center to choose. Your choice is remembered for next time.
Presets for cooking, sport and relaxing
Open the presets to start a common timing in one tap. They come in three categories:
| Category | Presets |
|---|---|
| Cooking | Runny egg 3 min, jammy egg 6 min, hard-boiled egg 9 min, black tea 4 min, pasta 10 min, rice 11 min |
| Sport | Plank 1 min, rest between sets 1 min 30 s, 7-minute workout |
| Relax | Coffee break 5 min, meditation 10 min, power nap 20 min |
When a preset runs, its illustration fills the screen. With eggs, you even watch the egg cook: raw, then runny, jammy and finally hard-boiled. The egg timer page has a full cooking chart.
When the time is up
At zero, the sound you picked rings until you press Stop: a bell, a chime, a classic beep, a digital beep or a gentle rise. Turn the sound list to hear each one before you start. Need a little longer? Tap +1 min and the countdown continues. Pasta not quite done or tea a bit light: one tap fixes it.
The countdown follows your device clock, not the rhythm of the page. Browsers slow down tabs that sit in the background, but the timer stays exact: if you come back after ten minutes, the display shows that ten minutes have passed. Keep the tab open to hear the sound.
Ideas for using an online timer
In the kitchen
Eggs, pasta, rice and tea have presets. For everything else, type the time from the recipe and start the timer when the food goes in, not when you turn on the heat.
For sport
Planks, rest between sets, intervals and the 7-minute workout. To count up instead of down, use the stopwatch.
At school
Tests, group work, silent reading and transitions. Full screen makes the countdown visible from the back of the room, and the 45 minute timer matches many class periods.
At work
Timebox meetings and tasks so they do not drag on. For rounds of focus and breaks, the Pomodoro timer chains them for you.
With kids
Two minutes of tooth brushing, five more minutes at the park, the end of screen time: a countdown everyone can see ends many debates.
For rest
A 10-minute meditation, a 5-minute coffee break or a 20 minute power nap. To wake up at a set time instead, use the alarm clock.
For games
Board games with a time limit, charades, a speed quiz or a cleanup race with the kids. Put the countdown in full screen so every player can see it, and let the sound settle any argument.
Tips for timing well
- Test the volume before you start, especially on a phone or a laptop on mute.
- On a phone or tablet, keep the page in front. The page asks the screen to stay on while the timer runs.
- Bookmark the durations you use most, such as the 5 minute timer or the 10 minute timer. Each one opens ready to start.
- Go full screen and use the size buttons to make the digits as large as you like.
- Pick a background color per use, a calm blue for meditation or a bright red for workouts, from the round button at the bottom right.
- Choose a sound that suits the place: the gentle rise for a quiet office, the classic beep for a noisy kitchen.
Online timer, kitchen timer or phone?
A wind-up kitchen timer is simple, but it ticks, it is hard to set to the second and it usually stops at 60 minutes. A phone timer is precise but small, and it pulls you toward notifications. This online timer gives you a big, clear display on any screen, presets, five sounds and a full screen mode, for free.
A bit of history: before springs and quartz, people timed tasks with hourglasses. Sand glasses appear in European records in the 14th century, and sailors used them with a knotted line to measure the speed of their ship. The Pomodoro Technique even takes its name from a tomato-shaped kitchen timer.
Private and accessible
No account, nothing to install. Your settings, such as the sound, the color and your durations, stay in your browser on your device. Once loaded, the timer and its sounds work offline. While it runs, the settings fade away after a few seconds to keep the screen calm; a touch or a mouse move brings them back. A black and white option gives the strongest contrast.