Skip to main content

Sleep and time

Online timer

Tap a preset or type a time. The alarm rings until you stop it.

By Nabeel Mustafa. Updated .

Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent, saved, or shared.

00:00

Paused

Space bar starts and pauses.

Quick set

h
m
s

The remaining time also shows in the browser tab, so you can switch away and still see it. Keep the tab unmuted for the alarm.

A timer runs the session. Whether the sessions happen most days is a different record: a free habit tracker that shows the whole month on one screen.

Track it as a habit

A timer that stays right in the background

Browsers slow down pages you are not looking at. A timer that counts its own ticks drifts when you switch tabs, sometimes by minutes. This one stores the moment it should finish and works backwards from the clock, so switching away changes nothing. The remaining time also shows in the tab title.

The one thing a background tab can delay is the sound. If the alarm matters, keep the tab visible or at least unmuted.

Shortcuts worth knowing

The space bar starts and pauses. The plus button adds a minute, running or not. Full screen makes the clock readable across a room, which is what you want in a classroom or a kitchen.

Copy the link to share or bookmark a specific timer. A link ending in ?m=10 always opens a ten-minute timer, ready to start.

Set a timer

  1. Tap a preset or type hours, minutes and seconds

    Presets run from 1 to 60 minutes.

  2. Press Start or the space bar

    The time also appears in the tab title.

  3. Stop the alarm when it rings

    It repeats for up to 30 seconds.

Questions people ask

Will the timer keep running if I switch tabs?

Yes. It works from the clock, not from counting ticks, so the time stays accurate in a background tab.

Why did the alarm not make a sound?

Browsers only allow sound after you have tapped the page, and a muted tab or device stays silent. Starting the timer with a tap or the space bar counts as that first tap.

Can I save a timer?

Copy the link to these numbers. Opening it later sets the same time, ready to start.

How is this different from the countdown to a date?

This one counts down minutes and seconds. The countdown timer on this site counts days and hours to a date.

Numbers are easy. Doing it every day is the hard part.

A calculator tells you where you are once. If the thing you actually want is to keep something up, that takes a record rather than a result.