How to use the timer
- Countdown: tap a preset (1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, 30 or 60 minutes) and it starts at once. For any other length, type hours, minutes and seconds, press Set custom time, then Start. At zero the timer beeps and the browser tab shows "Time's up!".
- Stopwatch: press Start, then Lap to record a lap without stopping. The lap table shows each split and the running total, newest first. Copy laps copies them as tab-separated text, ready to paste into a spreadsheet.
- Pomodoro: start a 25-minute focus session. When it ends, the timer beeps and moves on to a 5-minute break; every fourth break is a 15-minute long break. Press Start to begin each session, or Skip to jump ahead. You can change all three lengths.
While a timer runs, the remaining time also shows in the browser tab title, so you can see it from another tab.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Start, pause or resume the visible timer |
| R | Reset the visible timer (and clear stopwatch laps) |
| Tab then Enter | Reach and press any button, such as a preset or Lap |
Shortcuts are ignored while you are typing in a box, so they never interfere with entering a custom time.
Why it stays accurate in a background tab
Browsers slow down timers on pages you are not looking at, to save battery. A timer that adds one second every time its clock "ticks" falls behind when that happens. This one never counts ticks. It records the moment you pressed Start and works out the time from the clock each time it updates:
Example: you start a 5-minute (300-second) timer and switch to another tab. Even if the page only updates a few times in that period, when it next checks at 120.4 seconds after Start, it shows 300 − 120.4 = 179.6 seconds, displayed as 03:00 because the countdown rounds up to whole seconds. If you pause at 120.4 seconds and resume ten minutes later, the 120.4 seconds stay banked, so the pause does not count.
The alarm is also scheduled in advance on the browser's audio clock, which keeps running in background tabs. So the beep sounds on time even when the page itself is being slowed down.
Sound, mute and screen
The alarm is a short series of beeps generated by the Web Audio API, so there is no sound file to download. Browsers only allow sound after you have interacted with the page, which is why the beep is set up when you press Start. Tick Mute for a silent timer. On phones, the ring/silent switch or media volume can also silence it.
Keep screen on asks the browser to stop the screen dimming while a timer runs (the Screen Wake Lock API). It is released when you pause. Some browsers do not support it; the timer still works, but the screen may sleep.
Pomodoro technique in brief
- Choose one task.
- Work on it for 25 minutes without switching to anything else.
- Take a 5-minute break: stand up, look away from the screen.
- After four focus sessions, take a longer break of 15–30 minutes.
The fixed lengths are a starting point. If 25 minutes feels too short for deep work, try 50 minutes of focus and 10 minutes of break.
Planning across time zones? Use the time zone converter. To count days to a deadline, use the date calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs?
Why didn't I hear the alarm?
How do I set a timer for a custom time?
How do I record lap times?
What is the Pomodoro setting?
Will my screen stay on?
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