Countdown timer
Set a countdown for any duration from seconds to hours. A visual progress arc tracks remaining time and an audio alert plays when it ends.
What is the Countdown Timer?
A reliable countdown timer for cooking, workouts, meetings, and study sessions. Set any duration up to 99 hours, or tap a preset. The timer uses a drift-corrected clock, so it stays accurate even when the browser tab is in the background. When time runs out, you'll hear a gentle alert and get a browser notification. Nothing is sent to any server — everything runs on your device.
Keyboard shortcuts
Space to pause or resume, Esc to reset, and number keys 1–6 to jump to a preset.
Common Uses
- Event day countdown: Build anticipation for a wedding, birthday, product launch, or exam date by displaying days, hours, and minutes remaining.
- Exam time management: Set a countdown for the exact duration of a practice paper to simulate real exam conditions and build time awareness.
- Sprint and Scrum deadlines: Display a visible sprint end countdown on a shared screen during daily standups to keep the team deadline-aware.
- Conference presentation timing: Count down a 5, 10, or 20-minute presentation slot to stay within your allotted time without checking a watch.
- Cooking timers: Set precise countdowns for baking, marinating, or resting meat — more visible than a phone screen buried in a pocket.
- Productivity challenges: Use a countdown to gamify a task ("finish this report before the timer hits zero") and trigger a focused work burst.
- New Year and launch countdowns: Embed a countdown on a coming-soon page or share the URL for a public event's start time.
FAQ
Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs?
Yes. Modern browsers throttle background tabs, but we use a drift-correcting clock that resyncs whenever the tab regains focus. The final alert fires accurately even if you're in another tab.
Will I hear the alert with the sound muted?
If your tab is muted or your system volume is off, you won't hear the beep — but if you grant notification permission, you'll still get a desktop alert. The timer also updates the tab title, so you can glance at your tab bar.
Can I run multiple countdowns at once?
This page runs one timer. For parallel countdowns with labels (great for cooking), use the multi-timer tool instead.
Is my timer data stored anywhere?
No. Timer settings exist only in the browser tab's memory. Nothing is saved to a server or your device's local storage.
Will the timer keep running if I switch tabs?
Yes. The timer runs in the background even when the tab is not in focus. The alert will fire when the countdown reaches zero, as long as the tab remains open.
By the Numbers
- Research shows that visible deadlines can improve task completion rates by up to 40% (APA, behavioral economics literature)
- 20% of adults are chronic procrastinators, with 95% reporting at least occasional procrastination (APA)
- Parkinson’s Law — “work expands to fill the time available” — was coined by C. Northcote Parkinson in 1955
- Temporal Motivation Theory (Steel & König, 2006) explains why countdown timers sharpen focus as deadlines approach