Countdown Timer: Set Minutes, Hear an Alarm
Set a countdown in hours, minutes and seconds or pick a preset such as 5, 10 or 25 minutes. Pause, resume and hear an alarm at zero. Works offline in your browser.
Changing the time or picking a preset resets the countdown.
Press the space bar to start or pause when no field is selected. Both timers keep running when you switch modes or tabs.
About the Countdown Timer
The Countdown Timer counts down from a time you choose and sounds an alarm at zero. Set anything from one second to 99 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds, or tap one of the presets: 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, 30 or 60 minutes. The remaining time is shown in large digits as hours, minutes and seconds, a bar shrinks as the time runs out, and the browser tab title shows the time left so you can keep an eye on it from another tab.
It works as a kitchen timer, a workout or rest timer, a classroom or exam timer, a meeting or speech timer, and a focus timer for study sessions.
How to set a countdown
Steps
- Tap a preset, or type the Hours, Minutes and Seconds. An empty field counts as zero.
- Press Start or the space bar. Press it again to pause, and once more to resume.
- When the time is up, the page shows Time's up and plays three short beeps. Press Restart to run the same time again or Reset to go back to the start.
Valid times
Hours accept whole numbers from 0 to 99, and minutes and seconds accept 0 to 59. The total must be at least one second. If a field is out of range, a message appears under it and the Start button stays disabled until you fix it. Changing a field or picking a preset resets a countdown that is paused or running.
How the remaining time is worked out
The timer stores the moment you pressed Start and the time already run before any pause. On every screen update it subtracts the elapsed time from the time you set:
The display rounds partial seconds up, so 1.2 seconds left reads 00:00:02 and 00:00:00 only appears at the very end. Because the time comes from clock readings rather than from counting ticks, it stays exact even when the browser throttles a background tab.
Popular countdown lengths
- 1 and 3 minutes: brushing teeth, a soft-boiled egg, a quick stretch or a short break.
- 5 and 10 minutes: tea and coffee, a warm-up, a short talk or a classroom activity.
- 15 and 30 minutes: a nap, a focused review, a board-game turn or a meeting slot.
- 25 minutes: one Pomodoro work block, usually followed by a five-minute break.
- 60 minutes: an exam, a baking time or an hour of deep work.
The alarm
At zero the timer plays three short beeps through the Web Audio interface of your browser. Some browsers only allow sound after you have interacted with the page, which pressing Start already counts as. If your device is muted or has no audio, the visible Time's up banner, the tab title and the screen reader announcement still tell you the time has run out.
Privacy
Nothing is uploaded; every calculation runs in your browser and never leaves your device.
Related tools
Need to time something open-ended instead? Use the Online Stopwatch. The full Online Timer and Stopwatch page has both clocks side by side, and the Time Converter turns seconds into minutes and hours.
Frequently asked questions
How do I set a 5 or 10 minute timer?
Tap the 5 min or 10 min preset and press Start. Presets are available for 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, 30 and 60 minutes, or you can type any hours, minutes and seconds yourself.
Why does the display round up the seconds?
A countdown shows the whole seconds still to run, so 1.2 seconds left reads 00:00:02. That way 00:00:00 only appears at the moment the time is actually up, as on a kitchen timer.
Can I pause the countdown and continue later?
Yes. Press Pause, or the space bar, to hold the time. Resume carries on from exactly where it stopped. Reset goes back to the time you set, and editing a field or picking a preset also resets it.
What happens when the time runs out?
The timer stops at 00:00:00, shows a Time's up banner, plays three short beeps and announces the alarm to screen readers. Press Restart to run the same time again.
Why did I not hear the alarm?
Check that your device is not muted and that the browser tab is allowed to play sound. The beep uses your browser's Web Audio support; if that is unavailable, the banner and the tab title still tell you the time is up.
Is the countdown accurate if I switch tabs?
Yes. The remaining time is worked out from the clock each time the page updates, not by counting ticks, so a throttled background tab cannot make it run slow. The tab title shows the time left while it runs.