Countdown Timer & Stopwatch
Three clocks in one: a countdown to any date, a timer with an alarm, and a stopwatch with laps.
Counting is done against your own clock, so the answer is right wherever you are. Once the moment passes it counts up instead.
Why browser timers usually drift, and why this one does not
The obvious way to build a timer is to subtract a second every second. It is also the wrong way. Browsers throttle background tabs hard, often to one tick a minute, to save battery, so a timer built that way loses minutes the moment you switch tabs and comes back cheerfully wrong. Every clock on this page instead records an instant and compares it to the current time on each repaint. Switch tabs for ten minutes and the answer when you come back is exactly right, because nothing was being counted in the first place.
The alarm
When the timer reaches zero it plays a short tone, generated in the browser rather than downloaded, so there is no audio file to wait for and nothing is fetched from a server. Browsers only allow sound after you have interacted with the page, which is why the audio is unlocked when you press Start. The countdown is also written into the browser tab title, so a glance at the tab strip tells you where you are without switching back.
What a Pomodoro is
One of the presets is labelled "25 min, one Pomodoro", which is worth explaining if you have not met the word before. A Pomodoro is a 25 minute block of focused work followed by a 5 minute break, and after four blocks you take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes. The technique was written up in the late 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, who timed his study sessions with a tomato-shaped kitchen timer, and pomodoro is Italian for tomato. So the name describes the timer, not a system you have to learn.
Nothing on this page enforces any of it. The button sets 25 minutes and stops there, in the same way the 1, 3 and 5 minute presets beside it get used for tea, eggs and exercise sets. If you want the full cycle, start the timer, take your break when it sounds, and press the preset again.
Counting down to a date
The countdown tab works against your own device clock and local time, which is what you want for a birthday, a launch, a deadline or an exam. Once the moment passes the same display keeps running and starts counting up, so it doubles as a "how long since" clock. The three lines underneath restate the same interval in weeks, hours and minutes, which is usually the format a plan actually needs.
The stopwatch and its laps
Laps show the split, the time since the previous lap, next to the running total, with the newest at the top. That ordering is deliberate: while you are timing something the number you want to read is the one that just appeared, not the one from ten laps ago.
Frequently asked questions
What does the "one Pomodoro" preset mean?
A Pomodoro is a 25 minute block of focused work followed by a 5 minute break, with a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes after every four blocks. It is named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer used by Francesco Cirillo, who described the technique in the late 1980s, since pomodoro is Italian for tomato. The button here simply sets 25 minutes; nothing makes you follow the method.
Will the timer keep running if I switch tabs?
Yes, and it will be exactly right when you return. The clocks compare against the system time rather than counting ticks, which is what makes them immune to the throttling browsers apply to background tabs.
Will the alarm sound if the tab is in the background?
In most browsers, yes, as long as the tab is still open and you started the timer with a click. Browsers block sound from pages you have never interacted with, so the audio is prepared when you press Start.
Does it work if I close the tab?
No. Everything runs inside the page, so closing the tab ends the timer. That is the trade-off for a tool that needs no account, no notification permission and no server.
Can I count down to a time in another country?
The countdown uses your own local time. To work with another zone, convert the moment first using the time zone converter and enter the result here.
Is the stopwatch accurate to a hundredth of a second?
It displays hundredths and measures against the system clock, so it is accurate enough for exercise sets, cooking and general timing. It is not a substitute for proper sports timing equipment, where the limit is your reaction time on the button rather than the clock.