How to use the timer
- Set the hours, minutes and seconds, or pick one of the quick times.
- Press Start. The bar and the text below the time show how far through you are.
- Press Pause to stop the clock and Resume to carry on. +1 min adds a minute while it runs.
- When the time runs out, a chime plays and the timer shows Time’s up. It then counts how long ago that was, so you know if you missed it. Press Stop to silence it and get ready to go again.
How to use the stopwatch
- Choose Stopwatch and press Start.
- Press Lap to record a lap. Each row shows the lap’s own time and the total (the split) when it was recorded. The fastest and slowest laps are labelled once there are two or more.
- Copy the laps as text, or as CSV with times in seconds to paste into a spreadsheet.
Alarms, notifications and the screen
- The chime is made by your browser’s audio system, so no sound file is downloaded. Use Test soundto check the volume before you rely on it.
- Browsers only allow pages to play sound after you’ve clicked or tapped something, which is why the alarm is set up when you press Start.
- Tick Show a notification to get a message from your browser too. It will ask for permission the first time. You can say no and the timer still works.
- Keep the screen on stops your phone or laptop going to sleep while the timer runs, in browsers that support it. The option is hidden in browsers that don’t.
- The time also appears in the tab’s title, so you can keep an eye on it from another tab. Full screenshows a large clock, handy across a room.
Limitations
- The timer runs in this tab. Closing the tab or reloading the page stops it, and nothing is saved.
- Phones may pause web pages and their sound when the screen locks or the browser is in the background. The alarm then plays when you return. For anything critical, use your phone’s own clock app.
- Notifications may arrive up to a minute late in a background tab, as browsers delay pages to save power.
- The longest timer is 99 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds, and the stopwatch records up to 999 laps.
Frequently asked questions
Will the alarm go off if I switch to another tab?
Yes. When you press Start, the alarm is scheduled with your browser’s audio system for the exact moment the time runs out, so it plays on time even though browsers slow down pages in background tabs. Keep the tab open, and don’t mute the tab or your device. On phones, the browser may pause sound once the screen locks, so the alarm plays as soon as you return to the page.
How do I bookmark a timer for a set time?
Choose a time and the address changes to match, for example /tools/online-timer/#5m for five minutes or #1h30m for an hour and a half. Bookmark or share that address and the timer opens set to that time, ready to start. You can also type a time after the # yourself: #90s, #25 (minutes) or #1:30:00 all work. #stopwatch opens the stopwatch.
How accurate is it?
The timer and stopwatch measure time from your device’s steady clock, rather than counting ticks, so they don’t drift, even over hours or when the tab is in the background. The display updates several times a second, and the stopwatch shows hundredths of a second. Accuracy is limited by your device; it’s more than good enough for cooking, workouts and meetings, but it isn’t a certified timing system.