Quick Countdown
Set any duration and count down with an audio alert when time is up.
Set any duration and count down with an audio alert when time is up.
A quick countdown timer counts down from a duration you choose and signals when it reaches zero. Unlike an alarm, which goes off at a clock time, a countdown is set by length — 10 minutes, 25 minutes, 90 seconds — which makes it the simplest way to time-box a task, a break, a presentation segment, or anything else that should end after a set period.
Picking the right length is the main decision. Short countdowns of 5 to 10 minutes work for quick replies, stand-up updates, and breaks; 25 to 45 minutes suits focused work or study blocks; seconds-level settings fit exercise sets and rest intervals. Keep the browser tab open while the timer runs, and make sure the device's sound is on so the alert is audible. Because the timer counts by elapsed time rather than clock time, a 45-minute countdown started at 2:20 PM finishes at 3:05 PM.
To use this quick countdown, type the minutes and seconds into the two fields; the timer starts at 10 minutes. Press Start and the large display counts down while a progress bar shrinks to show the share of time remaining. Press Pause to hold the countdown; the button then reads Resume, and Start continues from where it stopped. Reset loads the duration from the fields again, and editing the fields while the timer is stopped resets it automatically. At zero the countdown stops at 00:00 and plays a short beep. For durations over an hour, enter the total minutes; 90 minutes displays as 1:30:00.
The timer takes minutes and seconds only, so convert hours to minutes first: minutes = hours × 60. A 1-hour-45-minute block is 1 × 60 + 45 = 105 minutes. For seconds-only intervals, leave Minutes at 0 and enter the seconds, up to 59; anything longer goes partly in the Minutes field, so 90 seconds is 1 minute and 30 seconds.
What to enter for common durations
| Duration | Minutes field | Seconds field |
|---|---|---|
| 30 seconds | 0 | 30 |
| 90 seconds | 1 | 30 |
| 2 minutes 30 seconds | 2 | 30 |
| 15 minutes | 15 | 0 |
| 45 minutes | 45 | 0 |
| 1 hour | 60 | 0 |
| 1 hour 30 minutes | 90 | 0 |
| 2 hours | 120 | 0 |
| 3 hours | 180 | 0 |
| Use case | Suggested duration |
|---|---|
| Quick task / email reply | 5–10 minutes |
| Pomodoro focus session | 25 minutes |
| Short meeting item | 5–15 minutes |
| Study block | 25–45 minutes |
| Short break | 5 minutes |
| Long break | 15–20 minutes |
| Exercise set | 30–90 seconds |
| Rest between sets | 60–120 seconds |
Enter the minutes and seconds in the fields above, then press Start. The timer counts down and plays an audio alert when it reaches zero.
Yes — the timer stops exactly at zero and plays an alert beep. It does not count into negative numbers.
Yes — use the Pause button to hold the current time. Press Start again to resume from where it stopped.
5 minutes for short breaks (Pomodoro technique), 15–20 minutes for longer rest periods. For focus sessions, 25 minutes is the classic Pomodoro interval.
Yes — set the duration in minutes and press Start. The audio alert will notify you when time is up. Keep the browser tab open and the sound will play even if you switch to another tab.
Yes. Enter the total minutes — 120 for two hours, for example. The Minutes field goes up to 999 (16 hours 39 minutes), and the display switches to hours, minutes, and seconds.
It shows the share of time remaining. With a 10-minute countdown, the bar is half full at 5:00 left and empty at 00:00.
No. Reloading the page stops the countdown and resets it to the default 10 minutes, so leave the tab open until the timer finishes.