Set and control an online timer
A step-by-step countdown workflow, including pause, reload recovery and sharing.
Choose a useful endpoint
Decide what you will stop or review when the timer finishes. For example, “clear the papers from this desk” is more workable in ten minutes than “organize everything.” Select a preset or open Custom and enter hours, minutes and seconds. The allowed total is one second through 99:59:59.
Writing a short label can keep that endpoint visible. It stays in this browser rather than being included in a share link.
- Select a duration and check the displayed hours, minutes and seconds.
- Test sound if you want an audible finish.
- Press Start when you are ready to use the allocated time.
Pause, extend or reset deliberately
Pause freezes the remaining time; Resume continues from that remainder. Reset returns to the full chosen duration and waits for Start. The +1 minute control extends a countdown and its total duration, so use it when the task needs an explicit extension rather than repeatedly postponing the finish.
If you add a minute after completion, the new remaining minute is paused until you start it. Changing to another mode pauses a running session; do not expect the old timer to keep sounding while you use the stopwatch.
A ten-minute task, with a way to stop
For a desk-paper sort, open the ten-minute preset and decide where keep, file and recycle items will go. Use two minutes to collect and classify, six to handle the selected pile and two to put back essential items. Watch the display or your own notes for those boundaries: this is one countdown, not three automatic alarms.
If six minutes disappear into reading one document, put that document on a separate review list and return to sorting. At zero, leave the surface usable. A second round should have its own defined pile, rather than silently extending an unlimited clean-up.
When the chosen time never fits
Before choosing a longer duration, note what used the current one. Finding materials, doing the main task and reviewing the result are different costs. If ten minutes mostly went to opening files, prepare them before the next attempt rather than counting that delay as evidence that the task needs twice as long.
For an unfamiliar task, measure a separate attempt with the stopwatch and record both the time and the amount completed. Use that result to choose a realistic next countdown. An estimate from sorting one pile should not be assumed to cover every pile.
- Preparation consumed the session: gather the inputs first.
- One item consumed the session: give that item its own review task.
- The target stayed unfinished: reduce its scope or choose a duration based on the observed work.
Understand refresh and clock behavior
The timer calculates remaining time against an end time rather than subtracting one second for each screen update. If a tab gets fewer updates, the displayed time catches up when it renders again. This reduces update drift but does not remove device-clock effects.
Reload recovery uses saved browser state when storage is available. The tab’s route state supports preset and shared-link sessions; malformed or more-than-seven-day-old engine snapshots are rejected. Clearing site data or using blocked storage can remove that recovery. Changing the system clock while a session runs can change the reading.
Share settings and prepare for the finish
Share copies a link with the chosen duration and mode, plus phase for Pomodoro. A recipient gets settings for a timer; your remaining time, private label and exact start moment are not synchronized. Say “start together on my signal” when a group needs a shared activity.
At completion, dismiss the alarm or start the same duration again. In a group, decide who announces the finish so people do not wait for different devices. Use the alarm-help guide if the test or completion sound does not behave as expected.