30 Minute Timer
Press Start to count down 30 minutes.
What a 30 minute timer is good for
Thirty minutes is the length most health guidance uses as a daily minimum. The UK NHS and the US CDC both build their advice around at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, often described as thirty minutes on five days.
A daily workout
Thirty minutes of brisk walking, cycling or swimming, five days a week, meets the common 150 minute guideline.
A long Pomodoro
Some people prefer thirty minutes of work and a five or ten minute break. It suits tasks that take a while to warm up.
A lesson or tutorial
Many primary lessons, music lessons and tutoring sessions run for half an hour.
Roasting
Root vegetables cut into chunks and chicken thighs roast in about thirty minutes at 200°C.
A TV episode
Half an hour is one episode of many shows, a useful screen time unit.
To pace yourself, glance at the disc rather than the numbers. With the 30 minute timer running, half the colour has gone after 15 minutes, and when only a quarter is left you have 7 minutes 30 seconds to wrap up. Open fullscreen if the timer needs to be read across a room, and add a label so everyone knows what the 30 minutes are for.
How to use the 30 minute timer
It is ready
The dial is already set to 30 minutes. To change it, drag the disc, tap a preset or open Custom.
Press Start
Or press the Space bar. The red disc shrinks back towards 12 o’clock as the time runs down.
Watch the disc
Read the time left at a glance, or open fullscreen for a big dial that fills the screen.
Time’s up
Your alarm plays until you press Stop. Press Reset or R to run the same time again.
30 minutes in other units
| Seconds | 1,800 |
|---|---|
| Minutes | 30 |
| Hours | 0.5 |
| Fraction of a day | 1/48 |
Why use this timer
Why a visual timer helps
A shrinking disc turns time into something you can see. You read how much is left at a glance, without doing sums on a clock, and an invisible deadline feels less stressful when you can watch it approach. That is why visual timers are a staple in classrooms and are widely used by people with ADHD and autistic children and adults. Read our guide to using a visual timer, how it helps with ADHD time blindness, classroom transitions and autism.
Why this timer is accurate
The countdown is anchored to your device clock rather than counted in animation frames. It does not drift if you switch tabs or your screen sleeps: it keeps running in the background and still sounds the alarm on time. When you come back, the disc jumps straight to the correct position.