4 Minute Timer
Press Start to count down 4 minutes.
What a 4 minute timer is good for
Four minutes is exactly one Tabata block, the interval format built from eight rounds of 20 seconds of hard work and 10 seconds of rest. It is also the point where a boiled egg moves from runny to jammy.
A Tabata block
Eight rounds of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off add up to four minutes. Use the timer for the whole block and keep a separate count of rounds, or let the disc show how far through you are.
The jammy egg
Four minutes in boiling water gives a medium egg with a set white and a soft, jammy centre, the version most ramen shops serve.
Box breathing
Breathing in for four, holding for four, out for four and holding for four is a common calming exercise. Four minutes covers about fifteen full cycles.
Pour-over coffee
A typical pour-over brew, from bloom to final drip, takes three to four minutes, so the timer doubles as a brewing guide.
To pace yourself, glance at the disc rather than the numbers. With the 4 minute timer running, half the colour has gone after 2 minutes, and when only a quarter is left you have 1 minute to wrap up. Open fullscreen if the timer needs to be read across a room, and add a label so everyone knows what the 4 minutes are for.
How to use the 4 minute timer
It is ready
The dial is already set to 4 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.
4 minutes in other units
| Seconds | 240 |
|---|---|
| Minutes | 4 |
| Hours | 0.0667 |
| Fraction of a day | 1/360 |
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.