30 Minute Timer

Press Start to count down 30 minutes.

This free 30 minute timer counts down 30 minutes with a shrinking red disc you can read at a glance. 30 minutes is 1,800 seconds (one thousand eight hundred seconds). Half an hour covers a lesson, a workout, a long Pomodoro, a roast check and a TV episode.

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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

  1. It is ready

    The dial is already set to 30 minutes. To change it, drag the disc, tap a preset or open Custom.

  2. Press Start

    Or press the Space bar. The red disc shrinks back towards 12 o’clock as the time runs down.

  3. Watch the disc

    Read the time left at a glance, or open fullscreen for a big dial that fills the screen.

  4. 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

30 minutes equals
Seconds1,800
Minutes30
Hours0.5
Fraction of a day1/48

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.

Frequently asked questions

There are 1,800 seconds in 30 minutes. That is 0.5 of an hour, or one thousand eight hundred seconds written out.

A thirty minute daily workout, a longer Pomodoro, a music lesson or tutoring slot, roasting chunky vegetables or limiting screen time to one episode.

Yes. The 30 minute countdown is anchored to your device clock rather than counted frame by frame, so it stays accurate in a background tab and the alarm still fires when the 30 minutes are up.

No. The 30 minute timer runs in your browser on phone, tablet and desktop. It is free, and there is no account, app or download.

Yes. Press the fullscreen button or the F key. The dial fills the screen, so the remaining part of the 30 minutes is readable from the back of the room.

Yes, once this page has loaded. Nothing is sent over the network while the 30 minutes count down, so a dropped connection will not stop the timer.

It is longer than the classic 25 minute Pomodoro, but many people use thirty minutes of work and a five minute break as a variant that suits deeper tasks.

Thirty minutes is usually too long for a power nap. You may enter deep sleep and wake up groggy. Try twenty minutes instead.

Roast chicken thighs, a tray of chunky root vegetables, a risotto, or a simple dal. Start the 30 minute timer when the oven or pan is hot.

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