Visual Countdown Timer

A countdown you can see

A visual countdown timer shows the same information as a normal countdown, the time left, but adds a picture of it. The coloured circle starts full and empties as the clock runs down. That makes it easy to pace yourself: at a glance you know whether you are a quarter of the way through or nearly finished.

On this page the dial is set to Fit to time, so whatever you choose, 90 seconds or 3 hours, the countdown always starts as a full circle. Switch back to the classic 60-minute dial in settings if you prefer.

How to use the visual timer

1. 1

   Set the time

   Drag the coloured disc out from 12 o’clock (anticlockwise, like the classic red-disc clock), tap a preset, or open Custom for hours, minutes and seconds.

2. 2

   Press Start

   Or the Space bar. The coloured area shrinks back towards 12 o’clock as time runs out.

3. 3

   Listen for the alarm

   When the disc is empty you hear your chosen sound and see “Time’s up!”.

4. 4

   Reset

   With the reset button or the R key to run the same time again.

Ideas for a visual countdown

• Presentations and speeches

  Keep the timer on a second screen to see how much of your slot is left.

• Workouts

  Planks, intervals and rest periods.

• Cooking and baking

  Tea steeping, pasta, proving dough.

• Focused work

  25, 45 or 90-minute deep-work blocks.

• Meetings

  Show a 30-minute countdown so everyone keeps to time.

• Exams and practice papers

  Set the real exam length with Custom.

Accurate even in the background

Many browser timers drift when you switch tabs because the browser slows down background pages. This countdown stores the exact end time and compares it with the real clock, so it stays correct in a background tab, after a reload and when your screen locks. The remaining time is also shown in the tab title, so you can check it from another tab.