20 Minute Timer

This page is a countdown with the length already filled in: 20 in the Minutes box, which makes 1,200 seconds.

1. Leave Quick start alone. It lists lengths such as 10, 25 and 30 minutes but has no 20 minute entry, so it shows Custom time while the three boxes below already hold your 20 minutes.
2. Check Hours (0), Minutes (20) and Seconds (0). Change them if you want a different length, and the clock updates at once.
3. Write a Label (optional) to say what the block is for, for example Workout or Reading.
4. Tick or untick Play a sound when time is up, then press Start. The button becomes Pause, and later Resume.
5. Press Reset to go back to the starting time, or Full screen for a clock you can read from a mat on the floor.

Space starts and pauses, and R resets once the timer has stopped.

The display and the tab title update several times a second, so you can leave the page in the background and still glance at the tab to see the time left.

A short workout. Twenty minutes is a common length for a home session. One way to divide it is shown below, though you should adapt it to your own fitness and any advice you have received:

A run works similarly. Twenty minutes at an easy 6:00 per kilometer covers about 3.33 kilometers, and the running pace calculator will show the distance for your own pace.

An eye break. A widely quoted guideline called the 20-20-20 rule suggests that every 20 minutes of screen work you look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Set this timer, work until it rings, look away for the 20 seconds, then press Space to start the next 20 minutes.

A short nap. Around 20 minutes is a length that people often choose for a brief rest during the day. Needs differ, and this is general information, not advice for any individual. Because the alarm lasts only a moment, put a phone alarm on as well if you have to be awake at a particular time.

A focus block. Some people prefer 20 minutes to the usual 25 for a task they keep avoiding, because the commitment feels smaller. Choose one task, put the phone out of reach, and jot any stray thought on paper instead of acting on it. When the alarm sounds you can stop or start another round. Four rounds add up to 80 minutes of work.

The countdown does not loop by itself. After it reaches zero the display changes to a done state and the message says Time is up, together with your label. Pressing Start or Space then begins a fresh 20 minutes from the three boxes, so repeating is one key press.

The alarm is four short tones and lasts a little over a second. That is clear in a quiet room, but it is easy to miss if you are in the shower or wearing headphones that are playing something else. A few other points apply:

• Muted device. The sound follows the volume of your device, and browsers only allow audio after you have clicked or pressed a key. Pressing Start counts as that.
• Locked phone. A screen that locks can pause the page. The timer asks the browser to keep the screen on while it runs, where supported, but that cannot be relied on.
• Focus blocks. For 20 minutes of work followed by a break, add a 5 minute timer, or use the Pomodoro timer and change the focus session to 20 minutes.

If you only want to find out how long something takes, the online stopwatch counts up instead. For a slightly longer block, there is a 30 minute timer.