Stopwatch & Timer
Open toolTime things with a lap-tracking stopwatch, or count down with a custom timer and alert.
Two timing tools on one page. The Stopwatch counts up to the hundredth of a second and records laps. The Timer counts down from a duration you set, then beeps, shows “Time's up!”, and can send a notification. A fullscreen view shows just the big numbers.
How it works
Both tools measure time against your device's clock rather than by counting screen refreshes, so they stay accurate even when the browser slows down a background tab. The display refreshes ten times a second.
Pausing stores the time so far, and Resume continues from there. The Stopwatch and the Timer are independent: you can start one, switch to the other tab, and both keep running.
When the Timer reaches zero it stops, plays three short beeps (generated in your browser, so nothing is downloaded), turns its panel green with “Time's up!”, and — if you enabled Notify me — sends a system notification saying “Time's up! Your Boring Tools timer has finished.”
How to use it
- Choose Stopwatch or Timer at the top.
- Stopwatch: click Start, click Lap whenever you want to mark a lap, click Pause to stop, and Reset to clear.
- Timer: enter Hours, Minutes and Seconds (or tap 5 min, 10 min, or 25 min) and click Start. Pause and Resume as needed.
- Click the fullscreen button beside the tabs for a large, distraction-free display.
Options & controls
Mode and view
- Stopwatch / Timer tabs
- Switch between the two tools. Switching does not stop or reset either one.
- Fullscreen (icon button)
- Fills the screen with large numbers and the buttons for the current mode. Press Escape or the button at the top right to leave. The page behind it stops scrolling.
Stopwatch controls
- Start / Resume
- Starts counting. It reads Resume when the stopwatch has been paused with time on it.
- Pause
- Stops the count and keeps the time.
- Lap
- Records a lap while the stopwatch is running. Disabled while paused or stopped.
- Reset
- Sets the time back to zero and clears every lap. Disabled while running, or when there is nothing to clear.
- Time display
- Minutes, seconds and hundredths (
02:35.47); hours are added once you pass an hour (01:02:35.47). - Lap table
- Appears after the first lap, newest at the top. Lap is its number; Split is the time since the previous lap; Total is the time on the stopwatch when the lap was taken.
Timer controls
- Hours, Minutes, Seconds
- The duration to count down from. Whole numbers. Default: 0 h 5 min 0 s. Larger values work too (90 minutes is 1 h 30 min). They are locked while a timer is running or paused.
- 5 min, 10 min, 25 min
- Presets that start a timer of that length immediately. Only shown before a timer has been started. 25 minutes is the classic focus-session length.
- Start
- Starts a timer from the entered duration. Nothing happens if the total is zero.
- Pause / Resume
- Freezes and continues the countdown.
- Reset
- Clears the running timer and unlocks the fields. Disabled if no timer has been started.
- Notify me
- Toggles a browser notification for when the timer ends. The first time you turn it on, your browser asks for permission; if you decline, it stays off. The bell icon shows whether it is on.
- Time's up! panel
- The panel turns green and shows “Time's up!” when the timer finishes. Click Reset to start over.
In fullscreen
- Stopwatch view
- The big time, with Start/Pause, Lap and Reset. The most recent lap's split is shown beneath, e.g. “Lap 3: 00:41.20”.
- Timer view
- The big countdown, with Pause/Resume and Reset. Start the timer before going fullscreen, as a new timer cannot be started from there.
Tips & guidelines
- For the alert to be reliable, keep the tab open. Browsers may delay work in background tabs by a few seconds, and closing the tab ends the timer without any alert.
- The beeps follow your device volume. Check it is up (and not muted) before relying on the timer, and try a 5-second test if the alert matters.
- Use Notify me when you will be in another tab or app — the notification appears even if the page is not in view.
- For a long wait for a specific date and time, the Countdown Timer is a better fit.
Limits
- Nothing is saved: closing or refreshing the page loses the times, the laps and the running timer.
- One stopwatch and one timer at a time; there are no multiple timers or repeating intervals.
- The timer cannot alert you if the tab or browser is closed, or if the device is asleep.
- Notifications need a browser that supports them, and may be blocked by your system's do-not-disturb setting.
- Changing your device's clock while something is running will change what it shows.
Saved in your browser
Nothing. Times and laps exist only on the page.