1 minute timer

What a 1-minute timer is good for

A one-minute timer is the smallest unit that still feels like a deliberate block of time rather than a reflex. It is long enough to make a point and short enough that nobody resents being held to it. Sixty seconds is the canonical limit for an elevator pitch, a plank, a round of speed cleaning, or the rest between heavy lifting sets.

• •Timing a 60-second plank or wall-sit without watching the clock
• •Lightning-round games and 'beat the clock' party challenges
• •Keeping a stand-up update or pitch to a strict minute
• •Rest interval between heavy strength-training sets
• •Brushing teeth top and bottom for 30 seconds each

Why a minute is the hardest length to estimate

People are surprisingly bad at counting a minute in their heads. Most adults guess somewhere between 40 and 75 seconds when asked to mark a minute with their eyes closed, and stress shortens the estimate further. That is exactly why an external one-minute timer is useful: in the situations where a minute matters most, a timed exercise, a pitch, a child's turn, adrenaline makes your internal clock run fast, so you cut things short. Offloading the count to the timer lets you commit to the full sixty seconds instead of the forty your brain thinks have passed.

How this 1-minute timer stays accurate

Most browser timers drift, because they count by accumulating small ticks, and browsers deliberately slow those ticks down in background tabs to save battery. This one is different: the moment you press start it records the exact wall-clock time the countdown should end, and every frame it simply measures how long is left until that fixed end time. If you switch tabs, lock your phone, or the tab is throttled, the remaining time is recomputed from the real clock the instant you come back, so a 1-minute timer is still a 1 minutes timer rather than however long the throttled ticks happened to add up to. On phones the page asks for a screen wake lock while the countdown is running, where the browser allows it, so the display does not sleep mid-count. The alarm is synthesised in the browser with the Web Audio API, which means there is no audio file to download and the chime is ready the moment you start.

Other timer lengths

Need a different length? These are the timers people most often reach for alongside a 1-minute timer:

• 2 minutes timer
• 3 minutes timer
• 5 minutes timer

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is a one-minute online timer?

It is accurate to the millisecond your device clock can resolve. The countdown is driven by the browser's high-resolution timer and corrected against the system clock each frame, so even if the tab is throttled in the background the remaining time stays correct when you return to it.

Will the alarm sound if I switch tabs?

Yes. The end time is recorded the moment you start, so when the minute is up the alarm fires regardless of whether this tab is in the foreground. On mobile, keep the screen on (this page requests a wake lock when supported) for the most reliable result.

Can I start the 1-minute timer instantly from a link?

Yes. Open /timer/1-minute and it is pre-loaded ready to start; add ?autostart=1 to the URL and it begins counting down the moment the page loads, which is handy for bookmarks and shared links.

Does the 1-minute timer work offline?

Yes. Once the page has loaded, the countdown runs entirely in your browser using your device clock, so it keeps working with no connection. The alarm is generated in the browser too, so there is no sound file to download.