Great for quick resets and short holds
Twenty seconds is just long enough for the habits that need consistency but not concentration — a full hand wash, one plank hold, an eye-break to look away from the screen, or the pause between quick breathing reps. Set this 20 second timer for short, repeatable resets throughout the day, and let the chime mark exactly when to stop. This is the shortest countdown on the site, built for moments measured in seconds rather than minutes. Use it to pace a breathing exercise — in for a count, hold, and out again — to hold a plank or a stretch at its hardest point, to time a short rest between sets during a workout, or to run a quick flashcard drill where speed matters more than depth. Because sessions like these are naturally repetitive, you will likely restart this timer many times in a row, so it is built to reset in a single press and start again instantly, with nothing to reconfigure between rounds. The oversized, full-screen clock is easy to read at a glance mid-exercise without breaking your position, and the calm background keeps a short, repetitive drill from feeling clinical or rushed. It also suits the 20-20-20 rule for screen breaks, quick vocabulary flashcard drills, or timing a short recovery walk between weight-training sets, where precision to the second matters more than the exact minute.
How to use it
Press Start (or the space bar) and the countdown runs to zero, then plays a soft chime and shows "Time's up!" in the tab title. Scroll or type on the clock while it is idle to change the length in seconds — useful when a drill needs a slightly different hold time than the last one. Press R to reset instantly and line up the next rep with no delay. Go full screen so the numbers are visible from across a gym floor or a yoga mat, or pop out the floating mini-window to keep the countdown on top of another app while you work. Mute the chime with the speaker button if you would rather rely on the visual countdown alone and finish each rep in silence, and pick a font and size that stay legible even from a few steps back.
Frequently asked questions
Is this too short for anything useful?
Not at all — twenty seconds and under is exactly the range for breathing drills, plank holds, and rest between sets, where the goal is a quick, repeatable cue rather than a long session.
Can I restart it quickly for back-to-back reps?
Yes. Press R (or the reset button) and it snaps back to the same length instantly, so you can move straight into the next rep or set without retyping the time.
Does it ring loudly enough to hear mid-exercise?
Yes, it plays a clear chime when it reaches zero, and you can also just glance at the full-screen clock, which is large enough to read while holding a position.