About Stopwatch & Timer
Each lap shows its own time next to the running total, with the fastest and slowest marked, because comparing one interval against another is the entire point of recording them. The clock is high-resolution rather than a once-a-second tick, so a long session does not drift.
Time anything with a lap-recording stopwatch, or count down from any duration with a clear time's-up alert — both in one tool. Use the stopwatch for workouts, cooking and speed tests, and the countdown for breaks, presentations and kitchen timers.
Record laps to compare one interval against another, or switch to the countdown for a fixed duration with an alert at the end. Both share a tab, so timing a workout and its rest period does not mean swapping tools.
Browser timers are a request rather than a promise, which is why so many web stopwatches drift. Asking to be called every second returns control a few milliseconds late each time, and counting those callbacks accumulates every delay — over a long session the error grows to tens of seconds. Reading the clock and computing the difference from the start instead means a delayed frame affects only how often the display refreshes, never the elapsed value.
Background tabs make the distinction stark. Browsers throttle inactive tabs aggressively to save battery, so a tick-counting timer slows or effectively stops the moment you switch away — which is exactly what someone starting a focus timer then going to work does. A clock-reading timer is immune: whatever the tab was doing, the elapsed time is correct the instant it wakes.
Common use cases
- Interval training, where lap times and rest periods both need timing without swapping tools.
- Cooking several things at once and needing a countdown that is visible from across the room.
- Timing presentations, exam practice or speaking slots to a fixed limit.
- Measuring how long a task actually takes, as a check against how long it feels.
- Timing a process at work — a build, a call, a queue — where a rough figure is worth recording.