10 min countdown
Meditation Timer
A meditation timer has the opposite job of an alarm clock: it should end your session without jolting you out of it. This one closes with a single soft tone rather than a harsh buzzer, and it can ring a gentle bell at intervals along the way — every five minutes by default on a ten-minute sit — so a longer session has quiet landmarks instead of one abrupt finish. It suits anyone with a seated practice, whether that is breath-focused mindfulness, a body scan, mantra work, or simply sitting quietly. The common thread is that checking the clock is itself a distraction — the moment you open your eyes to see how long is left, the settle you have built starts to unravel. A timer you can trust to signal for you is what lets you stop clock-watching entirely. To use it well, give yourself a moment before you start: sit, let the breath settle, and only then begin the countdown, so the first minutes are practice rather than fidgeting into position. Set the closing tone loud enough to hear but soft enough that it does not startle — the point is to be drawn back, not yanked back. The non-obvious tip is to treat the interval bell as structure, not just a progress check. Rather than using it only to gauge time, let each bell mark a shift in attention: the first stretch on the breath, the next on bodily sensation, the last on open awareness. A bell at the halfway point of a longer sit can be a cue to deepen rather than merely a reminder that time is passing. Used this way the bells shape the session instead of interrupting it, and you never once need to open your eyes to a clock. One practical caveat, because the sound is the whole point here: on an iPhone the side mute switch silences web audio completely, so a sit can end and every bell can pass in total silence if that switch is on — check it before you begin. Keep this tab open for the session; a backgrounded tab can delay a bell by up to a minute, and a closed tab produces no sound at all, since nothing runs on a server. When you return, the timer still shows the correct finished time.
Meditation
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Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between the closing tone and the interval bells?
- The closing tone plays once when the session ends. The interval bells are optional softer chimes that ring at a set interval along the way — every five minutes by default — to mark progress in a longer sit without you having to check a clock.
- Can I have only one bell at the end?
- Yes — adjust or remove the interval so only the closing tone plays. Some people prefer a single unbroken sit; others like periodic bells as gentle landmarks. Both are valid.
- Why does the sound sometimes not play on my iPhone?
- The iPhone side mute (ringer) switch silences web audio entirely, so if it is on, the bells and closing tone will not play. Flip it off before you start. This affects all web-based sound on iOS, not just this timer.
- Can I meditate with the screen off or in another app?
- The timer keeps correct time, but a backgrounded tab can delay the bells by up to a minute, and a locked or off screen — especially on an iPhone — may produce no sound at all, as will a fully closed tab. For reliable bells, keep this tab open and the screen awake; there is no server to alert you otherwise.
- How long should I meditate for?
- Whatever you will actually do consistently — many people start at five or ten minutes and build up. Set any duration before you begin and save your preferred length with the copy-link button.
This timer keeps the exact time even if you switch tabs. If this tab or your browser closes, nothing can alert you at the exact finish time — there's no server behind this, by design. Come back any time and we'll tell you honestly how long ago it ended.