20 Minute Timer

Twenty minutes, in numbers

Twenty minutes is 1,200 seconds and exactly a third of an hour. Three runs of this timer fill an hour, six fill two hours. That clean division is why twenty is easier to plan a day around than eighteen or twenty-two.

What people set 20 minutes for

• A short nap. Twenty minutes is the length most people mean by a power nap.
• The twenty minutes of reading a night that a lot of schools ask children to do.
• An oven stage, a pot of rice or a pan that needs checking at a fixed point.
• A timeboxed tidy-up, where the aim is to stop when it rings rather than to finish.
• A study block for anyone who finds a full pomodoro too long to hold.

The twenty in 20-20-20

Twenty minutes is also the interval in the 20-20-20 screen habit: every twenty minutes, look at something roughly twenty feet away for twenty seconds. If that is your reason for being here, run this page for the interval and the 20 second timer for the look-away.

Before you rely on the tone

The countdown is measured against your device clock, so a tab left in the background still lands on time. A phone that puts itself to sleep may never play the sound. Do not lean on it for anything where a missed alarm costs you – medication, an exam, or a cooking step that burns.

Nearby lengths

Shorter: 15 minutes. Longer: 25 minutes or 30 minutes. Every preset is listed on the timer hub.