TimerPlan4 Minutes timer
4 Minutes timer
0:00
Ends at —
Space starts and pauses · R resets
One thing a month worth timing
MonthlyOne thing a month worth measuring or capping with a clock — a payroll trap, a nap length, a meeting that never gets added up. Two sentences and the tool.
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What is a 4 minutes timer?
The Timerdial 4 minutes timer is a full countdown already set to 4 minutes: press start and it rings, keeps the screen awake, and shows the time left in the tab title. Four minutes is the length of the whole Tabata protocol — eight rounds of twenty seconds on and ten off — and it is the shortest interval session with real evidence behind it. It is also a stubbornly common length for a decent cup of tea.
In other units that is 4:00 on a clock, 4 minutes, and 0.06667 of an hour, so 15 of them fit into an hour and 360 into a day.
Because the finish is stored as an absolute clock time rather than counted in ticks, the countdown is exact after a spell in a background tab, and the alarm is booked into the audio clock the moment you press start — which is what lets it sound while the tab is frozen.
Press start, or press it after changing the length — this page is the ordinary timer with 4 minutes already in the box.
What people set 4 minutes for
a full Tabata protocol, steeping strong black tea, a poached egg, a warm-up row. Four minutes is the length of the whole Tabata protocol — eight rounds of twenty seconds on and ten off — and it is the shortest interval session with real evidence behind it. It is also a stubbornly common length for a decent cup of tea.
| In this unit | 4 minutes is |
|---|---|
| Seconds | %!d(float64=240) |
| Minutes | 4 |
| Hours | 0.06667 |
| On a clock | 4:00 |
| Written for the box | 4m |
| Fits into an hour | 15 times |
| Fits into a day | 360 times |
The address bar carries the length, so bookmarking this page keeps it, and adding ?auto=1 to the link starts the countdown as soon as it opens — useful on a shared screen where a click is one thing too many.
Next to it
Shorter: 3 minutes. Longer: 5 minutes.
Every length is listed on the timer by duration page. For a different kind of countdown, the countdown timer counts to a time of day instead of for a length, the kitchen timer runs several at once, and the pomodoro timer repeats work and break. To count upward instead, use the stopwatch.
Frequently asked questions
Is four minutes of exercise really enough?
For a specific kind of conditioning, yes: the original Tabata study found genuine aerobic and anaerobic gains from four minutes of maximal intervals, four days a week, on top of a warm-up. The word doing the work is maximal — at ordinary effort it is four minutes of exercise, not a protocol.
How many seconds is 4 minutes?
%!d(float64=240) seconds, which is 4:00 on a clock and 4 minutes as a decimal. The timer accepts every one of those forms in its box — 4m, %!d(float64=240), 4:00 — and they all set the same countdown.
Will a 4 minutes timer still ring if I switch tabs?
Yes. The alarm is scheduled into the audio clock at the moment you press start, so it sounds at the right time even if the tab has been frozen in the background since — unlike a page that only tries to make a sound once the time is up, by which point a throttled tab has already missed it. The remaining time is also written into the tab title and drawn into the tab icon, so you can read it without switching back.
How this works
Sources:
Reading a 4 minutes countdown
It is the same engine as every timer here. Absolute finish time, scheduled alarm, screen held awake — the only difference is that 4 minutes is already in the box.
The tab title carries it. So this page does not have to be the one you are looking at.
Nothing is stored. The length lives in the address bar, which is what makes a bookmark work.