Why 90 seconds is a common default
Ninety seconds is long enough to finish a small task and short enough to stay urgent. It is the standard rest between sets at the gym. It is also a common classroom quiz section and a common presentation slot. The countdown runs from your computer's clock, not by counting ticks. That means it stays accurate when the tab is in the background or the device sleeps. The display refreshes several times a second. The tab title shows the remaining time, so you can read it from another tab. The alarm is a tone made in the browser, so nothing downloads. You can pick beeps, a chime, or silent with a flashing tab title. Space starts and pauses. A running timer survives a page reload on the same page.
Common things people time at 90 seconds
- Rest between sets of weight training
- A classroom quiz section or quick check
- A presentation or lightning talk slot
- A reading sprint for one short passage
To change the length, type a new duration in the box. Durations can be typed as 5 (seconds), 5:00 (minutes:seconds), 1:30:00 (hours:minutes:seconds), 90m, 1h 30m, or 2d 3h. For an exact time, type 1:30 for 90 seconds. You can also switch to the stopwatch to count up, or set a Pomodoro timer for a 25 minute focus block. If you need a different preset, try the 5 minute timer or the 25 minute timer.