Meditation Timer

What is Meditation Timer?

Meditation Timer is a simple, quiet timer for sitting meditation, prayer, yoga or a mindful break. Set the minutes, choose a bell to begin and end, add interval bells to mark the time, and if you like a background sound such as rain or ocean waves. Press start, close your eyes, and let the bell tell you when the time is up. There is nothing to install and no account.

The Meditation Timer counting down a 20-minute session on a calm night-blue screen, beside the practice calendar with the minutes of each day

What it does

• Five bells: a singing bowl, a temple bell, a gong, a bright chime and a wood block, made in your browser, each with a button to listen before you choose.
• Interval bells every 1 to 30 minutes, to come back to the breath or to change posture, and up to three strikes at the end.
• Time to settle: a few seconds before the start bell to sit down and close your eyes.
• Background sounds: rain, ocean waves, a stream, wind, an Om drone and brown, pink or white noise, generated live with no recordings to download. They fade out gently after the last bell.
• Keeps time in the background: the bells are scheduled on the audio clock, so they ring on time even if you switch tabs or the screen dims. On phones the screen is kept on while the timer runs.
• Your practice: minutes today and in all, your streak of days, and a calendar of the last fifteen weeks, kept in your browser only, with a CSV export.
• Full screen in five calm colours, with the time hidden if you prefer not to watch it.
• A link to your timer, so a teacher can give a class the same time, bells and sound.

How to use Meditation Timer

1. Choose the minutes, from one to three hours.
2. Pick the start and end bells and, if you like, interval bells.
3. Choose a background sound or silence.
4. Press start or the space bar, and sit. Pause or stop at any time.
5. When the end bell rings, the session is added to your practice log and your streak.

How long should I meditate?

Start with what you can do every day: five or ten minutes is plenty at first, and a short daily sit does more than a long one now and then. Many people settle at 15 to 20 minutes once a day, and longer sits of 30 to 45 minutes are common in retreats. Interval bells help on longer sits: a soft chime every five or ten minutes is a reminder to come back to the breath without looking at a clock.

Frequently asked questions

Is this meditation timer free?

Yes, completely, with no sign-up, no ads in the timer and no limits on sessions. Your practice log stays in your own browser and is never sent anywhere.

Will the bell ring if I switch tabs or lock my phone?

If you switch tabs or windows, yes: the bells are set on the audio clock in advance, which keeps running when the page is out of sight. On phones the timer asks to keep the screen on while it runs; if the phone locks anyway, some browsers pause all sound, so leave the screen on, with the brightness down, for longer sits.

What are interval bells for?

An interval bell is a soft sound partway through a session. It can mark the halfway point, call the mind back to the breath, signal a change of posture in a long sit, or divide a session into parts, such as a few minutes of breathing, then a body scan, then open awareness.

Which background sound is best for meditation?

Many people prefer silence, which is the default. If your room is noisy, brown noise or rain covers voices and traffic without drawing attention; ocean waves have a slow rhythm that can pace the breath; and the Om drone suits mantra and chanting practice.

Is there a breathing exercise too?

Yes: the Breathing Timer, in the tab above, guides box breathing, 4-7-8, resonant breathing and other patterns with an animation, tones and a voice, and its sessions count towards the same streak.