Screen Soft Light / Timekeeping / MEDITATION TIMER

Sit

10:00

Space begins or pauses, R resets, F goes fullscreen.

No. 001 · MEDITATION TIMER

Meditation timer — a bowl bell, a dim screen and nothing else

  • 01 Bowl bell at the start, optional interval bells and the end
  • 02 Settle-in delay before the sitting begins
  • 03 Dim warm screen and optional brown or pink noise

Pick how long to sit and press Begin. A bowl bell marks the start and the end, you can add a bell every few minutes, and a short settle-in delay gives you time to put the phone down. The screen is a dim warm amber so it does not light up the room.

Other routine timers —
Pomodoro timerNap timer
§ 01

A bell made in the browser

The bell is synthesized with Web Audio instead of played from a recording. It combines several partials that fade at different rates, plus a slightly detuned copy of the base tone that makes the slow wavering of a struck bowl. It is a software imitation of a singing bowl, so it will not match any one real bowl, but it rings out for several seconds and then goes quiet.

§ 02

An interval bell strikes the bowl every 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 or 15 minutes after the sitting begins.

Interval bells

An interval bell strikes the bowl every 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 or 15 minutes after the sitting begins. It is useful for noticing how long your attention has wandered or for splitting a long sitting into rounds. Only intervals shorter than the sitting are offered, and a bell that would land within two seconds of the closing bell is skipped.

§ 03

Why the screen is dim and amber

A bright screen is a distraction with your eyes shut or half open, and blue-heavy light is a poor choice in the evening. The sitting screen is a dark brown-amber with muted text. Untick Dim warm light if you prefer the page's normal dark look.

§ 04

Background noise, if you want it

Brown noise is a deep, low rumble and pink noise is a softer hiss, both generated in the browser and faded in gently. They play only while the timer runs, stop when you pause, and fade out over about four seconds at the end so the closing bell is heard cleanly.

Procedure

Three moves to peak output

  1. 01

    Choose the length

    Tap a preset from 5 to 45 minutes or type your own up to 180. Pick an interval bell if you want a reminder partway through.

  2. 02

    Use the settle-in delay

    Set 10, 30 or 60 seconds, press Begin, and get into position. The sitting and its first bell start when the delay runs out.

  3. 03

    Leave it

    The bell rings once at the start, at each interval and three times at the end. Pause or Reset stops everything, including the background sound.

Inquiries

Questions worth asking

Q.01 How long should I meditate?
There is no right number. Many beginners start with 5 to 10 minutes and add time as it feels natural. The presets run from 5 to 45 minutes and the custom field takes anything from 1 to 180.
Q.02 What does the settle-in delay do?
It adds a quiet gap before the sitting. During the delay the screen says Settle in and counts the seconds to the first bell, and the sitting length does not start counting down until that bell. Choose None to begin at once.
Q.03 Is the bell rung at the end of the time I picked?
Yes. If you picked 10 minutes, the closing bell rings 10 minutes after the first bell, not 10 minutes after you pressed Begin, so a settle-in delay never shortens the sitting.
Q.04 Can I use it with the screen off?
The timer needs the page open, and browsers may stop pages in the background on a phone. Keep the screen on, dimmed with the device's own brightness, and the bells will ring on time.
Q.05 Will the screen stay on while the timer runs?
Browsers that support the Screen Wake Lock API (Chrome, Edge and recent Safari) keep the screen awake while the timer is running. On other devices, turn off auto-lock or the screen saver first. Timing comes from the device clock, so a throttled background tab still finishes on time.
Cross-reference

Try adjacent plates