Countdown to date on a fullscreen clock
A countdown to date fills the screen with the days, hours, minutes, and seconds left until a moment you choose. Leave it on an iPad or a second display so a launch, a holiday, or the end of the day is readable from across the room.
How to use
With no target set, the screen offers quick picks. New Year is the next 1 January at midnight. Christmas is the next 25 December at midnight. Diwali uses the next checked Lakshmi Puja date, and says the date is not yet published when that year is missing. Friday 6 pm is the coming Friday at 18:00. Custom date takes a date, a time, and a title. You then see the blocks and a line with the target in the chosen zone. At that instant the finished message replaces the blocks, confetti runs once, and the chime plays once if sound is unlocked. Press F for fullscreen.
Set it up on an iPad or second screen
Set an iPad on a stand, or leave a window on a second monitor. In Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, and open the page from that icon so the browser bars stay hidden. The page asks for a wake lock while this tab is visible. iPadOS can still sleep from Auto-Lock, so set that to Never on a stand you use all day. For a lobby, turn on Guided Access under Settings, then Accessibility. At night, set Dim to 40. Burn-in shift nudges the blocks a few pixels. Keep the device plugged in.
Customize it
The table lists every control and the URL parameter that stores it. Change a value and the address bar updates, so a bookmark is the whole setup. Theme, font, scale, and dim are shared with the other tools. The target, time zone, title, units, finished message, confetti, and sound belong to this page. Units can be days plus the clock, total hours, or days alone. Copy link to this setup sends the address. A time in a spring-forward gap, such as 02:30 when that hour is skipped, is rejected.
| Setting | URL param | Allowed values | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| TargetThe moment you are counting toward, as a date and time. | to | YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm | Empty |
| Time zoneThe target is read in this zone. Local follows this device. | tz | local, or an IANA time zone name | local |
| TitleShown above the blocks. Up to 60 characters. | title | Text, up to 60 characters | Empty |
| Units | units | Days, hours, minutes, seconds (dhms), Hours, minutes, seconds (hms), Days only (days) | Days, hours, minutes, seconds (dhms) |
| Finished messageReplaces the blocks when the target arrives. | done | Text, up to 60 characters | It's time! |
| ConfettiFires once at the target. Off when the system asks for reduced motion. | confetti | On (1) or off (0) | On |
| Theme | theme | Midnight (midnight), Carbon (OLED) (carbon), Paper (paper), Forest (forest), Dusk (dusk), Ocean (ocean), Aurora (aurora), Terminal (terminal), Graphite (graphite), Porcelain (porcelain) | Midnight (midnight) |
| Font | font | System (sans), JetBrains Mono (mono), Space Grotesk (grotesk), Fraunces (serif), Bebas Neue (condensed), Orbitron (digital), Condensed Bold (flip) | System (sans) |
| Scale | scale | 50–150, step 5% | 100% |
| Dim | dim | 0–80, step 5% | 0% |
| Burn-in shiftNudge the display a few pixels so a static clock does not mark the screen. | shift | On (1) or off (0) | On |
| Sound | sound | Bell (bell), Digital (digital), Soft (soft), Off (off) | Bell (bell) |
| Volume | vol | 0–100, step 5 | 70 |
Keyboard shortcuts
These keys work when focus is not in a text field. Fullscreen, settings, hiding the bars, and this list belong to the shell. This page does not add keys of its own. Press S when you want the time zone or the units. The quick picks stay on screen until a target is set.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| F | Fullscreen |
| S | Settings |
| H | Hide or show the interface |
| ? | Keyboard shortcuts |
| Esc | Close |
Share a countdown to date with your team
Copy link to this setup and the address carries the target, the time zone, the title, and the units. Send it when several desks need the same moment. A preset such as New Year stays relative to the clock until you copy a link, which pins the date that was showing. Name the zone in that link if the team is not in one city. The online timer is for a short run you start by hand. The world clock is for several cities. The clock is enough when you only need the time.
Days, hours, or a single number
Days, hours, minutes, and seconds is the default. Hours, minutes, and seconds folds the days into one hour count, which suits a launch less than a week away. Days alone is one large number, rounded up so a partial day still counts. The seconds block stays on 1 until the target, then the finished message takes over. The line under the blocks is the wall clock you picked, including the zone name.
FAQ
Does it handle daylight saving time?
Yes. The target is a wall-clock time in the zone you choose, and the gap is the real time until that instant. A countdown that crosses the March spring-forward in America/New_York is one hour shorter than a count of calendar days. The November fall-back adds that hour back. A clock time that does not exist, such as 02:30 on the spring-forward morning, is rejected. Local follows the device that opens the page.
Why does Diwali sometimes have no date?
Diwali follows a lunar calendar, so Lakshmi Puja falls on a different civil date each year. This page only counts toward a date checked against a panchang and entered in the list. A placeholder year, or a year that is missing, stays on the empty panel and says the date is not yet published. It does not guess. When a date is added, the target is midnight at the start of that day in your chosen time zone.
Can I share one countdown with a team?
Yes. Set the target, title, and time zone, then use Copy link to this setup. The address carries those values, so another desk opens the same moment. A preset such as New Year stays relative to the current year until you copy the link, which pins the date on screen. Send that link for a launch. For a short run you start by hand, use the timer.
Why does it stay on one second until the end?
Countdowns round up. The seconds block shows 1 until the target instant, then the finished message replaces the blocks. You never see 0 while time remains. Days-only mode does the same: a partial day still counts as one until the moment arrives. The hours mode folds every remaining day into the hour block, which is easier when the event is close.
Can I turn the confetti and the chime off?
Yes. Confetti is a switch, and it stays off when the device asks for reduced motion. Sound is separate: bell, digital, soft, or off, plus volume. The chime plays once, after a tap has unlocked audio. Test sound in the sound group plays the chime without waiting for the target. The finished message is plain text, so it still shows when both effects are off.