Timer reliability, offline use and alerts

Time follows a deadline

The countdown calculates the difference between the current time and the end of a step. It does not subtract one second for each screen update. When a background tab wakes, it recalculates the current step and remaining time.

Automatic routines skip stages whose deadlines have passed. They do not replay a queue of missed sounds. Manual routines stop at the next unconfirmed boundary, even after a long absence.

Sleep, closed tabs and changing clocks

Keep the timer open and check your device’s power settings. Sound is not guaranteed when a browser closes, a device sleeps, or a mobile operating system suspends a tab. TimerGlow is not an emergency alarm or a tool for safety-critical tasks.

While the page is open, a monotonic clock protects against ordinary backward changes to the system clock. A large forward difference is treated as elapsed time and shown as a clock-or-sleep warning. Browsers cannot always distinguish sleep from a clock adjustment.

Saved sessions use calendar timestamps to survive reloads. If the clock moved backwards beyond a small tolerance, restoration pauses at the last saved remainder for you to review. Forward changes can move the session ahead.

Sound and screen awake

Sound starts only after an interaction. Preview sound plays a short local chime at the selected volume. If the browser blocks audio, the visual timer keeps working and the sound status explains what happened.

Keep screen awake asks the browser for a Wake Lock while the timer is running and visible. It can be denied or released by the system. The status shows whether it is active. It cannot wake a sleeping device.

A second tab is not a remote control

Supported browsers allow one active TimerGlow session on an origin at a time. A second tab asks you to finish or reset the first session. Pausing keeps ownership so you can resume safely. Fullscreen and sharing do not create live synchronisation.

When the browser cannot coordinate tabs, sessions remain independent and automatic completion sounds stay off. Sound preview is still available.

Offline, after a successful first visit

The application reports Ready offline only after its shell has been cached. The timer and bundled templates then work without a network connection on this browser. A failed first visit or cleared browser storage can leave pages unavailable offline.

Updates wait for a later visit and do not force an active session to reload. Browser storage can be evicted, blocked or full. Saving errors are shown; the loaded timer continues in memory.