Screen Time Countdown
A friendly on-screen character shows how much screen time is left and gets sleepier as the clock runs down, so time's up feels expected instead of sudden. Works offline.
Built by the AbraCalc team
How to play
- Set how many minutes of screen time you are allowing.
- Tap Start Countdown — the display goes full screen with a large timer and the buddy character.
- Watch the buddy get sleepier as the progress bar drains, giving a visual heads-up before time is up.
- When the timer hits zero, the buddy falls asleep and a gentle chime plays so everyone knows screen time is over.
The hardest part of screen time limits is rarely the number of minutes — it is the sudden shock when time runs out with no warning. This countdown fixes that by putting a friendly on-screen buddy front and center whose expression changes as the clock winds down, moving from wide awake to sleepy to fast asleep right as time hits zero. Set the number of minutes, tap Start Countdown, and the display goes full screen with a giant timer and a progress bar so kids can see exactly how much time remains at a glance. Because the ending is visible well before it arrives, there is no jarring surprise, just a gradual, predictable wind-down that makes handing back the tablet a much smaller battle.
Frequently asked questions
- How does the buddy know when to change expressions?
- The character's expression is tied directly to the fraction of time remaining — it steps from wide awake through calm and yawning to asleep as the countdown gets closer to zero, always in the same order.
- Can I pause the countdown if something comes up?
- Yes. While the full-screen timer is running there is a Pause button; tap it to freeze the countdown and tap Resume to continue from the exact time it left off.
- Will this work without an internet connection?
- Yes. The countdown, sounds, and buddy animation all run locally in the browser with no external requests, so it works fully offline once the page is loaded.