radialtimers.com
Half an hour with a book and nothing else. The dial sits quietly at the edge of vision, giving up a ring every minute and a half, and the double chime at the end is the first sound it makes.
Thirty minutes is enough to read a chapter of most novels or twenty pages of something denser, and it is the length at which a reading habit stops being a resolution and becomes a fixture. This page keeps the half hour quiet: no ticking, a ring going every 90 seconds, a double chime at the end so you can put the phone face down and forget it.
Decide the chair and the time before the day starts, because "when I get a chance" never arrives. Put the book there in the morning. When the time comes, start the timer, then put the phone on the far side of the room; the countdown keeps running and the chime carries. If the book is on the phone or tablet, use the Pop out control to float the small dial over the reading app and turn notifications off for the half hour.
For textbooks and papers, split the half hour: read for 20 minutes, then close the book and write for 10 what you took from it. Cycles can chime the switch: one block named "read" at 20 minutes and one named "recall" at 10. The recall part is where the reading turns into something you keep. Timed reading also makes speed visible: count the pages at the chime a few times and you will know what a half hour is worth in each book, which makes finishing a long one feel possible.
A timer takes the negotiation out of reading time. Fifteen minutes on the 15 minute timer is a fair ask for younger readers, and the rings give them a picture of how much is left without asking. The chime ends it cleanly; the trick is not to add "one more page" after the sound, so that the timer keeps its authority.
Starting with a book you are not enjoying. The habit is more fragile than the reading list; pick the one you want to read. Checking the dial every few pages; the chime will find you. And treating the timer as a minimum rather than an end: it is fine to stop at thirty, and it is fine to keep going. The chime is a decision point, nothing more. See study sessions that stick for using timed reading in revision.
A set half hour puts a boundary around the book, which keeps the phone out of reach. Most people read further in one timed sitting than in scattered minutes.
Set any length you like on the timer. Thirty minutes is preloaded because it is long enough to sink into a chapter and short enough to fit before bed.
Add it as a browser source in OBS; the background stays transparent. Change t for any length.
A radial timer is a free online countdown timer you set in one click: pick a length, press Start, and an alarm sounds at zero. Run several timers at once, take one fullscreen, or pop one out picture-in-picture to float over other apps. Every timer keeps counting in a background tab, and any timer exports as a video. No download, no sign-up.
Its dial draws the countdown as 20 concentric rings, one for each twentieth of the duration. Rings empty one by one, outermost first, so a glance shows how far along you are without reading a digit.
Yes. The countdown follows the clock, so it stays on time while you work in another tab and still chimes at zero. The picture-in-picture popout keeps a small dial in view the whole way.
Yes. Any timer exports as an MP4 or a transparent WebM of the whole countdown, up to 4K and 60 fps, in 16:9, vertical, or square.
Yes. In OBS, add a browser source pointing at radialtimers.com/overlay?t=25m and a transparent dial counts down over your scene. Change t for any length, like 90s or 3h.
As many as you need. Each timer gets its own dial and runs on its own, which suits interval workouts, several dishes on the stove, or a room of activity stations.