Timer is a No-Frills Countdown App for Linux

screenshot of the timer linux app main window open
Timer’s main UI is easy to understand

Looking for a Linux timer app? Check out this useful GTK-based utility.

It’s called Timer and —shock— it’s a timer app for Linux desktops. You can use it to create a countdown in hours, minutes, and seconds.

You can assign an action to trigger when the countdown reaches zero, including:

  • Shut down, reboot or suspend system
  • Play an audible beep
  • Show a custom text notification

You can edit the action to be taken when the timer finishes whilst the timer is active.

Other features too include:

  • Dark theme override
  • Resizable window
  • Display countdown vertically

The biggest downside (for now) is that Timer does NOT run in the background; you cannot close the app after starting a timer or it will cancel the countdown. With GNOME adding a UX for background apps in GNOME 44, this could be fixed in a future update.

screenshot of a desktop notification from a timer app saying "your timer has finished"
You can enable notifications when timers complete

Timer also offers keyboard shortcuts to start, pause, stop, or reset the timer when the app is in focus. This makes controlling a countdown easier, and because the app can’t be closed while active, focus is just a quick smush of the alt + tab keys away.

And that’s Timer: a basic utility with a simple feature set. It does its job well but the lack of background support is likely a deal breaker for some.

You can find Timer on Flathub, making it easy to install on most major Linux distributions. The

Looking for a more capable timer app for Linux? Try Time Switch, a GTK-based tool that supports the same features as Timer plus the option to run a command when the timer completes. Better yet it runs in the background, letting you close the main window.