How to Keep a Timer on Your iPhone Lock Screen

To keep a timer on your iPhone Lock Screen, start it in the Clock app and lock the phone. The countdown appears on the Lock Screen as a Live Activity and stays there until it ends or you clear it. If it doesn't show up, the cause is usually a setting, a dismissed card, or a screen that turns off too fast, and each takes a minute to fix.

How to show a timer on your iPhone Lock Screen

You don't need to install anything. The Clock app's timer is enough for most people.

1. Open the Clock app.
2. Tap Timers and set a duration.
3. Optional: add a Label (like "Writing block") and pick a sound under When Timer Ends.
4. Tap Start.
5. Press the side button to lock your iPhone.

The countdown now sits on your Lock Screen. Apple's guide to setting timers in Clock notes that the timer keeps going even if you open another app or the iPhone goes to sleep, so locking the phone doesn't stop anything. Siri works too: say "Set the timer for 25 minutes" and the same countdown appears.

A few details from Apple's guide worth knowing:

• Recent timers are saved. A custom timer appears below Recent, so you can start it again with one tap.
• You can run several timers. After you start one, tap the add button and pick a custom, preset or recent timer.
• The Lock Screen handles the ending. When a timer ends, you can tap Repeat or Stop right from the Lock Screen, or swipe left on the timer and tap Clear.

Behind the scenes, this Lock Screen card is a Live Activity. Apple introduced Live Activities with iOS 16.1, so any iPhone on iOS 16.1 or later can show one. On iPhones with a Dynamic Island, the same countdown also appears at the top of the screen while you use other apps.

What the Lock Screen timer shows (and its limits)

The Clock timer card is small and plain: the remaining time and basic controls. In a hands-on look at the iOS 16 version, 512 Pixels found you could pause or cancel the timer from the Lock Screen, but tapping the card didn't open the timer. The author later noted this was fixed in iOS 17.

Some rules apply to every Live Activity, the Clock timer included. They come from Apple's developer documentation on displaying live data with Live Activities:

• Eight-hour limit. A Live Activity can stay active for up to eight hours. After that the system ends it and removes it from the Dynamic Island, and it stays on the Lock Screen for up to four more hours.
• Swiping it away ends the card, not the task. Removing a Live Activity from the Lock Screen ends the card but not the action that started it. With a third-party timer, the session can keep running inside the app while the Lock Screen looks empty.
• StandBy gets a bigger version. When your iPhone charges on its side in StandBy, a Live Activity can fill the whole display, as Apple's StandBy guide describes. That makes a decent desk clock for a work session.

What about a stopwatch? Apple's stopwatch guide says only that timing continues when you switch apps or the iPhone sleeps. It doesn't describe a Lock Screen view, so the quickest check is to start the stopwatch, lock the phone and look. If you need a countdown rather than a count-up, use a timer.

Why your timer isn't showing on the Lock Screen

Work through these in order. Most people find the culprit by step 3.

1. You dismissed the card. Open the timer app and check whether the session is still running. Start a fresh timer to get the card back.

2. Live Activities are off for that app. On iOS 26 and later, go to Settings > Apps, tap the app, then tap Live Activities. Apple's guide to Lock Screen features notes that not every app has this setting. Clock is a system app, so this step matters most for third-party timers.

3. The screen turns off before you look. According to Apple's Low Power Mode article, Low Power Mode sets Auto-Lock to 30 seconds and turns off Background App Refresh, and it also switches off the Always-On display. Turn it off in Settings > Battery, or charge above 80%, when it turns itself off.

4. Your Focus darkens the Lock Screen. Apple's Focus setup guide lists an option, under Options, to darken the Lock Screen while a Focus is on. The countdown is still there, just much harder to read. A Focus can also switch you to a different Lock Screen.

5. Lock Screen access is restricted. Under Settings > Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode), the options below Allow Access When Locked decide what you can reach while locked. Apple's page on turning on Lock Screen features explains the trade-off between privacy and quick access. If you locked things down in the past, review that list.

6. The timer ran past eight hours. A very long timer can outlast the Live Activity limit. Check the remaining time inside the app.

Still nothing? Restart the iPhone and try a one-minute test timer.

How to keep the countdown visible while you work

Getting the timer onto the Lock Screen is half the job. The other half is seeing it without picking the phone up.

• Raise Auto-Lock. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock and choose a longer time. Apple's guide on keeping the display on longer warns this can use more battery.
• Use the Always-On display if you have it. On supported models, a dimmed Lock Screen stays visible while the iPhone is locked. Apple notes it turns off when the phone is face down, in Low Power Mode or during Sleep Focus, among other cases. Keep the phone face up.
• Charge it in StandBy. Turn on Settings > StandBy and put the iPhone on its side while charging.

A glance at a countdown costs far less than unlocking the phone to check the time, which is how quick checks turn into ten minutes of scrolling. That's the idea behind visual timers that help you focus: time becomes something you see instead of something you calculate.

Lock Screen widgets vs Live Activities

People often search for a "timer widget" when what they want is a Live Activity. The two behave differently.

To add a widget, touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, then tap the widget area or Add Widgets, as Apple describes in creating a custom Lock Screen.

Widgets refresh on a budget. Apple's guide to keeping a widget up to date says a frequently viewed widget typically gets 40 to 70 refreshes a day, roughly every 15 to 60 minutes. A widget can still show a live countdown if its app supports one, but for a timer you just started, a Live Activity is the more direct tool: it appears on its own, tracks that one session, and goes away when you're done.

Third-party timer apps that use Live Activities

Clock covers the basics. A dedicated timer app makes sense when you want the countdown to show progress at a glance or fit a focus routine. When you compare apps on the App Store, check three things:

• Live Activity support. Look for a Lock Screen card in the screenshots. Apple lets people turn Live Activities off per app, so an app that supports them gets a Live Activities switch under Settings > Apps.
• What the card shows. A bare number tells you the time. A ring or progress bar tells you how far along you are without doing the math.
• iOS version. Check the Compatibility section of the listing.

Meltime is a focus timer built around this idea. In the app, time is liquid filling the screen. When you leave the app, the Lock Screen shows a card with a progress ring, the countdown and a progress bar. On iPhones with a Dynamic Island, a small ring sits on the left with the countdown on the right. The Live Activity is free for everyone. It has no pause buttons: tapping it opens the app, and when time is up it shows "Meltime Done". One session runs up to 60 minutes, and the app needs iOS 26 (iPhone 11 and newer). It doesn't add Home or Lock Screen widgets; the Live Activity is how it stays visible.

If you mostly work in other apps on an unlocked phone, the Dynamic Island matters more than the Lock Screen. See our guide to keeping a timer on the Dynamic Island, and the Live Activity focus timer setup guide for a walkthrough of a real work session.

FAQ

How do I show a timer on my Lock Screen on iPhone?

Open Clock, tap Timers, set a duration and tap Start, then lock the phone. On iOS 16.1 and later, the countdown appears on the Lock Screen as a Live Activity.

Why does my timer not show on my Lock Screen?

Usually you dismissed the card, Live Activities are off for that app (Settings > Apps > the app > Live Activities), or Low Power Mode or a darkened Focus Lock Screen hides it. Work through the checklist above.

Can I put a countdown timer widget on my iPhone Lock Screen?

You can add any Lock Screen widget an app offers through Customize. For a session you just started, a Live Activity fits better, because it appears on its own and tracks that one countdown.

How long can a timer stay on the Lock Screen?

A Live Activity can stay active for up to eight hours, then remain on the Lock Screen for up to four more before the system removes it.