Work phone so I don't use the clock much
Seems more like a startwatch
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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Fun fact: The timer app doesn't even need to run in the background. When you started it, it recorded the start time. Now it's showing you now - then.
You could turn off your phone for 10 years, let the battery die, come back, reset the clock, and the timer will still be running!
hah, made me check if the stop watch app I installed when apps were the new hot thing is actually still going..
Surely you must have rebooted it since then? It's possible it could last through a reboot I guess, since it's only displaying the difference between current_time and start_time, not actually counting every millisecond when it's in the background.
Edit: ok, yeah, I just tried it: reboots don't reset the stopwatch, whaddya know!
Just compares the time started vs the time now. So if you set your device clock back 10 years, start a timer, and set the time back, you'll see 10 years has elapsed.
I started a stopwatch on my ipod touch back in 2011 and it was still going last time I found and charged it up around 2017.
wait i thought ipod touches didn't have an rtc inside? my ipod touch 2g always returns to jan 1 1970 after the battery runs out
It just has to record the start time, then show the duration between the current clock time and the saved start time. As long as the clock can still sync or be manually set after being charged, there's no reason it shouldn't work.
yes but i think the stopwatch on mine just reset after booting with 1970 date. its been quite a while since i used it so my memory could be corrupt tho
That's good to know, I would have thought it wouldn't.
Here's mine !! (Not accidental)
Are the laps when you last checked it?
And now lap 1 is finished.
Only 14 more to go…
Reminded me of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lygOY3sYWhI
I think my iPod Touchs Stopwatch from high school is still running. Wonder how its doing....
Stopwatch: “I’m tired, boss.”
There was some person who started a stopwatch on their iphone and they were unhappy that there wasn't a way to keep it going when they replaced their phone.
It wasn’t me, but I will be sad when I can’t keep the same stopwatch running. It’s weirdly comforting whenever I lose track of what year it is since COVID or disassociate to see a token of time passing
Sounds like a watch you can count on!
Watch out man, my bf swears that leaving a timer going in the background will kill your battery
Timers might use just a wee bit more because they will have a check to produce an alarm when the timer expires. But we're still taking negligible values.
press lap and check it again in two years.
Nice uptime
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