Choosing a fasting timer

Four questions before you download

Where does the clock have to live? A browser tab, an iPhone, an Android phone, and a watch are four different places. A browser clock usually cannot put a face on an Apple Watch, and a watch app usually cannot hold a library of articles next to the timer, so one download rarely covers all four.

How long do you mean to go without food? Finishing dinner and eating again the next afternoon is a daily window you may already keep. A fast that runs past a day, with no meal in the middle, needs a clock that keeps counting overnight and into the next day. For the first day of a daily window, read How to start fasting. When you already mean more than a day, start with Before a longer fast.

What do you want besides the hours? Name one extra before you download: an Apple Watch, a small widget on the home screen, a connection to Apple Health, a library of articles, a group feed, a food log, or a coach who messages you.

What would make you delete it the same week? Some people quit when the app asks for a payment before you can tap Start, when it requires an account, when it shows ads, when it stops the timer at 24 hours, or when a shop sits inside the app. Decide which of those you will not accept, and look for them before you download.

Which clock matches the job

If you want a browser tab, with no trip to an app store, no account before you can start, no finish time built into the clock, and articles on the same site, use this one. Open the online fasting timer. Skip this clock when you need an Apple Watch face, a home-screen widget from an app store, or a page that shows no ads.

If you want to stay in a browser and also keep a journal, see some stats, and time fasts that run past a day, look at Fastient (fastient.com). People use it as the other browser clock when they want that journal. The site has been offline for stretches, so open it and confirm the page loads before you plan a fast around it.

If you want one app on both iPhone and Android, a fast that has no set end, and the name people keep giving on the Reddit forum r/fasting, look at Easy Fast by Samtark (easyfastapp.com), where the basic timer is free. Other store listings use the name Easy Fast and come from other companies. Search for Samtark so you install that app.

Fasty, by Kai Oelfke, is often listed in the store as Intermittent Fasting Tracker. It is an iPhone clock with no account and no ads, and it includes an Apple Watch face and home-screen widgets. The name sits one letter away from Fastic, which is a different app with a feed and meal plans. FastHabit is the one to look at when the Apple Watch is the main clock and you do not also need a phone library or a group feed. Window draws your eating hours as a picture, and people choose it when that picture is all they want on the screen.

Zero is the store app that shows up in the most roundups. It connects to Apple Health, it includes a large set of articles, and it asks you to make an account before you use it. Fastic is built as a beginner program, with a feed, challenges, and meal plans. Simple and BodyFast add a coach, a food log, and a scale for your weight, so they behave like diet apps that also show a clock. MyFastingClock counts hours and does not record your weight.

If you want to fast with other people, look at Easy Fast groups when those groups are still open, the Fastic feed, or a newer social app such as FastingPals. Open the app and see whether people are still posting. The original LIFE Fasting Tracker, from LifeOmic, left the stores around the middle of 2024. A newer app that uses the name Life Fasting Tracker comes from a different company and is a different product. Friends on this site can see whether you are fasting or not fasting. They cannot see your hours or your goal, and the list is only people you chose.

You can also use the clock that came with the phone and write the start time down, when all you need is the hours. Dizziness, confusion, or chest pain is still a reason to stop the fast. The signs are in When to stop a fast.

Names that get mixed up

When someone says Easy Fast, they usually mean the app from Samtark. Other listings in the store that are also called Easy Fast are different products, so the maker’s name is how you tell them apart.

Fasty is the iPhone clock with no account and no ads. Fastic is the program that adds a feed, challenges, and meal plans. The names are one letter apart, which is how people install the wrong app.

This site is separate from the iPhone apps that are also named Fasting Clock. The timer here runs in the browser. Open the online fasting timer.

Stage names on any of these clocks follow the hours that have already passed. The name updates from the hours on the clock, and that update does not come from a blood test. What the stages on the timer mean lists each name and the hours it covers. A timer that never forces a finish time leaves you room to stop when you eat. Keeping the clock running longer does not, by itself, make the fast a better result.

Why store lists and forums name different apps

Store roundups tend to put Zero first because it is easy to find. It has a lot of ratings, press coverage, and a library of articles. On r/fasting, people who are timing a fast often name Easy Fast, often after a charge appeared on Zero or after the original LIFE app left the stores. A list ranked by how famous the app is, and a forum saying which app people opened this month, can disagree while both are describing what they saw. Being easy to find in a roundup is separate from the app that forum is installing right now.

If you are not sure what you need the clock to do yet, choose one you can stop using without losing a paid plan you were depending on. On a phone, Easy Fast is often that clock, because the basic timer is free and it does not require an account. In a browser, this site works the same way. Downloading an app is not a reason to attempt a 72-hour fast. A daily window can start from the gap you already have between dinner and breakfast.

If you use this timer

When you want a browser tab with the articles beside the clock, open the online fasting timer. If 12 or 14 hours already fits your day, set Custom to that number and leave it there. Start the clock when you stop taking in calories. Tap End Fast when you eat, including when you stop earlier than the hours you picked.

When you need a watch, a home-screen widget, a group feed, or a coach, use the clock that does that work and leave this site for that one.

The hour buttons here are 16:8, 18:6, one meal a day (OMAD), 24h, 36h, 48h, Custom, and Open. Presets on this clock says what each button does. The history on this phone or computer is a record of fasts you already logged. If you are not signed in, that record stays on the device until you clear this site’s data.