How to use the online alarm clock
Pause what you are doing at 8:37 pm and set the alarm as the point when you will break away for the evening BBC News. That leaves a useful stretch before 9:00 pm: enough to finish the immediate part of the task, put it aside neatly and settle down without repeatedly checking the clock.
Your BBC News reminder could sound through connected headphones without you noticing, especially if they are lying in another room or tucked inside a bag. Check the sound destination after setting the alarm, then choose a volume you can hear from where you are working. Keep the browser running and the computer awake as well: otherwise the BBC News alarm will not sound when it is time to stop.
Once the evening bulletin ends, the rest of the night may already have another fixed commitment. Before 8:37 pm, allow a small buffer between watching and that next same-day task rather than treating 9:00 pm as spare time automatically. A few minutes can cover switching off the television, making tea or gathering what you need, so the alarm marks a clean change of pace instead of creating a rush.
Common questions
Can I change the sound?
Yes, there is a short list of tones to pick from before you press Start. Softer sounds are easy to sleep through, so a firmer bell tends to be the safer choice for anything early in the morning.
Will it still be right when the clocks change?
Yes. It reads your device's local clock, so the move between GMT and BST at the end of March and October is picked up automatically, as long as the computer's date, time and time zone are set correctly.
Can I use this on a phone?
It works in a mobile browser, but phones lock the screen and suspend background tabs far more readily than a laptop does, which can stop the alarm sounding. For anything important, a desktop or a plugged-in laptop is the steadier option.
Does the alarm still work if I close the tab?
No. Everything runs inside this page, so closing the tab — or quitting the browser altogether — ends the countdown there and then. Leaving it open in the background is all it asks, and switching to another tab makes no difference.
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