Before you install anything
What to look for in a contraction timer app
You are probably reading this at 38 weeks with the App Store open in another tab. Here is what separates a timer you can trust at three in the morning from one that sends you in on three contractions.
What should a contraction timer app actually do?
Three things. Time a contraction with one tap to start and one tap to end. Measure how often they come start to start, from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next, and the average duration of the ones you timed. And show the three parts of your provider's rule separately, each with its real measurement beside it.
ACOG describes true labor contractions as coming at regular intervals, getting closer together over time, with each one lasting about 60 or 90 seconds. An app that measures those two numbers honestly, and counts the hour, has done the job.
Then it should do nothing else on top of that. No ad over the button, no weekly subscription you find out about later, no locked edit button, and nothing that claims to know whether you are in labor. While a contraction is happening there should be one thing to do with the screen, and that is tap it.
Six things to check before you install one
Each of these came out of a measurement. On 24 August 2026 we read the JavaScript served by the browser timers that rank for this search, and a corpus of 5,271 reviews across 37 listings.
1. Does it count the whole hour?
The part both browser timers we read leave out. yourduedate.com fires its 5-1-1 message on an average gap under 5 minutes, an average length over 60 seconds and 4 contractions, about fifteen minutes of data. mycontractiontimer.com goes critical at 3 contractions, about seven minutes. Neither checks the hour. From a two star review: "the last number in a 411 or 511 contraction timing is for one hour".
2. Are there ads on it?
In August 2026 the leading timer in the category, 68,296 ratings and a 4.79 average, was serving pornographic ad creatives over the timer, and three reviews in fifteen days describe it. An ad is a full screen interruption on the one screen you need to tap on time, and a network picks the creative, not the app.
3. Can you fix a mistake without paying?
You will mistap, and you will miss one because the phone was face down. Check that you can edit and delete a contraction, and that neither sits behind a purchase. A log you cannot correct stops being a log the first time an entry is wrong.
4. Is the price and the period visible before you pay?
The category leader runs a weekly subscription, and in the review corpus people describe finding out afterwards that they were on a weekly plan. You should see the number, the currency and the word week or year together, before you tap.
5. Can you read it in the dark, with one hand?
You will use this on your side, in a dark room, one handed, with the brightness at its lowest. The button should be large and in the bottom half of the screen, the numbers legible without your glasses, and nothing should flash or shout in capitals.
6. Does anything leave the phone?
Timing produces a minute by minute record of the hours before your birth. Two questions settle it: does it need an account, and does it send anything to a server. If the arithmetic runs on the device, both answers can be no.
Browser tab or app: what each one can really do
Honest in both directions. A browser tab does the whole job of timing, costs nothing and installs nothing. There are things it cannot do, and those are why the app exists.
| What you might want | A browser tab | An installed iPhone app |
|---|---|---|
| Time contractions, all three parts of your rule | Yes, free, no account | Yes, the same model |
| A Live Activity on the lock screen | No, a web page cannot draw one | Yes |
| An Apple Watch face you can tap | No | Yes |
| A home screen or lock screen widget | No | Yes |
| Keeps timing with the screen off | Not reliably, a background tab gets throttled | Yes |
| Survives closing the browser | The saved log does, the live session does not | Yes |
| Costs nothing and installs nothing | Yes | No, it is a paid app |
| Works on Android or on a laptop | Yes, any modern browser | No, iPhone only |
The free timer here is not a stripped demo
Usually the web version is a taster and the real one sits behind the download. Not here. The timer on this site measures all three parts of 5-1-1 or 4-1-1, averages over the full window, reads as paused when the pattern stops, and lets you edit or delete anything you timed.
It is the same model, ported line for line rather than rebuilt to look similar. The JavaScript here is checked against the compiled Swift engine from the app across 154 cases and 6,006 fields, and the current difference is 0.00. That is why there is no free trial. This page is the trial.
What it costs, said here instead of at the paywall
79.99 USD per year, about 1.54 a week, or 12.99 USD per week, about 675 a year if you keep paying weekly. No trial, no introductory price, no ads at any price, cancellable in the App Store at any time. The full file is pricing.md, and the same numbers sit on the home page. If the browser timer covers what you need, use it and keep your money.
Wavesong is not a medical device and does not give medical advice. It cannot tell you that you are in labor. It shows the pattern you timed against the rule you were given.
ACOG lists the reasons to go in whatever the pattern says: your water breaks without contractions, heavy bleeding, constant severe pain with no relief between contractions, or the fetus moving less than usual. ACOG defines preterm labor as labor that starts before 37 weeks of pregnancy, and says it needs medical attention right away. The NHS says to call your midwife or maternity unit for guidance if you think you are in labour or your contractions come every 5 minutes or more often. Not one of those waits for an hour of timing, or for an app.
Try the timer before you install anything
One tap starts it, one tap ends it, and the three parts of your rule are measured in front of you. It is free, there is no account and nothing is uploaded. If it does what you need, that is the end of the shopping.
One message, on the day it opens, with the price on the first line.
Where this comes from
- ACOG, How to Tell When Labor Begins. True labor contractions come at regular intervals, get closer together over time, and each lasts about 60 or 90 seconds. Also the list of reasons to go in regardless of the pattern.
- NHS, Signs that labour has begun. Call your midwife or maternity unit for guidance if you think you are in labour or your contractions come every 5 minutes or more often.
- ACOG, Preterm Labor and Birth. Preterm labor is labor that starts before 37 weeks of pregnancy, and it needs medical attention right away. For about 3 in 10 women, preterm labor stops on its own.
Questions people ask before installing one
Do I need a paid app, or is the free timer enough?
For timing, the free one is enough. Same model, all three parts of your rule, nothing removed to push an upgrade. The app adds what a web page cannot do: a Live Activity, an Apple Watch face, widgets, and timing that survives the screen going off.
Is there an Android version?
Not an app. Wavesong is iPhone only for the first release. The timer on this site runs in any modern browser, on Android or on a laptop, with the same arithmetic, and it is free.
Does it work with no signal?
Yes, once the page has loaded. There is no server call anywhere in the timing, so a hospital corridor with no bars changes nothing. Only emailing the log to yourself needs a connection.
Is there an Apple Watch app?
Yes, in the iPhone app, and it is one of the main reasons to install anything. You can tap the start of a contraction from your wrist without finding and unlocking a phone. A browser tab cannot put anything on a watch face.
Can I show this to my midwife?
That is what the log is for. You will be asked how long they last, how far apart they come and how long this has been going on, and those are the three numbers on the screen. You can also email the log to yourself as plain text.
What happens to my data?
Nothing leaves your device unless you ask it to. The timer works in your browser, sets no cookies, loads nothing from a third party and keeps your log on that device. The only thing ever sent is your email address, if you type it in. Details in privacy.
Keep reading
- Time your contractions. The free tool, the same model.
- The 5-1-1 rule: what the three numbers ask for. The hour is the part that gets skipped.
- Braxton Hicks or labor. What a timer can and cannot settle.
- When to go to the hospital. Too early and too late are different mistakes.
Last checked 2026-08-24