CountDownTimer in Android with Example

The countdown timer app is about setting a time that moves in reverse order as it shows the time left in the upcoming event. A countdown timer is an accurate timer that can be used for a website or blog to display the countdown to any special event, such as a birthday or anniversary. Likewise, here let's create an Android App to learn how to create a simple countdown App. So let’s begin app creation step by step towards its completion.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project in Android Studio

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. The code for that has been given in both Java and Kotlin Programming Language for Android.

Step 2: Working with the XML files

In the activity_main.xml file add only a TextView to display the CountDownTimer. Below is the complete code for the activity_main.xml file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <!-- Toolbar for the activity -->
    <androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
        app:title="GFG App"
        app:titleTextColor="@color/white"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
        android:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />
    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">
        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/textView"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:textSize="20dp"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:textColor="?attr/colorPrimary"/>

    </LinearLayout>



</LinearLayout>

Step 3: Working with the MainActivity file

Now In the MainActivity file, create an object of TextView and map the components(TextView) with their id. 

// Initializing thetextView
TextView textView;
textView = findViewById (R.id.textView);

Schedule a countdown until a time in the future, with regular notifications at intervals along the way. Example of showing a 50-second countdown in a text field:

new CountDownTimer(50000, 1000) {
    public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) {
        // Used for formatting digit to be in 2 digits only
        NumberFormat f = new DecimalFormat("00");
        long hour = (millisUntilFinished / 3600000) % 24;
        long min = (millisUntilFinished / 60000) % 60;
        long sec = (millisUntilFinished / 1000) % 60;
        textView.setText(f.format(hour) + ":" + f.format(min) + ":" + f.format(sec));
    }
    // When the task is over it will print 00:00:00 there
    public void onFinish() {
        textView.setText("00:00:00");
    }
}.start();

The complete code for the MainActivity file is given below.

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.CountDownTimer;
import android.widget.TextView;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import java.text.DecimalFormat;
import java.text.NumberFormat;


public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private TextView textView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        // Initialize the TextView
        textView = findViewById(R.id.textView);

        // Create and start the countdown timer
        new CountDownTimer(50000, 1000) {
            @Override
            public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) {
                // Used for formatting digits to be in 2 digits only
                NumberFormat f = new DecimalFormat("00");
                long hour = (millisUntilFinished / 3600000) % 24;
                long min = (millisUntilFinished / 60000) % 60;
                long sec = (millisUntilFinished / 1000) % 60;
                textView.setText(f.format(hour) + ":" + f.format(min) + ":" + f.format(sec));
            }

            @Override
            public void onFinish() {
                // When the task is over it will print 00:00:00
                textView.setText("00:00:00");
            }
        }.start();
    }
}

Output:

PulseCountDown

PulseCountDown in Android is an alternative to CountDownTimer. It is very easy to implement PulseCountDown instead of CountDownTimer because PulseCountDown provides a default layout with some beautiful animations. By default start value of PulseCountDown is 10 and the end value is 0. Suppose there needs a quiz app, and that adds a time limit to answer a question there PulseCountDown can be used. To implement PulseCountDown please refer PulseCountDown in Android with an Example.