Troubleshoot timer sync issues

Remote Timers displays compute the countdown from a shared end time with server clock correction, so most glitches self-heal: a display that loses network keeps counting locally and re-syncs the moment it reconnects. When something genuinely looks wrong, it's almost always one of three things — a stale browser tab, a hit connection limit, or a device clock the correction is masking.

  1. Refresh the display first

    A hard refresh of the display page (or closing and reopening the browser on the TV) re-establishes the connection and pulls the current state. This resolves the majority of frozen-display reports.

  2. Check your connection limit

    If a new display shows a connection-limit message, open the Connections page: you'll see every active viewer. Force-disconnect stale ones (idle connections also clean up automatically after a few minutes), or add capacity in billing.

  3. Confirm the timer is actually running

    A display showing no countdown may be correct — the timer might be reset or expired. Check the hub row for that timer and start it with a preset.

  4. Rule out the network path

    Displays need outbound HTTPS/WebSocket access. On locked-down venue Wi-Fi, make sure the network doesn't block WebSocket connections, and prefer wired or strong-signal placement for permanently mounted screens.

Common questions

Two screens show times a second apart — is sync broken?

Sub-second render differences between devices are normal (each screen repaints on its own cycle). The underlying end time is identical, corrected for each device's clock drift — both screens hit zero together.

The display kept counting during a Wi-Fi outage. Did it drift?

It counted on its last-known state, which is by design, and re-synced to the server the moment the connection returned. Any drift accumulated offline is corrected at re-sync.

My theme change isn't showing on a display.

Enable the auto-reload theme updates setting so displays apply theme changes live, or refresh the display page once.

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Still stuck?

Send us a message from the help center and we'll get back to you within 24 hours — or try it yourself free.