How it works
This random time generator draws a time of day between two times you set. It opens on the whole day: 1,440 minutes, each with the same chance. Step thins that to every 5, 15 or 60 minutes; More options adds lists, seconds and 24-hour time.
Read the full guide
Pick a time between two times
Set From and To, then press Pick a time. Both ends can come up, so 9:00 am to 5:00 pm holds 481 minutes, not 480. Step thins the choice: Every 15 minutes keeps only :00, :15, :30 and :45, leaving 96 times in a day. A From later than To runs through midnight: 10:00 pm to 2:00 am is one range of 241 minutes.
Build a schedule in one press
Open More options, set How many to 20 and Order to Earliest first, and leave No repeats ticked. A work sampling study needs exactly that: observations at random times across a shift. For test data, switch Written as to 24-hour: as plain text 07:05 sorts before 15:45, but 3:45 pm sorts before 7:05 am.
- With No repeats unticked, 45 draws from a whole day more likely than not repeat a minute; on a 15 minute step, 12 do.
- For clock practice set Step to match the class: England's Year 1 reads the hour and half past, Year 2 five-minute times.
Questions and answers
How do I pick a random time for an alarm or a break?
Set From and To to hours you can live with and press the button: 6:30 am to 7:30 am gives a wake-up you cannot predict. For a break, Working hours 9 to 5 is under Quick settings in More options. The page does not ring.
Is 12:00 am midnight or noon?
This page writes midnight as 12:00 am and noon as 12:00 pm, the usual convention. NIST calls both ambiguous and suggests 11:59 pm or 12:01 am in contracts. The US Government Printing Office printed them the other way round until 2008.
Why does the 24-hour format never show 24:00?
The day starts at 00:00 and its last minute starts at 23:59, so 24:00 would be tomorrow's 00:00 under another name. ISO 8601, the standard for writing times, dropped 24:00 in 2019 and restored it in 2022 for the end of a day only.
Can it add seconds or a date?
Seconds, yes: tick Seconds under More options and any of the day's 86,400 seconds can come up, as 3:45:09 pm or 15:45:09. A date, no. For timestamps, draw as many rows here as on the random date generator and paste them side by side.