These Terms govern your use of VClock at vclock.eu and every tool and guide published on it. They are written to be read, not skimmed past — the sections on timing accuracy and alarm reliability in particular describe real limits of browser-based timing that affect how you should and should not rely on this site.
Acceptance
By using VClock, you agree to these Terms of Use. If you do not agree, please stop using the service. No account or registration exists, so your continued use is the only way you accept these Terms, and closing the tab is the only step needed to stop.
What VClock is
VClock is a free collection of browser-based time utilities: a digital clock, alarm clock, stopwatch, countdown timer, study timer, world clock, date calculators, and reference pages on European public holidays. Everything runs locally in your browser. There is no server-side account, no synchronisation between devices, and no backup — the tools work while the page is open and store your settings only in the browser you used.
Permitted use
You may use VClock for any lawful purpose, personal or professional. Using the stopwatch to bill client hours, the study timer to run a work shift, or the world clock to schedule a business meeting is all expressly fine, and several of our guides are written for exactly those uses. You do not need permission to link to any page on this site.
You may not:
- Use VClock in any way that breaks applicable law, or that infringes anyone else's rights.
- Attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site, its hosting, or any connected system.
- Interfere with the service or place a disproportionate load on it — automated scraping at a rate that degrades the site for other people, for example.
- Republish substantial portions of the written guides as your own work. Quoting with attribution and a link is welcome.
- Frame or embed the site in a way that misrepresents it as your own product, or that removes or obscures the advertising.
Timing accuracy
VClock reads the clock of the device you are using. It does not query a time server, so if your operating system clock is wrong, VClock will display the wrong time — and the difference can be minutes if your device has not synchronised recently. If exact time matters, check your device's automatic date and time setting first.
Elapsed-time tools (stopwatch, timers) are driven by the browser's high-resolution timer and are accurate to within a few milliseconds under normal conditions. However, browsers deliberately throttle timers in background tabs to save battery, and operating systems suspend tabs entirely under memory pressure. That means a stopwatch left running in a hidden tab may update irregularly, and a very long timer may complete late. For anything where a missed second has real consequences — competitive sport, laboratory work, medical dosing, legal deadlines — use equipment built and certified for the purpose.
World clock times are derived from the IANA time zone database as shipped in your browser. Time zone rules and daylight-saving dates change by political decision, sometimes at short notice, and an out-of-date browser can therefore show an out-of-date offset.
Alarms and notifications
Alarms are best-effort and depend on conditions outside our control. An alarm will not reliably fire if the browser is closed, the device is asleep or powered off, the tab has been discarded to reclaim memory, the device is muted or in a silent/focus mode, or the browser has blocked audio playback because you have not yet interacted with the page. Mobile browsers are considerably more aggressive about suspending background tabs than desktop ones.
Do not rely on VClock as your only alarm for anything important. For waking up, catching a flight, taking medication, or any other consequence that you cannot afford to miss, set a dedicated alarm on a device designed for it as well.
Your data
VClock stores your preferences, alarms, and study log in your browser's localStorage and sends none of it to a server. Advertising is handled by Google under the consent choice you make; there is no analytics on the site. The full detail, including how to export or erase everything stored locally, is in the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.
Because everything is stored locally, clearing your browser's site data, using private browsing, or switching device or browser will remove your alarms and settings. There is no way for us to recover them.
Advertising
VClock is funded by advertising served through Google AdSense. Ads are what keep every tool on this site free and unmetered. We choose where ad slots sit on the page, but we do not select the individual adverts shown, and we are not responsible for the content of third-party advertising or for anything on the sites it links to. Whether you see personalised or non-personalised advertising depends on your consent choice, as described in the Privacy Policy.
Intellectual property
The VClock application, its design, and the written guides are the property of the site's operator. The following third-party components are used under their own licences, which continue to apply:
- DSEG7 Classic font by Keshikan — SIL Open Font Licence 1.1.
- Vite — MIT licence.
- TypeScript — Apache Licence 2.0.
Public holiday dates, time zone identifiers, and city names are facts and are not claimed as our property. Third-party names and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used for identification only.
Availability and changes to the service
VClock is provided free of charge and without any uptime commitment. We may change, suspend, or discontinue any tool at any time, and pages may be moved or retired as the site develops. We aim to redirect retired addresses rather than break them, but we do not guarantee that any particular URL will remain available.
Disclaimer of warranties
VClock is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or accurate to any specific tolerance, nor that alarm notifications will fire in every browser environment.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the operator of VClock shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, nor for loss of profit, data, or opportunity, arising from your use of or inability to use the service — including a missed appointment, deadline, or event following an alarm or timer that did not fire as expected.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where it cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for intent and gross negligence.
Your statutory rights
If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, these Terms do not affect your mandatory statutory rights under the consumer law of your country of residence, and nothing here requires you to bring proceedings anywhere other than where that law entitles you to.
Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without prejudice to the consumer protections described immediately above.
Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time — to describe a new tool, or to correct something that turned out to be unclear. The effective date at the top of this page always reflects the current version, and continued use of VClock after a change constitutes acceptance of it. Material changes affecting how your data is handled will also be reflected in the Privacy Policy.
Contact
Questions about these Terms can go to contact@vclock.eu or through the contact page. Details of who operates this site are on the About page.