The fast breaks at sunset, and sunset shifts by a minute or so each day, so the time that applied last week is not the time tonight. If 6:55 pm is this evening's figure, this page counts down to it exactly — hours, minutes and seconds — which is what everyone in the kitchen actually wants to know.
This is a display rather than an alarm. Nothing rings, buzzes or notifies at the end, and the page will not interrupt whatever else you are doing. If being interrupted is the point, set an alarm as well and treat this page as the running total you can glance at in the meantime.
Having all three forms in front of you saves a good deal of squinting: 6:55 pm for everyday reading, 18:55 for anything printed in timetable style, and five to seven in the evening for whatever was actually said down the phone. They are three ways of writing one instant, and mixing them up is easier than it sounds.
Common questions
Do the clocks change here?
No. The UAE has no daylight saving at all, so the offset stays at UTC+4 in every month. When the gap to Europe or North America shifts, it is their clocks that moved, not yours.
What is 18:55 on a 12-hour clock?
The same instant is 6:55 pm in writing and five to seven in the evening out loud. Anything from 13:00 onwards loses twelve to give the pm figure, which is the only sum involved in moving between the two.
Does the number update by itself?
Yes. It is recalculated every second from your device's clock, so nothing needs refreshing or restarting. Whatever is on screen is the current gap to 6:55 pm, not a figure worked out when the page first opened.
What happens once 6:55 pm has passed for today?
The count rolls over and carries on towards the same time tomorrow. That happens on its own at the moment the time passes — the page does not need reloading and there is nothing to reset by hand.
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