Tally Counter
One big button to count anything: stock, people at the door, reps, laps. Several counters at once, on any screen.
Counter 1: 0
How to use
- Step 1Tap the big number to add one. If you count in batches, switch the step to 5 or 10; the minus button takes the same step back off when you miscount.
- Step 2Counting more than one thing? Add a counter for each — cars and trucks, adults and children, boxes per pallet — and switch between them with the chips above the button.
- Step 3Press Display for a full-screen number on a tablet, a projector or a phone you keep in your pocket. The count stays in this browser, so you can close the page and come back to it.
What people count with a tally counter
A tally counter is the phone version of the metal clicker: one button, one number, no thinking. It wins over a notebook whenever you have to keep your eyes on what you are counting instead of on the page, and over a mechanical clicker whenever you need more than one number at a time.
- Stock and inventory: pieces on a shelf, cartons off a pallet, parts in a bin.
- People: guests through a door, children back on the bus, passengers on a coach, a head count at a shelter or a church service.
- Training: reps and sets, laps at the track or in the pool, rounds on a heavy bag.
- Field work: birds or cars in a fixed-time survey, colonies on a plate, trees along a transect.
- Handwork: knitting rows and pattern repeats, beads, stitches.
- Prayer counts: dhikr, rosary decades, mantras — a counter with a step of 1 and a big tap area needs no looking.
- Games and events: attempts, points in a warm-up drill, tickets handed out.
Keyboard shortcuts
On a laptop you do not have to aim at the button. The shortcuts work anywhere on the page, and pause while you are typing in a text field, so renaming a counter never changes its number.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Space or Enter | Adds one step to the counter you are on |
| + or = | Adds one step |
| − or _ | Takes one step back off |
| Arrow up / arrow down | The same as + and −, easier to hold down |
| Escape | Leaves the full-screen display |
Several counters at once
Up to twelve counters live side by side, each with its own name and its own number. Only the one you are on reacts to the button and to the keyboard, so there is no way to add to the wrong number by accident — you have to switch to it first.
Counting two things that alternate (in and out, made and missed) is easier with two counters than with one number and mental arithmetic: you get both totals and their difference at the end without having to remember anything during the count.
- Rename a counter to what it counts — Counters, then type over the name.
- Removing a counter deletes its number; there is no undo for that, or for a reset.
- Reset offers both the counter you are on and all of them at once.
- The step (1, 5 or 10) is shared by every counter, so a batch size applies wherever you switch.
Where the count is kept
The counter runs entirely in your browser. Numbers are written to this browser's local storage on this device: nothing is sent anywhere, there is no account, and nobody else can see or change your count.
That also sets the limits. The count does not follow you to another phone or another browser, it is gone if you clear site data or count in a private window, and two people cannot count into the same number from two phones. Tools on this site that a group shares by link — the scoreboards — are a different thing entirely: they keep their state on the server because several people have to see it.
- Closing the tab, locking the phone or reloading the page keeps the count.
- Phones that expose vibration (most Android browsers) give a short buzz on each tap; iPhones do not offer that to web pages, so on an iPhone use the click sound instead.
- Display mode asks the browser to keep the screen awake where that is supported, so the number does not dim mid-count.
- Counts stop at 9,999,999 in either direction.
Questions and answers
Does the count survive if I close the tab or lock the phone?
Yes. Every tap is written to this browser's storage straight away, so the number is still there after a reload, after the phone sleeps, and tomorrow. It is tied to this browser on this device, so it does not appear on your laptop.
Can two people add to the same counter from two phones?
No — this counter is private to one browser. If you need several people on one number, use one of the scoreboards on this site instead: those have a share link and update live for everyone watching.
Can it count down, or go below zero?
Yes. The minus button takes the current step off and keeps going past zero into negative numbers, which is what you want when you start from a target and count down to it.
Does it work without a connection?
Once the page is open, yes: counting, storage and the full-screen display are all in the browser and need no network. Loading the page in the first place does need a connection, so open it before you go into the basement or the field.
Why does pressing Space sometimes not add anything?
Because the focus is inside a text field or on another button — the shortcuts step aside so you can type and so a focused button is not triggered twice. Tap the big number once and Space works again.