# Countdown with less updates **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [November 23, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/countdown-with-less-updates/68074 "2023-11-23T18:06:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ninjaaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Ninjaaa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Ninjaaa)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/countdown-with-less-updates/68074/1 "2023-11-23T18:06:33Z")
Heyyy to all Gliders! I built a challenge app where the user can do different quests. The moment he is starting a quest, a timer shall run for 30 min and shows the user the remaining time. I implemented the timer using 3 columns - start\_time (when user clicks on button START the current time is written into the column) - elapsed\_time (glides “date difference” column with start\_time - current time) - remaining\_time (math column with time\_limit - elapsed\_time) Three questions: 1. is there a smarter way to implement the timer? 2. With this solution, I get an update every minute → it’s just TOO many updates. How can I cut down on the number of updates…? 3. How can I stop the timer. At the moment, the elapsed\_time and the remaining\_time column don’t ever stop to calculate. It would be great to stop them after the time\_limit is over. Sooo thankful for any help! Nina ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_Petitto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/robert_petitto/32/25193_2.png) [@Robert\_Petitto](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Robert_Petitto)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/countdown-with-less-updates/68074/2 "2023-11-23T18:36:18Z")
Wow. Does the date difference column cause an update every minute? That doesn’t seem right. Might want to use a math column instead to test. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 7:54pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/countdown-with-less-updates/68074/3 "2023-11-23T19:54:20Z")
> [@Ninjaaa](#): > > is there a smarter way to implement the timer? I thinks that’s pretty similar to how I would do it. > [@Ninjaaa](#): > > With this solution, I get an update every minute → it’s just TOO many updates. How can I cut down on the number of updates…? This would surprise me if it was true. Do you actually see the update count increasing every minute? The date difference column should be nothing more than some simple math that occurs on the user’s device, so I see no reason for it to cause any updates, unless it’s being used to trigger another column to call an API or something like that. > [@Ninjaaa](#): > > How can I stop the timer. At the moment, the elapsed\_time and the remaining\_time column don’t ever stop to calculate. It would be great to stop them after the time\_limit is over I think you could use an IF column to check the duration and if it’s less than zero, just return zero. ---
**Author:** ![david](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/david/32/62831_2.png) [@david](https://community.glideapps.com/u/david)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/countdown-with-less-updates/68074/4 "2023-11-23T23:03:31Z")
The Math column doesn’t use updates. ---
**Author:** ![Ninjaaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Ninjaaa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Ninjaaa)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/countdown-with-less-updates/68074/5 "2023-11-24T14:43:17Z")
Thanks @Jeff_Hager Apparently it doesn’t count as an update. 🙂 Regarding the stopping. Can I somehow use an IF column and a MATH column at the same time? Or do I have to make a new IF column that references to the MATH column and either copies the value or returns zero? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/countdown-with-less-updates/68074/6 "2023-11-24T16:07:20Z")
> [@Ninjaaa](#): > > Or do I have to make a new IF column that references to the MATH column and either copies the value or returns zero? This 👆 Create an IF column that returns either the math column or zero. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/system/32/53398_2.png) [@system](https://community.glideapps.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/countdown-with-less-updates/68074/7 "2023-12-01T16:07:49Z")
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