How automatic tab refresh works in Auto Refresh Turbo
Auto Refresh Turbo schedules reloads with Chrome alarms and calls the browser’s tab reload API — it does not inject a page timer for the core loop.
A countdown that only lives inside the web page dies when the tab sleeps or the site blocks scripts. Here the extension service worker keeps the schedule, even after you close the popup.
Interval, Start, Stop
You pick an interval in seconds. Presets cover common values; type a custom number when you need something odd (minimum is one second).
Start begins the countdown right away for that tab. Stop ends the session. There is no separate Pause button on the main row: daily schedule windows and optional stop-on-interaction cover “hold off” without a third primary control.
While a session runs, the popup shows HH:MM:SS on the LED-style panel. Optionally, the toolbar badge shows a short countdown for the active tab only — a glanceable number, not a count of how many sessions exist.
Random intervals
With random mode on, each cycle picks a delay between your minimum and maximum (seconds). Useful when a perfectly steady cadence is unnecessary. Minimum must stay below maximum; both stay at or above the extension minimum.
Daily schedule window
Enable schedule and set start and end times. Inside the window, refresh runs as configured. Outside the window, the session is paused: your interval and options stay saved, and refresh resumes when the window opens again.
That is not the same as Stop, which ends the session until you press Start again. If the popup notes a schedule pause, check the clock window before assuming a bug. See also the FAQ.
Several tabs
Each tab can have its own session. The popup lists running sessions, lets you add the current tab, and can show more tabs when you need them. A five-second dashboard does not force your docs tab onto the same timer.
Optional on-page tools
These use a content script, so they need page access when enabled:
- Visual timer — compact glass LED chip on the page; draggable; syncs with the worker
- Stop on click/type — interaction can stop refresh so a reload does not hit mid-edit (default on)
- Suspicious-page stop — lightweight heuristic; may stop if the page looks like an error or challenge screen (default on)
Plain interval refresh does not require injecting UI into the page. Leave these off if you only want reload.
Hard refresh and stop-after-N
Hard refresh reloads with cache bypass. Use it when a normal reload keeps a stale shell. It does not clear cookies.
Stop after N ends the loop after a fixed number of reloads (handy for a short QA pass). Use unlimited when you want the timer to run until you Stop or the schedule pauses it.
One refresh cycle, step by step
- You press Start with an interval (and any flags) for a tab
- The service worker stores a session and schedules the next alarm
- Popup / optional badge / optional on-page chip show time remaining
- The alarm fires → Chrome reloads the tab
- If the session should continue, the next delay is armed (fixed or random)
- Schedule rules, stop-after-N, interaction stop, or suspicious-page stop may pause or end the loop
If Chrome kills the service worker, persisted snapshots help rebuild sessions after restart. URLs and intervals are stored locally for that restore path — not to build a browsing-history product.
Who owns the countdown?
The service worker is authoritative for “when does the next reload fire?” The popup follows that schedule. The on-page chip ticks locally and resyncs. The badge is a compact view for the active tab. After a full reload the page document is new, so the chip remounts; early inject keeps that gap short.
What v1 does not claim
No separate Manager page as the primary UI. No keyword alert / page-monitor product promise. No vendor cloud sync. If you need that class of tool, you are shopping a different category.
Privacy-shaped pieces
- Settings and snapshots: local storage
- Reload: Chrome tabs API
- Timing: Chrome alarms
- Optional page features: local processing only
Wording by permission: Privacy Policy.
Try it
Install Auto Refresh Turbo, then follow Start in about two minutes.