---
title: "Why Does My React Timer Stop at 1 Even Though the Interval Keeps Running?"  
description: "Why Does My React Timer Stop at 1 Even Though the Interval Keeps Running?"  
author: "Aashish Khadka"  
published: 2026-10-19  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/117895/why-does-my-react-timer-stop-at-1-even-though-the-interval-keeps-running  
category: "Mix Category"  
tags: ["react", "javascript", "React Hooks"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Why Does My React Timer Stop at 1 Even Though the Interval Keeps Running?

I’m building a small timer in React. The counter changes from 0 to 1 and then stays there, but the message inside the interval keeps appearing in the console.

```js
import { useEffect, useState } from "react";

export default function Counter() {
    const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

    useEffect(() => {
        const timer = setInterval(() => {
            // Check whether the callback continues after the first update.
            console.log("Interval fired");
            setCount(count + 1);
        }, 1000);

        // Remove the interval when the effect is cleaned up.
        return () => clearInterval(timer);
    }, []);

    return <p>{count}</p>;
}
```

I left the dependency array empty because I wanted to create the interval only once. My assumption was that its callback would still read the latest state whenever it ran.

Is this an example of **stale closures in React**? I’ve seen suggestions to add `count` to the dependency array or use a functional state update, but those seem to change the behavior in different ways. Which approach fits a continuously running timer, and why?


---

Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/117895/why-does-my-react-timer-stop-at-1-even-though-the-interval-keeps-running

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