Countdown timer in React

You have to setState every second with the seconds remaining (every time the interval is called). Here's an example:

class Example extends React.Component {
  constructor() {
    super();
    this.state = { time: {}, seconds: 5 };
    this.timer = 0;
    this.startTimer = this.startTimer.bind(this);
    this.countDown = this.countDown.bind(this);
  }

  secondsToTime(secs){
    let hours = Math.floor(secs / (60 * 60));

    let divisor_for_minutes = secs % (60 * 60);
    let minutes = Math.floor(divisor_for_minutes / 60);

    let divisor_for_seconds = divisor_for_minutes % 60;
    let seconds = Math.ceil(divisor_for_seconds);

    let obj = {
      "h": hours,
      "m": minutes,
      "s": seconds
    };
    return obj;
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    let timeLeftVar = this.secondsToTime(this.state.seconds);
    this.setState({ time: timeLeftVar });
  }

  startTimer() {
    if (this.timer == 0 && this.state.seconds > 0) {
      this.timer = setInterval(this.countDown, 1000);
    }
  }

  countDown() {
    // Remove one second, set state so a re-render happens.
    let seconds = this.state.seconds - 1;
    this.setState({
      time: this.secondsToTime(seconds),
      seconds: seconds,
    });
    
    // Check if we're at zero.
    if (seconds == 0) { 
      clearInterval(this.timer);
    }
  }

  render() {
    return(
      <div>
        <button onClick={this.startTimer}>Start</button>
        m: {this.state.time.m} s: {this.state.time.s}
      </div>
    );
  }
}

ReactDOM.render(<Example/>, document.getElementById('View'));

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react-dom.min.js"></script>
<div id="View"></div>

Here is a solution using hooks, Timer component, I'm replicating same logic above with hooks

import React from 'react'
import { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

const Timer = (props:any) => {
    const {initialMinute = 0,initialSeconds = 0} = props;
    const [ minutes, setMinutes ] = useState(initialMinute);
    const [seconds, setSeconds ] =  useState(initialSeconds);
    useEffect(()=>{
    let myInterval = setInterval(() => {
            if (seconds > 0) {
                setSeconds(seconds - 1);
            }
            if (seconds === 0) {
                if (minutes === 0) {
                    clearInterval(myInterval)
                } else {
                    setMinutes(minutes - 1);
                    setSeconds(59);
                }
            } 
        }, 1000)
        return ()=> {
            clearInterval(myInterval);
          };
    });

    return (
        <div>
        { minutes === 0 && seconds === 0
            ? null
            : <h1> {minutes}:{seconds < 10 ?  `0${seconds}` : seconds}</h1> 
        }
        </div>
    )
}

export default Timer;

Here is a simple implementation using hooks and useInterval implementation of @dan-abramov

import React, {useState, useEffect, useRef} from 'react'
import './styles.css'

const STATUS = {
  STARTED: 'Started',
  STOPPED: 'Stopped',
}

const INITIAL_COUNT = 120

export default function CountdownApp() {
  const [secondsRemaining, setSecondsRemaining] = useState(INITIAL_COUNT)
  const [status, setStatus] = useState(STATUS.STOPPED)

  const secondsToDisplay = secondsRemaining % 60
  const minutesRemaining = (secondsRemaining - secondsToDisplay) / 60
  const minutesToDisplay = minutesRemaining % 60
  const hoursToDisplay = (minutesRemaining - minutesToDisplay) / 60

  const handleStart = () => {
    setStatus(STATUS.STARTED)
  }
  const handleStop = () => {
    setStatus(STATUS.STOPPED)
  }
  const handleReset = () => {
    setStatus(STATUS.STOPPED)
    setSecondsRemaining(INITIAL_COUNT)
  }
  useInterval(
    () => {
      if (secondsRemaining > 0) {
        setSecondsRemaining(secondsRemaining - 1)
      } else {
        setStatus(STATUS.STOPPED)
      }
    },
    status === STATUS.STARTED ? 1000 : null,
    // passing null stops the interval
  )
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>React Countdown Demo</h1>
      <button onClick={handleStart} type="button">
        Start
      </button>
      <button onClick={handleStop} type="button">
        Stop
      </button>
      <button onClick={handleReset} type="button">
        Reset
      </button>
      <div style={{padding: 20}}>
        {twoDigits(hoursToDisplay)}:{twoDigits(minutesToDisplay)}:
        {twoDigits(secondsToDisplay)}
      </div>
      <div>Status: {status}</div>
    </div>
  )
}

// source: https://overreacted.io/making-setinterval-declarative-with-react-hooks/
function useInterval(callback, delay) {
  const savedCallback = useRef()

  // Remember the latest callback.
  useEffect(() => {
    savedCallback.current = callback
  }, [callback])

  // Set up the interval.
  useEffect(() => {
    function tick() {
      savedCallback.current()
    }
    if (delay !== null) {
      let id = setInterval(tick, delay)
      return () => clearInterval(id)
    }
  }, [delay])
}

// https://stackoverflow.com/a/2998874/1673761
const twoDigits = (num) => String(num).padStart(2, '0')

Here is the codesandbox implementation: https://codesandbox.io/s/react-countdown-demo-gtr4u?file=/src/App.js