Pomodoro Timer
Focus in 25-minute rounds with short breaks and a longer one after four. Adjust the lengths, label each round with its task and watch today’s count grow. It keeps time in a background tab.
Press Start or the space bar.
Settings
4 × 25 min focus, 3 × 5 min short breaks and a 15 min long break: 2 h 10 min a cycle.
Want breaks whenever you need them? Try the focus timer: a work clock and a break clock.
Key facts
- The Pomodoro Technique works in 25-minute focus rounds, each followed by a short break of 3 to 5 minutes.
The Pomodoro Technique in four steps
- Choose one task and write it down (type it in as the round’s task).
- Start a 25-minute focus round and work only on that task until the bell.
- Take a 3 to 5 minute break: stand up, look away from the screen.
- After four rounds, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes, then start again.
Francesco Cirillo devised the method as a student in the late 1980s and named it after his tomato-shaped kitchen timer (pomodoro is Italian for tomato). The point isn’t the exact number of minutes: it’s working on one thing at a time, in short rounds you can actually finish, with real breaks in between.
A timer you can leave in the background
Browsers slow down the timers of a tab you aren’t looking at, which makes many online timers fall behind or ring late. This one never counts seconds: it remembers when the round started and works out the time left from the clock, and the bell is queued on the audio clock, which keeps running in a background tab. The tab title shows the countdown, and a notification can tell you when a round ends if you turn it on.
Other timers
If fixed breaks get in your way, the focus timer gives you a work clock and a break clock instead: take the break whenever you need it, in as many pieces as you like. The same engine runs the chess clock, with Fischer increments and delays, and the interval timer for Tabata and HIIT workouts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the Pomodoro Technique work?
Pick one task, set a timer for 25 minutes and work on nothing else until it rings. Then take a 3 to 5 minute break. Each 25-minute round is one “pomodoro”; after four of them, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes. If something else comes to mind, write it down and get back to the task.
Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs or lock my screen?
Yes. The time is worked out from when you pressed Start, not by counting seconds, so it stays exact when the tab is in the background, and the bell is scheduled ahead on the audio clock so it rings on time. If you close the tab or reload, the round carries on from where it should be. On phones, the screen stays on while the timer runs, where the browser allows it.
How do I get a notification when a round ends?
Turn on “Notify me” and allow notifications when the browser asks. You then get a notification when a focus round or break ends while this tab is in the background. Nothing is sent anywhere: the notification comes from this page in your browser.
Where is today’s count saved?
Each finished focus round (its length, the time it ended and the task you typed) is saved in this browser only. Nothing is sent to Binary Decimal, and the task never goes into the page address. Use Backup & sync to keep a copy or move it to another device.
Should I change the 25 minutes?
The 25-minute round is a starting point, not a rule. Many people use 50 minutes of focus with 10-minute breaks for deep work, or shorter rounds when a task is hard to start. Adjust the lengths and the number of rounds before a long break; your settings stay in the page link, so you can bookmark or share them.