Pomodoro Timer
Focus in 25-minute sprints.
Pomodoro Timer at a glance
Pomodoro Timer is a free online app you can use right now to focus in 25-minute sprints โ no account, no install and no usage limit. It runs entirely inside your browser, so whatever you enter stays on your own device.
- Price
- Free โ no trial, no paid tier, no watermark
- Sign-up
- Not required
- Where it runs
- In your browser โ nothing is uploaded to a server
- Works on
- Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge โ desktop, tablet and phone
- Category
- Productivity
Completed focus sessions: 0
About Pomodoro Timer
A focus timer following the Pomodoro technique: twenty-five minutes of work, a five-minute break, and a longer break after four cycles.
The technique's real mechanism is not the interval length โ it is that starting becomes cheap. Twenty-five minutes is short enough that beginning something you have been avoiding does not feel like a commitment, and an open-ended unpleasant task becomes a bounded one. Most of the benefit arrives at the moment you start, not from the specific number.
The break is not optional padding, though it is what people skip first. Working through breaks to maintain momentum reliably produces a worse afternoon, because sustained focus depletes and recovers on a cycle. Stepping away โ properly away, not to a different screen โ is what makes the next interval work.
Treat twenty-five minutes as a starting point rather than a rule. It comes from the original technique, not from research, and plenty of people work better in forty or fifty-minute blocks once the habit is established. The interval that holds your attention without becoming a slog is the correct one.
How to use Pomodoro Timer
- Start a twenty-five minute work interval and put other tabs away.
- Take the five-minute break when it ends โ away from your screen.
- After four cycles, take a longer break of fifteen to thirty minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Why twenty-five minutes?
It is a convention from the original technique rather than a research finding. It works largely because it is short enough to make starting easy and bounded enough to make an unpleasant task feel finite.
Can I change the intervals?
Yes, and many people should. Forty or fifty-minute blocks suit deeper work once the habit is established. Use whatever length holds your attention without becoming a slog.
Should I skip breaks when I am in flow?
Occasionally finishing a thought is fine, but routinely working through breaks produces a worse afternoon. Focus depletes and recovers cyclically, and the break is what makes the next interval effective.
Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs?
Yes, the timer continues in the background. Browsers may throttle background tabs and delay a notification slightly, so keep the tab visible if exact timing matters.