Focus in rounds, rest in between
This free online Pomodoro timer splits your work into focused rounds with short breaks in between. By default, you work for 25 minutes and take a 5-minute break, and after every 4 rounds you get a longer 15-minute break. Press Start once and the timer handles the rest, with a sound at every change of phase.
It suits students revising for exams, writers, developers, designers, remote workers and anyone who finds it hard to get started or to stay on one task. It runs in your browser on a computer, a tablet or a phone, with no app and no account.
How the Pomodoro timer works
Start a round
Press Start and focus on a single task. The screen shows where you are, for example “Focus · round 1 of 4”, along with the time left. The tab title shows the time and the phase too, so you can check it from another tab.
Take your breaks
When the focus time ends, a sound marks the start of your break. Stand up, drink some water and look away from the screen. Another sound tells you when it is time to get back to work.
Skip ahead when you need to
Finished early, or in the middle of a great idea? Skip to break starts your break right away, and Back to focus ends a break early.
The long break
After the last round of a series comes a longer break, 15 minutes by default, before a new series begins. On its own, the 15 minute timer does the same job.
Make it your own
Every setting can be changed, and your choices are saved in your browser for next time.
| Setting | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | 25 min | 1 to 120 min, in minutes and seconds |
| Short break | 5 min | 1 to 60 min |
| Long break | 15 min | 1 to 90 min |
| Rounds before the long break | 4 | 1 to 12 |
Popular variations
- 50 and 10: fifty minutes of focus and ten of rest, for long tasks like writing or coding.
- 52 and 17: a rhythm made popular by a time-tracking company that studied its most productive users.
- 90 and 20: one long deep-work block, then a real break.
- 15 and 3: short rounds for children, for tasks you dread or for days when focus is hard.
Each value opens in a large wheel in the middle of the screen: turn it, then tap the center to confirm. Pick the sound you like for the phase changes too: a bell, a chime, a classic beep, a digital beep or a gentle rise.
A morning with the default settings
Start at 9:00 AM with the classic settings and a full series looks like this:
| Phase | Starts at | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Focus, round 1 | 9:00 AM | 25 min |
| Short break | 9:25 AM | 5 min |
| Focus, round 2 | 9:30 AM | 25 min |
| Short break | 9:55 AM | 5 min |
| Focus, round 3 | 10:00 AM | 25 min |
| Short break | 10:25 AM | 5 min |
| Focus, round 4 | 10:30 AM | 25 min |
| Long break | 10:55 AM | 15 min |
That is 100 minutes of real focus before 11:10 AM, with enough rest to start a second series.
The Pomodoro Technique in brief
The method was created by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, when he was a university student in Italy. To stay focused, he used a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato, pomodoro in Italian, and called each 25-minute block a pomodoro. He also recorded each finished pomodoro with a mark on paper and noted every interruption, a simple way to see where the day went. He later described the method in a book, The Pomodoro Technique.
The classic steps are simple:
- Choose one task.
- Set the timer for 25 minutes and work only on that task.
- When the timer rings, take a short break of 3 to 5 minutes.
- After four rounds, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.
Why does it work? A short deadline makes it easier to start, regular breaks keep your attention fresh, and counting rounds shows how much real work you did. Breaks also let your mind step back: many people find the answer to a problem while refilling a glass of water. It also helps you estimate future work: knowing that a report takes about six pomodoros is useful when you plan your week.
Tips to get more from each round
- Write the task down in a few words before you press Start.
- Silence notifications and put your phone face down or in another room.
- Keep a distraction list. When an idea or a to-do pops up, jot it on paper and get back to work.
- Really take the break. Move, stretch and drink water. Checking email is not a break.
- Adjust the length to the task: shorter rounds for hard starts, longer ones once you are in the flow.
- Group small tasks. Bundle emails, calls and errands into a single round instead of letting them break up the day.
- Estimate, then compare. Guess how many rounds each task needs in the morning, and check at the end of the day. Your estimates get better fast.
- Do not skip breaks just because you feel productive: the rest is what makes the next round work.
- Go full screen to hide everything else. While the timer runs, the settings fade away after a few seconds.
Who it helps
- Students: revise one chapter per round and note how many rounds each subject takes.
- Remote workers: give the day some structure without a commute or an office.
- Writers and developers: protect deep work from interruptions.
- Teachers: run focused work periods in class, shown in full screen.
- Households: chores in short sprints, with a reward at each break.
- Musicians and language learners: regular practice in bite-size blocks.
- Job seekers: one round per application, with a break before the next one.
Online Pomodoro timer or app?
A tomato-shaped kitchen timer is charming, but you have to wind it again for every round and every break. Many Pomodoro apps ask for an account or a subscription. This online Pomodoro timer chains focus, short breaks and long breaks on its own, on any screen, for free. Your settings stay on your device and nothing is sent to a server. Once loaded, it even works offline. Because it runs in a browser tab, it is always one click away while you work, and the tab title tells you how much of the round is left.
Need a single block without breaks? Use the 25 minute timer, the 5 minute timer for a lone break or the online timer for any other length. To measure how long a task actually takes, try the stopwatch.