Pomodoro Timer
Classic 25/5 pomodoro focus timer with audio + browser notification, customisable intervals, and session counter.
Pomodoro Timer
Settings
How to use the pomodoro timer
Click Start focus
A 25-minute work session begins. The ring fills and the time counts down, and the browser tab title shows the remaining time so you can see it from any tab. The countdown is worked out from your device's clock, so switching tabs or letting the screen sleep doesn't lose time: when you come back, it shows the correct time left.
Work for the whole 25 minutes
The classic rule: no email, no Slack, no Twitter, no "quick check". If something urgent comes in, jot it on paper and address it during the break. Cirillo's own rule is strict: a pomodoro that is truly interrupted doesn't count, and you start a fresh one.
Take the break when it chimes
At the end of 25 minutes you get a two-tone chime + browser notification + the timer flips to a 5-minute short break. Stand up, walk, stretch, get water — actively rest your eyes and posture. Don't doom-scroll.
Long break every 4 sessions
After every 4th completed work session (about 2 hours of focused work), the timer gives you a 15-minute long break instead of a short one. Use this for lunch, a walk, or a real reset. Adjust the intervals to your preference in Settings — some people find 50/10 or 90/15 works better for deep work.
The Pomodoro Technique — old idea, still works
Francesco Cirillo came up with the idea in the late 1980s, during his first years at university, when he was struggling to concentrate on his studies. In his own account he made a bet with himself: could he study, really study, for 10 minutes? He used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer (pomodoro is Italian for tomato) to keep himself honest, and he says he didn't win the bet straight away. The method he later defined, in 1992, sets a pomodoro at 25 minutes of work followed by a short break, with a longer break after every four pomodoros.
Why 25 minutes works
The 25-minute interval isn't magical. It is the length Cirillo settled on for his method, and it does two useful things. It's long enough to make real progress on one task. It's short enough to be non-threatening: starting a 25-minute block is easier than starting a 2-hour one, and the countdown keeps a finish line in sight. The rule about not switching matters as much as the length. Sophie Leroy's 2009 research on attention residue found that when people move on from a task they haven't finished, part of their attention stays on it and their work on the next task suffers. A fixed block that you finish before switching, with interruptions parked until the break, is one practical way to limit that.
Sophie Leroy calls it attention residue: when you switch away from an unfinished task, thoughts about it linger, and your performance on the next task drops. (Leroy, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2009; doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002)
Variants that work better for some tasks
Deep technical work, such as writing code, designing systems or drafting long documents, often suits longer intervals like 50/10 or 90/15. For boring or dreaded tasks, the original 25/5 (or something shorter, like 15/5) lowers the barrier to starting. Adjust the intervals in Settings to match your task.
Where the 90-minute variant comes from
Cirillo's own method keeps the pomodoro at 25 minutes and builds the longer rest into the system instead: after every four pomodoros, a break of 15 to 30 minutes. The popular 90-minute variant comes from elsewhere. Nathaniel Kleitman, who described REM sleep with Eugene Aserinsky in 1953, proposed a roughly 90-minute "basic rest–activity cycle" that continues through waking hours, and revisited the idea in a 1982 review. It is a proposal about biological rhythm rather than a rule for desk work, so treat any interval as a starting point.
What pomodoro doesn't fix
It doesn't help with task selection — you still need to know what to work on. It doesn't help with creative problem-solving that requires open-ended thinking; some breakthroughs come only when you let your mind wander past a clock. It doesn't help with meetings, calls, or anything else that's externally time-bounded already. And it can backfire for high-flow tasks where 25 minutes is a frustrating interruption rather than a natural break — that's when ultradian (90/20) is the better fit. Use the technique where it helps; don't fetishise it.
Cirillo's kitchen timer, the original ten minutes, and ultradian rhythms
Francesco Cirillo developed the Pomodoro Technique in the late 1980s while preparing for university exams in Rome, using a tomato-shaped kitchen timer.
The original interval Cirillo used was 10 minutes — he gradually extended to 25 after experimenting with what felt sustainable.
In Cirillo's method a pomodoro is indivisible: there is no half-pomodoro, and one that is truly interrupted is void, so you start a new one.
Nathaniel Kleitman, who described REM sleep with Eugene Aserinsky in 1953, later proposed a roughly 90-minute basic rest–activity cycle in waking hours too, and revisited it in a 1982 review.
Sophie Leroy's 2009 experiments describe "attention residue": thoughts about an unfinished task linger and drag down performance on the next one.
In Cirillo's method the longer break, taken after every four pomodoros, runs from 15 to 30 minutes.
Finishing a task before switching reduces attention residue. Leroy found this when people were working under time pressure.
Cirillo defined the technique in 1992, and has taught it to individuals since 1998 and to teams since 1999.
This timer starts at 25 minutes of focus, 5-minute short breaks and a 15-minute long break after every fourth session, inside the ranges Cirillo gives, and all of it is adjustable in Settings.
Cirillo's write-up says the time remaining should always be visible, which is why this timer also shows the countdown in the browser tab title.
FAQ
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Yes. When you press Start, the timer notes when the session should end and works out the time left from your device's clock, instead of counting its own ticks. Browsers check background tabs less often, so the end-of-session chime can arrive a little late there, but no time is lost, and the display catches up as soon as you return to the tab. The countdown is also shown in the browser tab title so you can watch it from another tab.
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It's the interval in Cirillo's original method, and it's a practical compromise: long enough to make real progress on one task, short enough that starting doesn't feel daunting. But it's not magical, so adjust it to whatever works for your task and energy level.
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Change the Focus value in Settings. Common variants: 50/10, 60/15 and 90/20, the last based on Nathaniel Kleitman's proposed 90-minute rest–activity cycle. For very deep technical work like coding or writing, 90/20 often works better than 25/5.
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Only if you want a pop-up from your operating system when an interval ends. The chime is a short two-note tone the page plays itself, so it needs no permission. The pop-up can appear even when the tab is in the background. You can use either or both.
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In this browser on this device, and they are never sent to our servers. They stay between visits until you clear your browser data. The completed-session counter starts again from zero when you reload the page, on purpose: it counts this sitting, not a lifetime total.
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By default, when a focus session ends, the break is queued but doesn't start until you click — same after the break, you manually start the next focus. Auto-start removes the manual click — useful if you've internalised the rhythm and don't want to break flow with extra clicks.
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The original Cirillo rule: no. Breaks are for physical reset (stand, water, eyes-off-screen), not more screen time. Checking email during the break can pull you out of the rhythm and starts the attention-residue clock again. Save email for between groups of pomodoros.
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Cirillo's advice: use the remaining time to review or refine what you just did. Don't start a new task — that defeats the time-boxing benefit. If you genuinely have nothing related to do, take the early break and start fresh.
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Yes. iOS Safari and Chrome on Android both support the audio chime. Browser notifications work on Android Chrome but iOS Safari is more restricted. Keep the tab open and unmuted for full functionality.
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It shouldn't. Each time it updates, the timer works out the time left from your device's clock rather than counting its own ticks, so a slowed-down background tab doesn't make it fall behind. If you see a jump, your device's clock may have been corrected, for example by an automatic time sync. Reset the timer if you notice an issue.
Method & sources
How it computes
A countdown timer: each phase's end time is fixed as now + duration, the remaining time is recomputed from the clock every 250 ms (so background tabs and sleep do not drift), and phases advance work → short break, with a long break after every Nth completed work session (defaults 25 / 5 / 15 minutes, N = 4, all editable and saved in the browser). No productivity metric is computed.
What this tool implements
- Default intervals follow Cirillo's published technique: a 25-minute pomodoro, a 5-minute short break, and a longer break after four pomodoros.
- Timing uses wall-clock differences rather than counting ticks; the visible countdown rounds up to the whole second.
- The end-of-phase chime is synthesised in the browser and desktop notifications need the user's permission; settings persist per browser; the session counter resets on reload by design.
- Claims about attention and rest cycles on the page are attributed to the cited studies (Leroy 2009 on attention residue; Kleitman on the roughly 90-minute basic rest–activity cycle) and no productivity percentage is asserted.
Sources
- Cirillo F. The Pomodoro Technique: The Acclaimed Time-Management System That Has Transformed How We Work. New York: Currency, 2018. ISBN 978-1-5247-6070-0.
- Leroy S. Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 2009;109(2):168-181. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002
- Kleitman N. Basic rest-activity cycle — 22 years later. Sleep 1982;5(4):311-317. PMID 6819628
What can make this go out of date
- none at runtime
Pick up where you left off
Stored only in this browser — never sent to our servers.