Pomodoro Timer
Work in focused 25-minute sessions with short breaks in between and a longer break every four sessions. A chime plays when each phase ends, and background noise can help you concentrate. Nothing is uploaded.
A free Pomodoro timer online: 25/5/15 work and break cycles that you can change, an auto-start option for the next phase, the countdown in the tab title, an end-of-phase chime and optional browser notifications. Play white, pink or brown noise while you work and see how many sessions you have completed today. It keeps the right time in a background tab.
The cycle follows Francesco Cirillo's Pomodoro Technique: work, short break, and a long break after every 4 work sessions. Remaining time is read from the clock, so it stays right while the tab is in the background. Noise and chime are generated in the browser; no audio files.
How to use the Pomodoro Timer
- Type what you are working on (optional; it is not saved) and press Start. Work until the chime.
- Take the break the timer moves to: a short break after each work session and a long break after every 4. Press Start again, or tick Start the next phase automatically.
- Use Pause to stop the clock, Skip to move to the next phase now, and Reset when you want a fresh start. Reset restarts the cycle from the first work session.
- Change the minutes in Settings, tick Notify me for a browser notification, and pick a background noise and volume if you like.
Frequently asked questions
How does the Pomodoro technique work?
You work on one task for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute short break. After every 4 work sessions you take a longer 15-minute break instead. All four numbers can be changed in the settings.
What do Start, Skip and Reset do?
Start begins or resumes the current phase and Pause stops it where it is. Skip ends the current phase straight away and moves to the next one, without a chime; a skipped work session is not counted. Reset restarts the cycle: back to the first work session with no rounds done, stopped.
Does the timer keep the right time in a background tab?
Yes. The remaining time is worked out from the clock every time the timer updates, not by counting ticks, so it is right when you come back to the tab. Browsers slow down timers in background tabs, so the chime can come a little late there. If the computer sleeps through several phases, you get one end-of-phase alert when it wakes.
How do I get a notification when a phase ends?
Tick Notify me. Your browser asks for permission only when you tick it; if you say no, the box is unticked again. The chime plays whether or not notifications are on, unless you untick Sound.
How is the background noise made?
It is generated in your browser with the Web Audio API, so no audio files are downloaded. White noise has equal power at every frequency and sounds like hiss, pink noise is softer and closer to rain, and brown noise is a deep rumble. It starts only when you choose a noise or press Start, and plays until you set it to Off.
When do changed settings take effect?
Straight away if the timer has not been started since the last Reset. Otherwise they apply when you press Reset, so a session in progress is never cut short. Minutes must be whole numbers from 1 to 1440, and the long break can come every 1 to 24 work sessions.
Is anything stored or sent anywhere?
Nothing is sent anywhere. Your settings, noise choice and volume, and the count of work sessions completed today are kept only in this browser; the count starts again each day and Clear sets it to 0. The task label is not saved.
Fun facts about the Pomodoro Technique
- Francesco Cirillo came up with the technique as a university student in the late 1980s, timing himself with a tomato-shaped kitchen timer. Pomodoro is Italian for tomato.
- Four 25-minute sessions with their short breaks take about two hours, so a full cycle with its long break fits neatly into a morning or an afternoon.
- Brown noise is named after the botanist Robert Brown and Brownian motion, not the colour; its power falls to a quarter each time the frequency doubles, where pink noise only halves.
- White noise gets its name from white light, which mixes all visible colours, just as white noise mixes all audible frequencies at equal strength.