Free tool

Pomodoro timer

Twenty-five minutes of work, five minutes off. It keeps proper time in a background tab, and there is nothing to sign up for.

Focus

25:00

A timer solves the starting problem. Orblite solves the harder one — which of the six things on your list is actually worth the next two hours.

Free to start · no card · about ten minutes to your first plan

Meet Orblite

25 and 5, and why the number barely matters

The Pomodoro technique is twenty-five minutes of work then a five-minute break, repeated, with a longer break every fourth round. That is the whole method.

The interval is not magic and it is not the point. What does the work is the commitment device: you have agreed with yourself that for twenty-five minutes the phone stays face down, and that a break is coming, so there is nothing to negotiate. If thirty-five suits your attention better, use thirty-five.

Where it helps, and where it doesn't

It is very good for work you are avoiding. Starting is the expensive part of a hard problem set, and "twenty-five minutes" is a much smaller thing to agree to than "this problem set".

It is worse for work that needs long uninterrupted attention — a draft that is going well, a proof you are halfway into. Breaking a state you finally reached is a real cost, and it is fine to let a timer run out and keep going.

It does nothing at all for the thing students most often blame it for: not knowing what to work on. A timer cannot make that decision, and running four rounds on the wrong task is just a well-organised waste of an evening.

The break is not optional

Skipping breaks to string sessions together is the most common way people use this wrong, and it converts the method back into ordinary cramming with a stopwatch attached. Stand up. Leave the room. Look at something further than an arm away.

Common questions

Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs?: Yes. It tracks the actual end time rather than counting down, so a background tab that gets throttled by the browser still finishes when it should.
Is there a sound when the session ends?: No sound, deliberately — a tone that fires while you are in a class or a library is worse than looking at the tab. The tab title updates instead.
How many sessions should I do?: Four, then a longer break, is the usual shape. More useful than a target is noticing how many you actually complete on a normal evening, which is almost always fewer than people assume and is a genuinely useful number to plan around.