Pomodoro timer that actually fits your brain
Four focus rhythms: the classic 25/5 Pomodoro, a count-up Deep Work timer with no finish line, and two Ultradian cycles. Breaks handled for you, eight clock faces, full screen in one tap. No sign-up, no install.
Space bar starts and pauses · F goes full screen · your session survives a page refresh.
Take the timer with you
The iPhone and iPad app adds what a browser tab cannot: it blocks distracting apps while you focus, keeps counting on your Lock Screen, plays ambient sounds, and turns every session into streaks and heatmaps.
Four rhythms, and when to use each
Most online timers give you one box and one number. Attention does not work that way: a 25-minute sprint suits shallow, dread-heavy tasks, while genuinely hard work needs a longer runway. These four modes are the ones built into the Fomodo app, with the same durations.
| Mode | Focus | Short break | Long break | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🍅 Pomodoro | 25 min | 5 min | 15 min | Getting started, admin, revision |
| 🌊 Deep Work | counts up, unlimited | focus ÷ 5 (min 5) | not used | Writing, coding, design — flow work |
| ⏱️ Ultradian | 52 min | 17 min | not used | Study blocks, focused project work |
| 🔥 Ultradian Extended | 90 min | 20 min | not used | Thesis chapters, deep debugging, exam prep |
Pomodoro — 25 / 5, with a long break every fourth round
The classic, and still the best starting point. Twenty-five minutes is long enough to make real progress and short enough that starting does not feel like a threat — which is the whole trick, because the hardest part of focused work is the first minute. After four focus rounds the timer gives you a 15-minute long break instead of the usual five, so the cycle can repeat without draining you.
Use it for: admin you have been avoiding, email, revision, chores, and any task where getting started is the real obstacle.
Deep Work — a count-up timer with no finish line
Deep Work is not a countdown at all. It starts at 00:00 and counts upward for as long as you keep working — there is no target, no alarm and nothing to skip. You stop it when your focus fades, and the clock simply tells you how long you managed to hold it. This is the mode for the days when a timer counting down at you is the distraction.
When you do stop, the break is calculated from the work you actually did: one fifth of your focus time, and never less than five minutes. Ninety minutes of writing earns an eighteen-minute break; twenty minutes earns the five-minute floor. Taking it is your call — nothing starts on its own.
Use it for: writing, coding, design, research — anything where the good part starts after the first twenty minutes. If you set a time target on a task in the iOS app, it behaves as a milestone: the app tells you when you reach it and keeps counting.
Ultradian — 52 / 17 and 90 / 20
Your body runs on roughly 90-minute cycles of alertness, awake as well as asleep. The two Ultradian modes work with that instead of against it: a 52-minute block with a 17-minute break, and a 90-minute block with a 20-minute break. The breaks look generous because they are load-bearing — after an hour and a half of real concentration, five minutes does not restore anything.
Use it for: a thesis chapter, a deep debugging session, exam preparation, a long-form draft. Try one block, not four — an honest 90 minutes beats a distracted afternoon.
How to use this timer
- Pick a mode. Choose Pomodoro, Deep Work or one of the two Ultradian cycles. When in doubt, start with Pomodoro.
- Name the task. Decide what this one block is for before you press start. A timer aimed at nothing in particular just measures how long you were vaguely busy.
- Press Start. Use the button or the space bar. The countdown runs on the wall clock, so it stays correct even in a background tab.
- Take the break. When the block ends you get a chime and the break starts automatically. Stand up, look out of a window — the break is what makes the next block possible.
- Repeat. Keep going. After four Pomodoro rounds the long break arrives on its own.
Why the breaks are not optional
Skipping breaks feels productive and is the fastest way to lose the afternoon. Attention is a finite resource that recovers when it is idle, so the break is not a reward for working — it is the part that makes the next block possible. This is also why the timer moves you into the break automatically: the decision to rest is exactly the decision people get wrong when they are tired.
If you keep wanting to skip breaks, that is a signal to change the rhythm rather than remove it. Move from Pomodoro to Deep Work, or to a 52 or 90-minute Ultradian block, so the timer stops interrupting work that was going well.
Eight clock faces
The face above is not decoration. A timer you find pleasant to look at is a timer you actually start, and the eight faces here are the real ones from the app: Minimal, Neon, Flip, Ring, Liquid, 7-Segment, Dot Matrix and Square Matrix. Ring and Liquid show progress as a shape rather than a number, which is easier to read at a glance and less anxiety-inducing when the countdown gets low.
Quick questions, quick answers
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up, no email, and nothing to install. The timer runs entirely in your browser and your session is kept on your own device, so a refresh does not lose it.
Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs?
Yes. The countdown is calculated from the clock rather than counted tick by tick, so even when a browser throttles a background tab, the timer shows the correct remaining time the moment you come back.
Why 52 and 17 minutes?
It is the pattern that comes up when you look at how sustained-attention work actually spaces out: a block a little under an hour, followed by a real break rather than a token one. It suits people who find 25 minutes too short to get into anything demanding.
Can I change the durations?
Not on this page — the four modes use the app defaults so the numbers stay meaningful. Custom durations, per-task targets and everything else live in the iOS app.
What does the app add that a web page cannot?
Blocking distracting apps while you focus, a countdown on your Lock Screen and Home Screen, ambient background sounds, streaks, focus heatmaps and per-task statistics that sync across your devices. A browser tab cannot stop you opening Instagram; the app can.