Pomodoro Timer

Work in focused 25-minute sprints with timed breaks. Start a session, let the timer advance through focus and break phases automatically, and watch your completed pomodoros add up.

Reviewed by the CalcCafe editorial team · Last updated 18 July 2026 · How we test our tools

Example

Say you sit down at 9:00 to clear a report. Press Start and work until the 25-minute focus session hits 00:00 — the timer switches itself to a 5-minute short break and keeps running. After the break it returns to focus automatically. Repeat, and when your fourth pomodoro completes (around 11:00 with standard settings), the timer gives you a 15-minute long break instead. In one morning cycle you get roughly 100 minutes of deep work plus scheduled recovery, and the Completed pomodoros counter shows exactly how many sessions you finished. Prefer longer sprints? Set focus to 50 and breaks to 10, then press Reset to apply.

How it works

The timer counts down once per second from your focus length (default 25:00). When it reaches zero it advances the phase on its own: after a focus session it starts a short break, and after every fourth focus session it starts a long break; after any break it returns to focus. Pause freezes the countdown, and Reset returns to a fresh focus session using the minute values in the three inputs. Everything runs locally in your browser tab — there is no server clock involved.

Good to know

The technique comes from Francesco Cirillo, who timed his university study sessions with a tomato-shaped kitchen timer (pomodoro is Italian for tomato) in the late 1980s. The classic rhythm is 25 minutes of single-task focus, a 5-minute break, and a longer 15–30 minute break after every fourth session. The short interval matters: 25 minutes is long enough to get real work done but short enough that starting never feels daunting, which is exactly where procrastination usually wins.

Timeboxing beats willpower because it changes the question you ask yourself. Instead of “can I finish this whole project?” the commitment is only “can I work on it for one pomodoro?” — a promise almost anyone can keep. The visible countdown also creates mild, useful urgency, and the enforced breaks prevent the slow attention fade that turns hour three of “focus” into unproductive browsing.

Interruptions are part of the method, not a failure of it. Cirillo's rule: when a thought or request intrudes, jot it on a list, then return to the task immediately — handle the list during a break. If an interruption genuinely cannot wait, void the pomodoro and start a fresh one afterwards rather than resuming a broken session. The standard lengths are also just defaults: popular adaptations include 52/17 (from workplace time-tracking data) and 90-minute blocks aligned with the body's ultradian rest–activity cycle. This timer accepts any minute values you like.

One technical caveat: browsers deliberately slow JavaScript timers in background tabs to save battery, so if you switch away for a long stretch the countdown can drift by a few seconds (occasionally more on mobile). For second-accurate sessions, keep the tab visible — for example in a small pinned window beside your work.

Frequently asked questions

People also ask

Related calculators

• Stopwatch
• Digital Clock
• Countdown Timer

Sources & references

• Francesco Cirillo — the official Pomodoro Technique
• Wikipedia — Pomodoro Technique

These tools follow our methodology and provide educational estimates only — verify important figures with a qualified professional.