Pomodoro timer with ambient sounds
Focus for 25 minutes, rest for 5, and repeat. Add a task, mix some rain or brown noise, and leave this tab open: no sign-up, and everything stays in your browser.
Timer
How to use this Pomodoro timer
- Pick one task. Type it under Tasks and estimate how many sessions it needs. It becomes your current task, shown under the clock.
- Press Start (or Space) and work on that task only until the chime. If something else pops into your head, jot it down and carry on.
- Take the break. Stand up, look away from the screen, refill your water. The timer switches to a 5-minute break when focus ends.
- Repeat. After four focus sessions you get a longer 15-minute break. Each completed session is added to your stats and to the current task.
- Adjust. If 25 minutes feels too short or too long, use a preset or change the lengths in Timer settings.
Which preset should you use?
The classic 25/5 rhythm comes from Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro Technique. Longer blocks suit work that takes a while to get into, such as writing, coding or a past paper. There’s no single best length; the right one is the one you can repeat.
| Preset | Focus / break | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 25/5 | 25 min / 5 min, long break 15 min | Getting started, homework, revision, chores you keep putting off |
| 50/10 | 50 min / 10 min, long break 30 min | Writing, coding, reading that needs warming up |
| 90/20 | 90 min / 20 min, long break 30 min | One or two big deep-work blocks a day, timed exam practice |
Students can start with the study timer; for longer blocks see the focus timer for deep work.
Background sounds that don’t get in the way
The mixer under the timer plays brown, pink and white noise, rain, a fireplace, café chatter and forest birds, each with its own volume. Brown noise is a deep, steady rumble; white noise is brighter and hissier; rain sits in between. Sounds start only when you press a button, keep playing through breaks unless you choose to pause them, and fade gently in and out. For a single sound with a timer, try brown noise for focus or the timer with rain sounds. Keep the volume moderate, especially with headphones.
Need a single countdown instead?
For one block of time with an alarm, use a fixed timer: 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes. Teachers can use the classroom timer with huge digits for a projector.
Tips for better sessions
- Put your phone out of reach before you press Start.
- Make each task small enough to finish in a few sessions: “Outline chapter 3”, not “Write thesis”.
- Use the fullscreen mode (F) to hide everything except the clock.
- Turn on notifications so you hear about the break even while you’re in another tab.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Pomodoro?
A Pomodoro is one timed block of focused work. In Francesco Cirillo’s original method, the traditional Pomodoro is 30 minutes: 25 minutes of work followed by a 5-minute break. You repeat it, and after every four Pomodoros you take a longer break.
Why 25 minutes?
25 minutes is the length Cirillo’s method uses, not a number proven to be best. It is long enough to get real work done and short enough that starting feels easy. Research hasn’t found one ideal length, so if 25 minutes keeps cutting you off mid-thought, try 45 or 50 minutes instead.
How long is a Pomodoro break?
Cirillo’s paper describes a short break of 3 to 5 minutes after each Pomodoro. This timer uses 5 minutes by default; you can set anything from 1 to 60 minutes in Timer settings.
Will the timer keep running in a background tab?
Yes. The timer stores the time it should end, not a count of ticks, so it stays accurate when your browser slows down background tabs. When you press Start, the alarm is also scheduled on the browser’s audio clock, which background throttling doesn’t delay. What can lag: in Chrome, a tab hidden for more than 5 minutes with no sound playing checks timers only once a minute, so the tab title and notification may arrive up to a minute late. Phones may pause background tabs completely, and nothing runs while a computer sleeps.
Why didn’t my notification appear?
Notifications appear only if you pressed “Enable notifications” and allowed them, and only while the tab is in the background (on screen you see the message in the timer instead). Also check that your operating system allows notifications from your browser, that focus or do-not-disturb mode is off, and that the site isn’t blocked in your browser’s site settings. Some mobile browsers don’t support web notifications at all.
Is brown noise better than white noise for studying?
Nobody knows yet. A 2024 meta-analysis found small benefits of white and pink noise on attention tasks for young people with ADHD, a small negative effect for people without ADHD, and no studies of brown noise at all. Many people simply find brown noise less harsh because more of its energy is in the low frequencies. Try each at a low volume and keep whatever you can forget about. This is general information, not medical advice. Speak to a clinician about ADHD or hearing concerns.
What are the keyboard shortcuts?
Space starts or pauses, S skips to the next session, R resets, F toggles fullscreen, M mutes all sounds, N jumps to the new-task field and ? shows the list. Escape exits fullscreen or closes a dialog. Shortcuts don’t fire while you type in a field, and you can turn single-key shortcuts off in Timer settings.
Is my data stored on a server?
No. There are no accounts, and your tasks, stats and settings never leave your browser. The site uses Google Analytics to count visits and page views (it sets cookies), but it never receives your tasks, stats or sound choices. You can delete everything stored by this site with “Delete all my data”.
Is it free?
Yes. Every feature is free, with no sign-up. The site may show ads on content pages in the future, but never inside the timer or the sound mixer, and never in fullscreen or classroom mode.
Updated · Written by the FocusLoop team