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A focus timer that starts with three minutes
Can't start? Don't commit to 25 minutes. Commit to three. When they're up, you decide: keep going, take a break, or stop.
Space presses the highlighted button. Keep this tab open; the time stays right even in the background.
Why three minutes?
The hardest part of most work is the first minute. A 25-minute block asks you to commit to the whole thing before you've begun, which is exactly what a stuck brain refuses. Three minutes asks almost nothing, so you start, and once you've started, carrying on usually costs far less than starting did. If it doesn't, stopping at three minutes still counts: you began.
How this timer works
Three minutes first, and they count as your first block. Then a checkpoint: keep going for a full block (25 minutes, or change it with − and +), or stop here. When a block ends the clock doesn't stop; it keeps counting until you answer one question, how was your focus? On it, In and out, or Away. Each answer lands on a small bar under the clock, so the sitting builds a record as it goes. Then you choose again: a break, another block, or end. Breaks can grow by five minutes, and if one runs over, the clock shows the total rest you took. Name your task and this browser keeps its running total across sittings.
A progressive Pomodoro timer
The classic Pomodoro method fixes every block at 25 minutes. The progressive version starts small instead, asks how your focus went after each block, and lets the next one grow when it's going well. If you're in the middle of something good, you don't have to stop for a break just because the clock says so.
That is how this timer runs. Three minutes to get going, then "How was your focus?" at the end of every block, and − / + to make the next one longer or shorter. The length is always yours to choose. The timer never decides it for you, so a good block doesn't silently become a longer obligation.
Want it on your Lock Screen?
A timer in a browser tab only works while you're looking at the tab. Calibrate is the same method as an iPhone app: you start from your to-do list, the block runs on your Lock Screen and Apple Watch, and you answer the end of each block without unlocking your phone. The guide how to start when you can't explains the method in full.