A free online Pomodoro timer, full screen
The timer above is the whole thing: a 25-minute focus clock over a living scene, with breaks you name before you take them and ambient sound you can leave running. No account, no download, no ads. It is the same timer members of MugUp keep in their navigation bar, handed to you as a page.
What the Pomodoro Technique is
The Pomodoro Technique is a way of working in short, timed intervals. Francesco Cirillo devised it in the late 1980s with a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato — pomodoro in Italian — and the rhythm has not changed since: decide on one task, work on it for 25 minutes without interruption, take a 5-minute break, and after four of those take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.
It works because it makes two hard things easy. Starting is easy, because 25 minutes is short enough to commit to on a bad day. Stopping is easy, because the break is scheduled rather than earned, so you are never bargaining with yourself about whether to take one. The timer does the deciding, and you do the work.
How this timer works
- The classic rhythm by default. 25 minutes of focus, a 5-minute short break, and a 15-minute long break after every 4 sessions. The dots under the clock show how far through the cycle you are.
- Every number is yours to change. Customize sets the focus length from 1 to 120 minutes, both breaks from 1 to 60, the long-break cadence from 2 to 8 sessions, and the chime that ends a phase — bell, chime, digital, and gong.
- Plan before you press Start. The Plan panel is a short checklist for the session: write down what you will get done, tick it off as you go, and the timer carries it through to the end.
- Breaks you name first. When a focus session ends, the timer hands off to a break and asks what it is for — chores or move your body, watch something productive, quick chat with family or friends, pray or meditate, journal, and something else — before the clock starts. You can also take a break without a session, if you need one.
- Eight scenes, fifteen ambiences. Pick rain, ocean, storm, morning birds, fireplace, night crickets, coffee shop, and alpha waves, drawn live behind the clock, or have the timer change it for you at the start of every focus session. Turn the sound on to hear the matching ambience, Synth or Recorded, at its own volume. Under reduced motion the scene holds a single still frame.
- Keyboard and touch. Space starts and pauses, and Z hides everything except the clock and the scene — move the mouse, or tap, and it all comes back. On a phone the controls fade while the clock runs and return with a tap; the countdown stays readable from across the room.
- Private by construction. Settings live in this browser and the timer lives in memory. Nothing is uploaded, logged or tied to a person.
What a free account adds
Everything above works without one. An account adds exactly three things: the same timer in the navigation bar on every page of MugUp, so a session follows you while you study, read or write; break videos from your own hand-built YouTube feed, with the player closing itself when the break ends; and a streak, XP and a Life Card that the day counts toward.
Questions
Is this Pomodoro timer free, and do I need an account?
It is free, and there is no account to make. The timer, the scenes, the ambient sound, the focus checklist and the settings all run in your browser. Signing up is optional and adds three things: the same timer in the navigation bar on every MugUp page, break videos from your own YouTube feed, and a streak, XP and a Life Card that the sessions count toward.
How long are the sessions, and can I change them?
The defaults are the classic Pomodoro rhythm: 25 minutes of focus, a 5-minute short break, and a 15-minute long break after every 4 sessions. Open Customize to set focus anywhere from 1 to 120 minutes, breaks from 1 to 60, and the long break to arrive after 2 to 8 sessions. Your settings are remembered in this browser.
Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs or lock my phone?
Yes. The countdown is measured against the clock, not against how many times the page got to tick, so a session started in a background tab ends on time. A chime plays when a phase ends. Reloading the page does reset the current session, so leave the tab open while you work.
What happens when a focus session ends?
The next phase waits for you rather than starting on its own. When the focus clock reaches zero the timer hands off to a break, and before the break starts you name what you will do with it. When the break is over, it hands back and waits for you to press Start on the next focus session.
What is an intentional break?
Before a break starts you pick what it is for — chores or move your body, watch something productive, quick chat with family or friends, pray or meditate, journal, and something else — and write down the one thing you will actually do. Naming it is what makes a break end on time instead of dissolving into a phone. Breaks are built into the timer for anyone; the only kind that needs an account is watching a video from your own feed.
What are the scenes and the ambient sound?
Eight living scenes — rain, ocean, storm, morning birds, fireplace, night crickets, coffee shop, and alpha waves — drawn live behind the clock, each with a matching ambience. Most of them come two ways, Synth or Recorded: generated on the spot in your browser, or a real field recording that streams only once you switch it on. Alpha waves is the exception — it is a tone, so there is nothing to record, and it is always made on your device. The sound is off until you turn it on, has its own volume, and keeps playing if you leave the timer for another page of the site. If your system asks for reduced motion, the scene is a single still frame — no lightning, no flicker, nothing moving at all.
Is anything I do here tracked, saved or uploaded?
Nothing leaves your browser. The durations, the scene, the sound and the focus checklist are stored in this browser only, and the timer itself is memory — there is no session log and nothing is written to a server. Without an account, a session counts for nothing anywhere; it is simply a clock.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, in the browser, with no install. On a touch screen the controls hide while the clock runs and come back with a tap on the scene; the countdown itself never hides. Add the page to your home screen if you want it a tap away.
Sound credits
The recorded ambiences are real field recordings. Four of them were made by other people and shared under a Creative Commons licence, so here is who made them. The rest of the sound — every synthesised ambience, and every chime — is generated in your browser.
- Morning birds: “Dawn chorus at Glencairnie big bungalow Craigmore” by DivyaCM, used under CC BY 4.0. Trimmed and levelled for looping.
- Fireplace: “Bonfire burning” by Work With Sounds / Werstas, used under CC BY 4.0. Trimmed and levelled for looping.
- Night crickets: “Nocturnal Insect Chorus” by SoundHunter, for radio aporee ::: maps, used under CC BY 3.0. Trimmed and levelled for looping.
- Coffee shop: “Paris café” by Vincent Duseigne, for radio aporee ::: maps, used under CC BY 3.0. Trimmed and levelled for looping.
The full record, including the four recordings that need no credit, is in /ambient/LICENSE.txt.
More free tools from MugUp
The timer is one of four habits you can use on MugUp without an account. The others keep the same promise: real tools, nothing uploaded.
- Reading timerRead a PDF or text file from your computer with a clock beside the page. The file never leaves your device.
- Writing timerA distraction-free page, daily journaling prompts, and a clock you chose. Minutes decide when you are done.
- Speaking practiceA prompt, a short clock to think, a longer one to talk, and your browser’s transcript afterwards.
MugUp turns daily growth into a game: AI-built quizzes and flashcards with spaced repetition, plus reading, writing and speaking habits, streaks and a Life Card. See everything it does.