This timer is set for 25 minutes of focus and a 5-minute break, the classic Pomodoro length. Twenty-five minutes is long enough to get properly into one task and short enough that starting doesn't feel like a big commitment. If it doesn't suit you, the chips switch to 15 or 50.
Why is a Pomodoro 25 minutes?
Because that’s the length the original technique uses, and it stuck. Oregon State’s guide calls each round “a sprint, not a marathon”: a short, intense stretch with a break built in.
Nobody has shown that 25 is the perfect number. What research does show is that holding your attention on one unchanging task gets harder over time. In a well-known experiment by Ariga and Lleras, people’s performance on a long, monotonous task slipped as it went on, unless they occasionally switched to something else for a moment along the way. A Pomodoro break is a planned version of that switch. Twenty-five minutes is simply a sensible place to put it, and how long a pomodoro should be depends on you and the work.
What fits in 25 minutes?
One small, finished thing, or one clearly marked piece of a big thing. For example:
- the three emails you’ve been avoiding
- a rough draft of one section of a report
- one article, read and annotated
- a page of maths problems
- the kitchen bench, cleared and wiped
Before you press Start, say what the round is for, out loud or on paper. “Write the methods section” works. “Work on the thesis” doesn’t, because there’s no way to tell when you’ve done it. If you can’t name a job that fits, the task is too big to start; split it until you can. There’s more on that in the Pomodoro Technique, done gently.
What happens when the 25 minutes are up?
You stop, even mid-sentence. The soft chime plays if you’ve left it on, and a card sums up the round: “25 minutes. Patches dozed off around minute 4.” He’s a Bull Arab, and like the Bull Arab in the app, he settles in after about four minutes.
The timer then moves to a 5-minute break, ready when you press Start. After your fourth focus it offers a 15-minute long break instead. If you stopped mid-sentence, leave yourself a word or two so the next round starts warm.
When should I change from 25 minutes?
When the length keeps fighting you. If you can’t get going, or something pulls you away every few minutes, go shorter. Oregon State suggests 10, 15 or 20 minute blocks if those are easier, and the 15 minute timer is set up for it.
If the chime keeps arriving just as you’ve got the whole problem in your head, which happens a lot with writing, code and design, try the 50 minute timer. Give any new length a few days before you judge it. One bad afternoon isn’t evidence.
Only in the app
This page is the timer and Patches. Doggydoro for iPhone is the rest of the room:
- Ten breeds to choose from, and a name of your own for yours
- Finds at the end of a session, kept in a collection
- Other apps kept out of the way while you focus, and a bedtime lock
- The countdown on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island
- A room you furnish with bones earned by focusing
- Eleven sounds to work under, sticky-note tasks, Logs and your streak
Other timers
- A Pomodoro timer with a dog in it: 25 minutes on, 5 off
- A 50 minute timer: 50 minutes on, 10 off
- A 90 minute timer: 90 minutes on, 20 off
- A 15 minute timer: 15 minutes on, 5 off
- A study timer with a dog in it: 25 minutes on, 5 off
- A visual timer, with a dog for company: 15 minutes on, 5 off
- A 5 minute break timer: 5 minutes on, 5 off
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