Flowtime — a timer that counts up

Pomodoro rings after twenty-five minutes whatever is happening in your head at the time. Flowtime turns that around: you work until you want to stop, and the timer only records how long that was. The break follows from the session — about a fifth of it. No account, nothing sent to our server.

How it differs from pomodoro

• The timer counts up rather than down - nothing interrupts you.
• The length of a session is a result, not an assumption. You learn it afterwards.
• The break grows with the work: a fifth of the session. After fifty minutes that is ten, not the same five as always.
• It suits work that needs a run-up - writing, code, design. Pomodoro is better where the hard part is starting at all.

How it works

1. Write down what you are sitting down to do. One thing, not a list.
2. Start the timer and work. Nothing will ring - you decide when it ends.
3. When focus goes, stop and say how it went: done, carrying on, putting it off or dropping it. That question is the whole point of the history.
4. Take a break of about a fifth of the session. The timer works out how long.

Common questions

How is flowtime different from a stopwatch?

A stopwatch measures time. Flowtime asks at the end whether the thing you sat down to do actually got done, and records that. After a week you see not just how many hours, but how many of them led anywhere.

How long should the break be?

About a fifth of the session. Ten minutes after fifty, five after twenty-five. The timer works it out.

Is flowtime more effective than pomodoro?

A randomised study in 2026 compared flowtime, pomodoro and working with no method at all, and found no statistically significant difference in productivity, tasks completed or flow. Pick the one that does not get in your way - that is the whole advantage on offer here.

Do I need an account?

No. The timer works straight away and the recent history stays in your browser. An account makes the history permanent and available on every device.