Two modes in one page: count down some minutes, or count down to an exact moment
Runs in this tab. A deadline you set is remembered in this browser only — nothing is sent to a server.
Free · No signup to start · Works on locked-down laptops
Open Pomodoro Bird (free) →A minute countdown answers "how long have I been at this?" — it ends, it beeps, you take a break. A deadline countdown answers "how much room is left before the thing is due?" — it never ends, it just shrinks. They look similar on a screen and behave completely differently in the hand. If you set a deadline timer to study, you'll spend the evening watching days turn into hours and learning nothing; if you use a 25-minute countdown to track a project due Friday, you'll finish four sessions and still miss the date. Pick the question you're actually asking, then set the matching mode above.
| Mode | Good at | Fails at |
|---|---|---|
| For X minutes | Work sprints, practice reps, cooking, meetings that must end | Anything whose due date is days away — it resets and forgets |
| To a date & time | Deadlines, launches, flights, a term paper due at midnight | Telling you whether you are working right now — pair it with a minute countdown |
The honest setup for a week with a deadline: keep the deadline in the date field so you can see the room left, and run minute countdowns inside that room. One is the map, the other is the engine. Neither replaces the other.
When you set a deadline, this page writes it into your browser's own local storage so a reload doesn't wipe it. That's it — no account, no server, no sync. Clearing site data, or opening the page on your phone, will not show it. If a deadline genuinely matters, it goes in a calendar that syncs, not on a tab. This page is for the countdown you want to see while you work, not for being your system of record.
Timer alerts fail in one specific way: you hear them, glance, and type "just a second". So make the ending boringly pre-planned. For a minute countdown: at zero, stand up, write one line about where you stopped, come back after the break — that line is what makes resuming cheap. For a deadline: at zero the work is over, whatever state it is in; if zero keeps arriving with the work unfinished, the task was too big for the room left, not your focus too weak. Cut scope, not sleep.
This is the bare countdown: set it, watch it, get the alert, close the tab. Pomodoro Bird is a focus timer with memory — a free account keeps your streak, moods and check-ins, and completed focus pays grain (+2 for every 5 minutes focused, +5 for a finished pomodoro, +4 for the daily check-in). Grain buys the shop: hats and scarves from 18–60, two extra birds at 45 and 90, two more sound scenes, and themes. There's a hardcore mode where quitting resets today's streak — annoying on purpose, which is why some people finally stop quitting. Durations are yours to change there, too; nothing here has to be 25.
Yes — the one at the top of this page. Set minutes or a deadline, press play, and you get an alert when it reaches zero. If you want ambient sound while it runs (rain, forest, white noise), the free Pomodoro Bird generates three sound scenes live in the browser, so nothing downloads and it works on restricted school or work laptops.
Switch to the "To a date & time" mode and pick any future moment. It shows days, hours, minutes and seconds remaining and updates every second. The value is stored in this browser only.
Long ranges are shown as days plus a clock remainder, because a 60-hour countdown read as "3600:00" is unreadable. Under an hour it drops to mm:ss.
No signup and no install for this page — it's one HTML file that runs wherever a browser does. A free account is only worth having if you want streaks, grain, the shop and sync across devices.
Minute countdowns, 25 or 50, with the deadline mode in the background for anything due this week. See the study timer for the study-specific version and 25 minute timer for the classic length.
No. A closed tab stops the minute countdown; a deadline you saved will resume counting from the real clock the next time you open this page in the same browser, because it counts against a timestamp rather than against elapsed ticks.
3–4 short notes a year, new features only — no newsletter, no ads. How we handle email.