Most "focus apps" are a timer wrapped in a subscription. This one is a browser tab: pick a block, start it, and a bird keeps you company while it runs. Blocks, daily check-ins, ambient noise and a streak that remembers — free, no install, nothing to un-install later.
Two things, and only two: make starting cheap, and make stopping a decision instead of a drift. Everything else — task lists, projects, integrations, statistics dashboards — is either a feature for a different job (project management) or decoration. A focus app that does those two things well beats one that does twenty, because the failure mode of focus is not "I forgot what to do", it is "I slid away without noticing".
| Capability | Installed focus apps | This one (browser) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to try it | Download, account, permissions | Open a tab |
| Works on a work/school laptop | Often blocked by IT | Yes — no install needed |
| Keeps data after reinstall | Cloud account usually required | Optional sign-in; local otherwise |
| Ambient sound | Bundled audio files | Synthesised in the tab, no download |
| Price | Frequently a subscription | No ads; free tier of 10 sessions (50 with an account), optional paid plan for unlimited |
Because an install is a real cost and the benefit is small for a timer. Installing something to be told when 25 minutes have passed inverts the trade: you spend attention acquiring the tool that is supposed to save attention. The browser version also runs on machines where you cannot install — libraries, work laptops, school computers, someone else's phone. The honest counter-argument: a native app can show notifications more reliably and can run with the screen off. This page counts down in the tab title, and browser notifications only arrive if you have already granted permission for the site, so if you need a reliable alarm with the screen off, use an installed timer for that and use this for the work blocks.
A bird that reacts to whether you showed up, and a 90-second daily check-in that records mood and sessions. That is not a productivity feature — it is the reason people come back on days when they do not feel like it. If that sounds like the wrong trade for you, ignore the bird and use the timer; both work independently. Everything the app does is on one page.
Yes — this page runs with no account and no session limit, and there are no ads on it. Inside the full app, the free tier is 10 sessions as a guest or 50 with an account, and a paid plan removes that cap (plans are not open for purchase yet). Cosmetic unlocks use grain, an in-app currency earned by finishing sessions, so nothing cosmetic requires a card.
No. Pomodoro Bird runs in the browser at timerbird.com on phone and desktop. Sign-in is optional and only used to sync streaks.
Yes, since there is nothing to install. The one exception is notification permission: if the machine blocks site notifications you still get the tab-title countdown and the end-of-block state.
White, pink, rain and ocean noise, all synthesised in the page rather than streamed as files. See the timer with sounds page.
For a single meeting-prep block, no — a plain countdown timer is enough. The companion and check-in matter when you are trying to keep a habit going across weeks.