This is a free pomodoro timer you can set to any length, with a countdown ring you can see from across the room and a sound at the end you cannot ignore. Many people with ADHD find shorter blocks of 10 to 15 minutes easier to start than the standard 25. Change the numbers and the timer keeps them.
Why an external timer helps
Time is harder to feel than to measure. A meta-analysis of 27 studies covering 1,620 children and adolescents with ADHD found they judged time less accurately and less precisely than controls, and tended to overestimate how long intervals lasted (Zheng and colleagues, 2022, Journal of Attention Disorders). Research in adults is much thinner and less consistent, as a 2023 review of a decade of adult ADHD time-perception studies concluded.
That mismatch is what people mean by time blindness: not knowing how long you have been at something, and not knowing how long it will take. A countdown on the screen puts the answer outside your head, where it does not depend on an internal sense that is not reporting reliably.
The other half is starting. William Dodson’s description of an interest-based nervous system in ADDitude argues that ADHD brains engage through interest, novelty, challenge and urgency rather than through importance. A timer manufactures urgency on demand. Ten minutes on a clock is a smaller, more immediate thing than “this matters and is due Friday.”
Worth saying plainly: research on the pomodoro technique specifically in ADHD populations is thin, and most of what exists is self-report or clinical experience rather than controlled trials. The full ADHD guide goes through what is known and what is guesswork.
Presets to try
Start a 10/3 session when the task feels impossible and you have been circling it for an hour. Ten minutes is short enough that arguing with it takes longer than doing it.
Start a 15/5 session for homework, admin and anything boring. This is the length ADDitude’s clinicians most often suggest shortening to for younger students and for anyone who finds 25 minutes a stretch (ADDitude on adapting pomodoro).
Start a 25/5 session if the classic length works for you. Plenty of people with ADHD use it exactly as written.
Start a 45/15 session for work you tend to fall into. If hyperfocus is on your side that day, a bell at 25 minutes is an interruption rather than a help. A long block with a real break after it protects the state without letting it eat five hours.
Adults who get pulled into hyperfocus are common in the research: Hupfeld, Abagis and Shah (2019) found adults with higher ADHD symptom levels reported more frequent episodes of long, intense focus across study, hobbies and screen time. The timer is useful at both ends of that. It gets you started, and it tells you when to stop.
Make it visible and loud
The ring matters more than the digits. A shrinking arc gives you a sense of elapsed time at a glance, without having to read a number and do the subtraction. Press F for full screen and the timer takes over the whole window, which is what you want on a second monitor or an old tablet propped against the desk.
Turn the end sound up and pick one you notice. A polite chime is easy to miss when you are absorbed, and the whole point is a signal that reaches you when your attention is elsewhere. You can set the alarm to repeat, test it before you start, and turn on browser notifications so the alert arrives even if the tab is buried.
Ticking is divisive. Some people find a quiet tick anchors them to the clock, others find it unbearable. It is a toggle, so try it once and decide.
The task list does one job of a body double
Working alongside another person, what CHADD calls body doubling, helps many adults with ADHD start and stay with a task. A web page is not a person, and nothing here replaces that.
What the task list does is narrower. Write down the one thing this session is for and it sits above the ring the whole time, so the intention survives the moment your attention wanders. You get a visible answer to “what was I doing”, which is otherwise where twenty minutes disappears.
Add an estimate in sessions next to each task. Being wrong is fine and informative. If you do want the person as well, run a call with a friend and use the same preset link so you are both on the same clock.
When this does not help
Some days a timer adds pressure rather than structure, and the bell becomes one more thing demanding attention. That is a real reaction and not a failure of effort.
It also does nothing for an unclear task. If you cannot say what the first action is, the timer just measures how long you sat with it. Write down the first physical step instead.
A timer is a tool, not treatment. It does not replace advice from a clinician, and if focus is getting in the way of work or study, that conversation is a separate one. NIMH’s overview of ADHD in adults is a reasonable starting point.
FAQ
What is the best pomodoro length for ADHD?
There is no single answer, and shorter is the more common adaptation. Many people start at 10 or 15 minutes and move up once they are finishing sessions consistently. Others prefer 45 minutes so the bell does not interrupt work they have fallen into. Test two lengths for a week each.
Does the pomodoro technique work for ADHD?
Many people report it helps, mainly with starting and with noticing time passing. The evidence base specific to ADHD is small and mostly self-report, so treat it as a strategy worth testing rather than a proven intervention. If it does not suit you after a fair trial, that is useful information.
Is a visual timer better than a digital countdown?
For many people, yes. A shrinking ring or disc shows remaining time as a shape you can read instantly, without converting a number. This timer shows both, so you can watch whichever one your brain prefers and ignore the other.
What if I keep abandoning sessions halfway?
Cut the length until you finish. A completed eight-minute session builds the habit; an abandoned 25-minute one teaches you the timer is optional. Length is not a score, and going back up later is easy. Most people find the number that works changes with the task and the day.
Does the timer keep my sessions private?
Your settings, tasks and session history stay in your browser. Nothing about what you are working on is sent anywhere, and there is no account to create. Clearing your browser data clears the history too. The site itself is free and ad-free, and it does use Google Analytics to count visits to pages.
Start with a length you know you can finish. Start a 15/5 session and write the one task it is for above the ring.