The Pomodoro technique has proven to be an efficient way to stay organized and productive. It is based on natural body cycles and helps build the work processes harmonically into your daily routine. In short, the technique prescribes to divide the work process into 25-minute work sprints followed by short (3-5 minutes) intervals, and a longer (15-30 minutes) rest after each fourth sprint.

Originally implemented with the help of a simple kitchen timer, the Pomodoro technique has become even easier to apply in the digital era. Today, there are many Pomodoro timer apps that help organize work in natural cycles and make it more productive. Let’s look at the most helpful solutions that work great for work, studies, and workouts.

1. Pomotodo

Pomotodo app combines a to-do list with the Pomodoro functionality and offers a simple way to organize your daily work routine. Its to-do lists are designed to be simple, but also offer such convenient features as hashtags, priority and more. You can log start and stop time of the Pomodoro intervals for each task and see how much time it takes to complete them. The Pro version offers more functions, such as reminders, recurring to-dos, weekly report etc.

2. Tomato Timers

Tomato Timers is a service that allows you to track Pomodoro intervals directly in the browser. It allows to create tasks, set Pomodoro intervals (default or custom, depending on your needs), and observe your progress. Simple and minimalistic, this service is a great help in breaking procrastination habits and building up an efficient work process.

3. Tomatoes

Another minimalistic service that allows you to track Pomodoro intervals in the browser. You can start an interval manually when working on your task, or sign in with GitHub or Twitter to automate your work time logging. The service offers an effortless way to get organized and maintain your focus throughout the workday.

4. TomatoTimer

TomatoTimer helps keep record of work done during the workday, tracked in Pomodoro intervals. Create tasks, start working on them, and track time with a timer. This service allows you to customize intervals, pause and reset them, and receive audio notifications at the end of an interval, which is especially convenient when you’re running it in the background. You can also use keyboard shortcuts that make working with this tool even easier.

5. Marinara

Just like any Pomodoro timer, this tool sets the 25-minute cycles with short and long breaks by default. As 25-minute focus doesn’t always work well for creative professions where a longer focus interval might be required, Marinara timer supports customizable cycles. Set time segments that work best for you, focus on your work, and take breaks to refresh and recharge.

6. Focus Keeper

A timer app for iOS that helps get focused on work, studies or any other important activities. It allows to organize your work in Pomodoro cycles and track your productivity progress. The app provides insights into your results with its informative charts and supports goal tracking: set up your daily goal (number of Pomodoro sessions) and see if you’ve reached it by the end of the day. Focus Keeper app has a simple and friendly interface, and allows you to adjust the timer with your fingers, just like a real kitchen timer.

7. Clockwork Tomato

Clockwork Tomato combines the functionality of a clock, a timer, and an activity log, which helps you get focused on your tasks, beat procrastination habits, and stay updated on your results. Detailed activity logs provide you with the valuable data on your productivity progress. The app is fully customizable, so you can set up colors, sounds, behavior, etc., as well as create profiles and switch between them. In Clockwork Tomato, it is also possible to sync and edit task lists through Dropbox, which is convenient when working from several devices.

8. Flat Tomato

Flat Tomato is available as an iOS app and a macOS solution for time management and productivity improvement. It allows to keep track of time logged in standard Pomodoro intervals, supports the ability to set up custom cycles, and review statistics in colorful charts available in the macOS application. This solution works great for maintaining concentration on work and studies, staying away from distractions, and defeating procrastination.

9. Timerdoro

Timerdoro is a simple Pomodoro timer for staying focused on studies, getting rid of distractions at work, and organizing efficient workouts. Set up your cycles, add tasks, and work on them until the timer runs out. You can test out the app by signing up for a free account that offers multiple timers, the ability to use the app on several devices, and guidelines on productivity and efficiency.

10. Focus 10

Focus 10 is a Pomodoro timer app for Windows 10. It works on desktops, laptops and mobile devices and allows you to keep track of work time and improve productivity using the Pomodoro method. Its charts show daily results and progress. The app has a clear and intuitive interface and offers various personalization options. It is localized to several languages, which simplifies its usage for those who are not proficient in English.

11. YAPA-2

YAPA means “yet another Pomodoro app” and is essentially a minimalistic desktop timer. It offers the user to take a break after working for a specific period – you can configure your own Pomodoro intervals in the app’s settings. The app is free and open source, which means advanced customization possibilities. YAPA-2 supports work from command line for those who find it more convenient than a graphic interface.

12. Focus Journal

Focus Journal offers an easy way to fight procrastination habits. It allows you to separately track intervals where you’re focused and intervals where you get distracted. For a focusing interval, you get a nice red pomodoro as a reward; if you’ve been procrastinating during the time supposed to be used for work, you get a green tomato. This motivates you to stay concentrated from the beginning to the end of your focusing interval and allows you to be aware of your productivity habits. Informative charts provide an overview of the achieved results and help in analyzing them.

13. Focus Me

Focus Me is a tool with comprehensive functionality designed to defeat distractions and maintain high productivity levels throughout the day. It includes a scheduler that you can use to plan your focusing sessions in advance – and a Pomodoro timer to help you stick to your plan. For staying energized, a break reminder is included in the app: it reminds you that it’s time to go for a walk, grab a coffee, stretch, or do any other relaxing activity. The app can also block distracting websites and applications so that nothing gets in your way when you’re working.

14. PomoDuctivity

This focus boosting app works not only as a Pomodoro timer, but also as a time tracker and a task manager. This way, it helps manage focus and handle distractions, improve motivation, and get a full picture of the work scope to be done. PomoDuctivity integrates with Google Tasks and Microsoft To Do, and Trello integration is planned for the future. With PomoDuctivity, it’s easy to get the work done and develop productive habits.

15. Focus Booster

This app helps improve your focusing habits and manage work time records. Pomodoro sessions are automatically recorded as work time for specific tasks, which eliminates the headache of recalling where your time went. The progress is shown on visual dashboards that provide quick insights into your productivity dynamics. Focus Booster app allows you to export time data into a .csv file, generate invoices, and share them with your clients.

Author's Bio: 

Arina is the CMO of actiTIME, an online platform helping thousands of companies track time and efficiently manage projects of any size. She is passionate about digital marketing and can give tips on productivity and time management.