Guides

Pomodoro for ADHD: how to make a focus timer work for you

The Pomodoro Technique is simple: 25 minutes of work, a 5-minute break, repeat. Plenty of people with ADHD say it doesn't quite fit. Starting is the hard part, 25 minutes feels endless one day and far too short the next, and the 5-minute break turns into an hour. You don't have to drop it. You can bend it.

I have ADHD, and I made Pobbo partly for myself. This page is about habits and tools that help me and many others, not medical advice.

Why the classic version can feel wrong

• The timer doesn't help you start. It only measures once you've begun, and beginning is often the whole problem.
• Time is hard to feel. "25 minutes" is abstract. A countdown you can actually see makes it real.
• Breaks run away. Five minutes on your phone quietly becomes forty.
• The bell can arrive at the worst moment. When it's finally going well, stopping at 25 minutes breaks the best stretch of the day.
• Missing a round feels like failing. Strict systems make one bad day feel like the end of the plan.

Eight ways to adjust it

1. Start smaller than feels useful

10 or 15 minutes, or "just 5 minutes". A round you're sure you can finish is easier to begin, and once you've started, carrying on is easier than starting was.

2. Name the next tiny step, not the task

"Open the document and write the heading", not "write the essay". Write it down before the timer starts.

3. Keep the countdown where you can see it

On the Lock Screen, on a clock on the desk, anywhere that doesn't need unlocking your phone to check.

4. Decide the break before it begins

Set a timer for the break too, and spend it away from the phone: water, a stretch, a window.

5. Let a good round run on

If you're in the flow when the time is up, add a few minutes instead of stopping. If a countdown makes you anxious, try a timer that counts up instead, and stop when you're ready.

6. Add someone

Working next to another person, even a silent one, makes starting easier for a lot of people. That's body doubling.

7. Close the easiest escape

Usually the phone. Put it out of reach, or have it keep distracting apps closed while you focus (see how to block apps while you study).

8. Count what you did, not what you missed

Look back at what you got done today, session by session, rather than at a perfect plan you didn't follow.

What to look for in an ADHD-friendly focus timer

• Any length, including short ones, and the option of no countdown at all
• The time visible without opening the app
• One tap to start, from wherever you already are
• Breaks with a clear end and a nudge to come back
• Company, or a small reason to stay, without guilt
• A way to keep distracting apps closed only while you focus

How Pobbo does it

Tap the clock on the wall and your pixel buddy unfolds a little table and works right beside you: body doubling with a companion on your screen.

• Any length from 5 minutes to 2 hours, with quick picks for 15, 25, 45, 60 and 90 minutes. Or No timer: it counts up until you stop (up to 2 hours), and stopping never costs anything.
• Visible time. Your task list and the countdown stay on your Lock Screen. Start from Control Center, the Lock Screen, the Action button or Siri.
• After a session: "5 more min" if you're on a roll, or a break of 5 to 30 minutes that ends with a notification offering the next round.
• Apps closed only while you focus, as firmly as you like, from a gentle reminder to a closed door.
• A small reason to stay. Every full 10 minutes earns 2 coins for your buddy's home. Ending a timed session more than a minute early loses that session's coins and 2 more. That's all: no streaks to break.
• What you did. Your records show each day and week as a timeline, and your buddy makes something for their home from the minutes you focus.

Questions