On Windows, a Pomodoro is 25 minutes on one task, such as the first section of a report or one inbox, and then a 5-minute break. LiquidFocus uses that default, adds a 15-minute break after 4 blocks, and leaves the break stopped until you start it, unless you turn the auto-start switch on. Windows 11 also keeps a session timer in the Clock app for people who do not want another install.
Francesco Cirillo named this pattern the Pomodoro Technique, from the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used as a university student in the late 1980s. On a PC the useful part is the same small loop: name one task, run the timer, stop at the bell, then take the break ahead of the next block. The bell ends the argument about whether the sentence in front of you is finished enough to stand up.
The task, then the bell
Name the task before the clock is running, where a running timer never tells you which document to open. One concrete line is enough, such as "Draft the intro of the Q1 report," rather than a vague note about the report as a whole. A second task can go on a slip of paper beside the keyboard. The slip is still there on the break, and the intro stays the only job inside the 25 minutes. A long report then becomes one block of that report, small enough to start on a tired afternoon, with the rest of the pages waiting on the slip.
The longer pause is the one that follows four blocks, and Cirillo's pattern only requires that this pause exist, while LiquidFocus fixes its length at 15 minutes on a standard setup.
LiquidFocus in the installer
LiquidFocus is one of six tools in the same Windows installer, and each tool can be turned on or off without removing the others. The core tools have no time limit and no account, and the installer does not send telemetry. The download includes 14 days of Pro for the paid checks, the camera check being one of those Pro features and staying off until you turn it on, so the first block can stay a plain countdown on the day you install.
Turned on, the check looks for a face in the frame, the head in view of the lens, and it does not follow your eyes across the screen. A face that leaves has to stay out for the seconds you set, 5 seconds unless you change that wait, and only then does the timer record an interruption and pause. The pause that came from the camera resumes once your face is back in the frame. A pause you started yourself stays paused, the camera having no say over a pause you chose. Frames are checked on the computer and then discarded, with no video stored or sent anywhere.
During a running work block, a helper on 127.0.0.1 tells the PeakFlow browser extension the sites to block. The default list is YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Netflix, Twitter, and X. The block lasts for that work block only, and it is not a block for the whole PC by itself. Cold Turkey, Freedom, and LeechBlock NG are separate programs with schedules of their own. The site-block page is where those wider blocks are described, for a block that has to stay up after the timer stops.
Other timers on the same PC
The table shows what you can check in each app, and the paid prices in the table are the ones already printed there.
| App | Open it when | What you can check | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiquidFocus | You want the camera to pause the timer | The camera looks for a face and can pause the timer | Free |
| Focus To-Do | You want a task board in the same window | Built-in Kanban boards and project tracking | Free / $2.99/mo premium |
| Pomotroid | You want a countdown and no account | Open source, no account required | Free (open source) |
| Windows Clock session | You want a timer that is already on Windows 11 | Built into Windows 11, connects to Spotify | Free (built-in) |
Focus To-Do puts a board next to the timer, so a card can move across columns while the clock sits on the task you picked, and part of that app is paid at $2.99/mo. Pomotroid is a countdown you launch and start, with no account and no task-list sync, which is enough where the list already lives in another program. Readers leaving Be Focused on a Mac can use the Windows alternatives page for a wider set of timers than this one.
Windows 11 puts a session timer in the Clock app, on a tab you do not install. It can take a task from Microsoft To Do and a playlist from Spotify, and it can turn on Do Not Disturb for the length of the session. It does not look for a face at all. The steps for that tab are on the Windows 11 Clock session page, and LiquidFocus remains a different program in a different window.
Todoist by hand
Todoist can hold the task while any timer holds the minutes. The Todoist page shows the Connect Todoist button for the version that puts the list inside LiquidFocus. By hand, you add a label such as @25min or @2pomodoros so the size of the task is visible, you open Today and sort by P1 where you use those marks, and you write a note that names the block, the intro rather than the whole report. At the bell, a comment can say what you finished, and a subtask can be ticked where that piece is actually done.
A long list and a list for today do different jobs: the long list holds every task you might do someday, and a morning block is for copying today's tasks onto the short list. For the next 25 minutes the short list is the only list on screen, where the long list would pull you into planning instead of the intro you already named.
Windows behind the front window
FocusDim dims the windows behind the one you are using, and Active mode is the setting that leaves the front window bright. The default strength is 60 percent, with the slider running from 10 percent to 90 percent on that same control. App mode leaves every window from that app bright, which is the mode for an editor and its preview together. All Windows mode dims the desktop and the taskbar and leaves the windows bright. Drag escape is on by default: while you drag a file, the dimming fades so the drop target is visible, then the dimming returns. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+D, easy to hit without leaving the document. You can exclude an app, change the dim color, and turn a single monitor off where that screen should stay undimmed.
One bright window is the wrong picture where you need two apps, or where a file is on its way to a dimmed target, and the other two modes exist for those two cases. The dimming page walks through them in order. LiquidFocus does not dim windows on its own; FocusDim is the tool that does, inside the same installer.
Notifications
Windows 11 can quiet notifications from Settings, then System, then Focus. Priority only during the hours you run the timer lets the people on the priority list through and holds everyone else. The keyboard shortcuts page covers binding keys on this PC. FocusDim already uses Ctrl+Shift+D for the dimmer, LiquidFocus does not take a second global shortcut on a new install.
The hall and the call
The phone belongs in another room before the first block, where a face-down phone on the desk still lights up and still gets picked up. A shut door or headphones tells a person in the hall that a block is running. Water within reach keeps the break from becoming a walk to the kitchen that ends in the inbox. The slip of paper is for tasks you are refusing until the bell.
A meeting already has a length, so it is a poor stand-in for a 25-minute block. One block can hold the agenda ahead of the call, and another block can hold the notes once the call is over, which is the split described on the meetings page. MeetReady is separate from this clock: it checks the camera and the microphone, and with its switch on it can open itself 2 minutes before a meeting. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+M on a standard install.
Readers who want the camera check discussed for ADHD can use the ADHD page. Some people shorten the work minutes on their own timer. LiquidFocus and FocusDim both live in the PeakFlow installer, and the wider desk layout is on the deep-work desk page.
A different length
The work minutes and the break minutes can both be changed on the timer. A 25-minute cutoff that slices a function in half is a reason to lengthen the work timer, and a pattern of leaving the chair is a reason to shorten it. The break stays part of the cycle either way. The defaults remain 25, 5, and 15, with the long break coming once 4 blocks have finished.
FAQ
How many blocks should I finish in a day?
There is no daily quota stored in the timer, and the practical stop is the end of today's list or the first break you keep skipping, where a skipped break means the next block starts tired and the bell has stopped meaning a rest.
What if a person interrupts the block?
A pause you press yourself will not resume when your face returns, because the camera does not take over a pause you chose. A face that leaves the frame for the seconds you set does pause the timer, and that camera pause resumes once the face is back. A person at the door is the first kind: pause, deal with them, and start a fresh 25 minutes where you left the task.
Can I use the timer for creative work?
Yes, where you lengthen the work minutes so the bell does not cut a paragraph or a sketch in half, and you still take the break at the end of that longer timer.
Should I time my meetings with it?
No. A meeting already has its own length, and the timer is a better fit for the agenda before the call and the notes after it.
Which Windows timer should I open?
Open LiquidFocus for the face check and the 25, 5, and 15 defaults, Focus To-Do for a board in the same window, Pomotroid for a countdown with no account, or the Clock app on Windows 11 where you want no extra install at all.
What should I do on the break?
Start the break yourself unless auto-start is already on. The default short break is 5 minutes, long enough to stand up, get water, and look out a window, and the sites the work block was blocking can stay closed until the next block begins.
Can the timer help with ADHD?
The bell is outside your head, and the break arrives on a clock instead of whenever you notice you are tired. Some people shorten the work minutes on that same timer. The ADHD page describes the camera check for readers who want that setup on Windows.
What if 25 minutes feels too short or too long?
Change the minutes after the default has shown you which part fails, a cutoff in the middle of a paragraph or a block you cannot sit through, and keep a break in the cycle, the 25 and the 5 being only the starting point.
Should a paused block count as finished?
A camera pause means the face was gone and the block did not run the full 25 minutes, and the timer has already recorded the interruption. Leave the Todoist task open until the piece is actually done, rather than ticking it at the mere sound of the bell.
How does this sit next to Todoist?
Todoist holds the task, the timer holds the minutes, and the Todoist page shows Connect Todoist plus Today, Priority, a project, or a filter. The labels @25min and @2pomodoros are the version you can do before you connect an account.
The first sitting
Download LiquidFocus, leave the camera check off until you want it, and start the break yourself unless you turn auto-start on. The download includes 14 days of Pro on that same installer, with no account required for the core timer itself.
Download LiquidFocus