Getting started
Type a task and press Enter. Paste several lines at once and you'll get a preview before they're added, with the number that still fits.
Open any task to add notes, a due date, priority, subtasks (one level) and — with an account — attachments.
Focus rounds
Press Focus on a task, or choose one in the focus panel, then Start focus. The default is 25 minutes of focus, 5-minute short breaks, and a 15-minute long break after every 4 full rounds. All lengths are adjustable on every plan.
When a round ends we save it first, then ask whether the task is done. Choose Done, Not yet — keep this task, or Decide later. The timer ending never completes a task for you.
Ending a round early keeps the minutes you actually focused but doesn't count as a full round. Breaks never count as focus time.
- One task per round. To switch tasks, end the current round first; it's saved.
- Completing the task you're focusing on offers Complete & end round.
- An account can run one active round at a time. Other devices can see it and take over explicitly.
Timebox mode
Prefer a timer per task instead of fixed rounds? Switch the focus panel (or Settings → Timebox) from Pomodoro to Timebox. Your lists stay exactly the same; only the timer changes, and you can switch back any time.
Give a task a length from its row or its details, or type it at the end of the title: “Write report 30m”, “Plan week 1h30”, “写周报 90分钟”. When the time is up you hear a chime and the clock keeps counting up as “+03:10”, calmly and without red: finish when you're done, add 5, 10 or 15 minutes, or stop and come back later. Starting a task again counts down what's left of its plan.
Above Today and each list you'll see how long the open tasks add up to and when you'd finish. “Run in order” works through the list for you: finishing one task starts the next after a short hand-over (or the gap you set).
- Something else comes up mid-task? Type it into “Park it in Later” — it waits in the list's Later group, stays completable, and stays out of the plan until you move it back.
- If the device sleeps or every page is closed, counting stops at the last moment we saw you, and you decide what it was when you return. Two hours past the plan it pauses by itself.
- Chrome and Edge can pop the timer out into a small always-on-top window.
- History shows planned vs. actual time. Plus and Pro can correct the finish-time forecast by how long your tasks really take.
Saving and sync
Without an account, everything is saved in this browser (IndexedDB) and nothing is uploaded. Clearing site data removes it, so export anything important.
With an account, your lists are stored in the cloud and cached on each device. If you go offline you can keep editing; changes are sent when you reconnect. The status in the top bar tells you which state you're in: Synced, Syncing, Saved on this device, or Sync failed.
The first time you sign in on a browser with guest tasks, we ask before importing them. Signing out removes that account's cached copy from the device.
Timers in browsers
The countdown uses the real clock, so it stays correct in background tabs. If your computer sleeps or the browser is closed, the end sound may not play. When you come back, the round that was running is recorded once — never several made-up rounds.
Desktop notifications are optional and only requested when you turn them on in Settings.
Limits and plans
The to-do list and focus timer are free. Limits apply to how much you keep: active lists, active tasks, total task records, file space and history range. Completing or deleting tasks frees active room immediately.
Archived lists, completed tasks and items in trash still count toward total records until they're permanently deleted. Editing, completing, focusing and exporting are never blocked by limits.
Plus and Pro are monthly or yearly subscriptions, billed through our reseller Waffo Pancake. You can cancel any time from Plan & billing; you keep the plan until the end of the period you paid for, then your account returns to Free and nothing is deleted. Changed your mind? You get a full refund within 14 days of any payment.
Shared countdowns
Signed in, open Countdowns from the sidebar to make one: a target date (even years away) or a schedule of study and break blocks — set by hand, from a preset, or built from a list's open tasks. Each countdown has a link; anyone with it can watch full screen, and everyone sees the same second. You can add a password, or make a new link so the old one stops working.
On the full-screen page, move the mouse to the bottom edge (or tap, on a phone) to bring up the buttons: viewers, chat, sound and full screen on the right, and in the middle the host's controls: pause and start work straight away, while skipping to the previous or next block asks first, since every screen follows. Double-click or press F for full screen, M for sound, N for background sound (rain, waves, café… — off until you turn it on) and C for chat; the host can also press Space to pause and the arrow keys to skip. The theme is chosen in the workspace, and every open screen follows it. On iPhone, add the page to your Home Screen to open it without Safari's bars. Your plan sets how many countdowns you keep and how many screens can watch one at once; chat, the extra themes and a viewing password come with Plus. The top-left corner shows the Todo & Timer logo; with Plus you can hide it or show your own (PNG, JPEG or WebP, kept in a small library so you can reuse it).
Each countdown's ⋯ menu has its run history — every go from Start to the end or a reset, with when it began and ended, how long it really ran and where it stopped (the latest 200 are kept, 1,000 with Pro) — and its chat history, where you can search, delete, mute and export messages as a spreadsheet (CSV) or plain text. Chat keeps the latest 500 messages per countdown for 30 days, so export anything you want to keep.
Celebrations: in the countdown form, “Finish effect” plays confetti, fireworks or another effect full screen on every screen when the countdown ends (off by default; tick “Also when each block ends” for more). For your own focus rounds, choose the effect in Settings → Timer, where you can also turn off the little animation when ticking off a task.
When time is up a countdown can show a line of text where the digits were, a picture or a video over the whole screen, or take every screen on to a web page after 5 seconds; text works on every plan, the rest comes with Plus. Pictures and videos live in your media library (Countdowns → Media library), which shares its storage with attachments. For events, turn on the remote in a countdown's ⋯ menu and scan its QR code: from your phone (the /r/ link) you can start, pause, skip and black out every screen, and it asks for the viewing password if there is one. A blackout makes every screen black and silent while the time keeps going; on the big screen the host can also press B. Behind the countdown you can put a background, like a phone's wallpaper: a colour on every plan, or a picture or a muted, looping video from the media library with Plus. “Theme opacity” sets how much of the theme covers it and “Frosted glass” blurs it; “Content opacity” fades the logo, title, clock and digits together. Under “Layout” you can make the middle of the screen (the digits and the lines around them) smaller or larger and move it, for example to a corner, to leave room for the picture.
The console: click a countdown's title, or “Console”, in the list. Top left is a live preview of the screen, exactly as every screen shows it (it doesn't take a viewer's place and makes no sound); under it are big buttons for start and pause, previous and next block, ±1 or ±5 minutes, reset, a scheduled start and black out. On the right, the rundown lists every block's length, start time and progress, and “Go here” moves every screen straight to that block. A screen message puts a line (“5 minutes left”, “Please wrap up”) in large type across the top of every screen — plain, amber or red, flashing if you like — until you take it down; the latest chat is shown there too. Keys: Space start/pause, ← → previous/next block, + − one minute, B black out. The cards in the list keep just the start/pause button. Co-hosts can open the console too. It's part of every plan.
Exams: countdowns, timetables and exam dates
Exam pages (under Countdown on the site) count to the published dates of exams such as Kaoyan, CET, Gaokao, Suneung, the Common Test, the SAT, AP Exams and the JLPT; “Customize this countdown” makes it your own. For your own date, choose “Target date” in the countdown form; “Start from” fills in a title, a theme and an effect for an exam, a birthday, a trip, a wedding, a graduation, New Year or Lunar New Year. Under the digits you can show a goal (“1500 on the SAT”) and a line of encouragement that changes every day. With Plus, up to six more dates share the screen, each with its own time left (“Maths · 24 days”).
An exam timetable follows the clock: enter each subject with its day, start and end, and every screen starts, moves to the next subject and finishes at those times by itself. It is locked while it runs (no pausing or skipping, only stopping). Choose notices 60, 30, 15, 10, 5 or 1 minutes before a subject ends, and when the time left turns amber and red. When a subject ends, every screen says “Pens down” for five minutes, or until the next one starts. The Exam clock theme shows the time of day in large digits. With Pro (the full exam mode), the notices can be read aloud by the device's voice and the exam room's rules — up to eight lines — run along the bottom of every screen. The Exam timer page sets all of this up for you.
A list can work toward an exam: in its ⋯ menu choose “Set an exam date”. The list then shows the days left, your goal, today's focus rounds against a daily target (“2 of 6 · 4 to go”) and, if you like, a line of encouragement. Copying the Exam preparation, Final exam review or Language test preparation template asks for the date straight away.
Stopwatch and classroom timers
The Stopwatch counts up with laps (up to 99, the fastest and slowest marked); Space starts and pauses, L takes a lap, R resets and F goes full screen, and a reload keeps the time. The Visual timer shows the time left as a shrinking disc. On a shared countdown of blocks, −1 and +1 change the current block by a minute — on the big screen (or the − and + keys), on its card in the workspace and on the phone remote. A timetable follows the clock and has no ±1.
The Classroom timer shows up to 12 timers on one screen. “Groups” runs each on its own (start, pause, ±1 minute and reset each, or all at once); “Turns” runs one at a time — Next pauses the current one and starts the next, and overtime shows in red (+0:12). Templates load group work, Think · Pair · Share, presentations, a debate, stations or a lab session. It is free and stays in this browser.
With Pro, a board can be saved to your account (it counts as one of your countdowns), shared by link, password-protected and run from a phone. Each time you reset the whole board, a class record keeps how long each group really took against its plan: ⋯ → Class records.
Study rooms
Turn on “Study room” in a countdown of blocks (it fills in 50 minutes of study and 10 of break, on a loop). Plus has one room for up to 10 people at once; Pro has 10 rooms for up to 200 each. The big screen shows a QR code to join, how many are studying and today's total time.
Joining is free: scan the code or open the /j/ link, sign in, and pick what you're studying from your own tasks if you like. Your phone checks in every 15 seconds, and the study time of each block goes into your own focus history (a full round from 90%). If your phone locks, come back within 10 minutes after the block ends and the whole block counts. Breaks don't count.
With Pro a room can run on a daily schedule (days, hours and time zone — it starts and rests by itself), show a ranking for today, this week or this month (only people who choose to appear on it, never their email), a star of the week, and a notice from the host along the bottom.
Big screens, streams and co-hosts (Pro)
In a countdown's share dialog, “Other screens” gives a kiosk link for a screen on the wall (no buttons, reconnects by itself, shows the time of day when it can't show the countdown, reloads every night), a stream overlay with a transparent background for OBS (add &viewers=1 to show how many are watching) and an embed code for your website. A countdown with a password can't be embedded.
Co-hosts: add up to five accounts by email in the share dialog. They find the countdown under “Countdowns you co-host” and can start, pause, skip, change it by a minute, black it out and run a board, but not edit, share or delete it; they can leave it themselves. Each countdown's card shows the most screens that watched at once and how often it was opened.
Pro comes monthly, yearly or as a 30-day pass: one payment, no renewal, the same allowance as Pro; passes bought in a row follow one another, and Plan & billing shows when yours ends. When Pro ends nothing is deleted: what's over the allowance is paused and comes back when you renew.
Statistics, sounds and reports (Plus)
Under the chart in Focus history, Plus adds where your time went (by list or by task), a week-by-hour map of when you focus best, an estimate report (how long tasks really took against the plan) and a year in review you can print. Free accounts see a preview of their own numbers.
The sound button at the bottom of the focus panel plays background sound while you focus: rain and brown noise on every plan, all nine with Plus, each with its own volume, and optionally on by itself for each focus round.
Routines: in a list's ⋯ menu, “Run at a set time” sends a push at the days and time you choose (“time to start your morning routine”) and opens the list. Escalating reminders (Settings → Timer) nudge you at 5, 10 and 15 minutes over a timebox and then every 15, more insistently each time; reminders reach you as a push even when every page is closed.
Report links: when you make a share card for the last week or 30 days, tick “Keep this link up to date” and the same link shows fresh numbers (recalculated when opened, at most every five minutes). Calendar feed (Settings → Calendar subscription): a private .ics address with your focus rounds of the last 90 days, the round in progress and tasks with a due date; you can change the address or turn it off.
Focus guard (browser extension)
The Focus guard extension for Chrome and Edge closes the sites on your list while a focus round runs and shows a “later” page with the time left and your task; in breaks they open again. Connect it once from the extension (it opens a page here where you press Connect); Settings → Focus guard lists connected browsers and disconnects them. Blocking happens inside your browser: the addresses you visit never leave it.
Free blocks 3 sites during focus rounds. Plus allows up to 500 sites, an “only these sites” mode, set hours and strict mode (no “open anyway”, and while the guard is on you can't remove sites or turn strict mode off). Otherwise “open anyway” waits five seconds and lets the site through for five minutes.
Attachments
Signed-in accounts can attach images (JPEG, PNG, WebP), PDF, TXT, Markdown, CSV and Word, Excel or PowerPoint files. Files are checked before they become available and stay private to your account.
Storage sizes use decimal units (1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes), the same on screen and on our servers.
Your data
Export everything any time from Settings as JSON, Markdown or plain text, plus a CSV of your focus history. Exports are free on every plan.
You can delete your account from Settings. There's a 7-day window to change your mind.