Built for Chaotic Brains
The Focus Timer you can actually see
EmberTimer turns one block of time into a visual countdown, then keeps the rest of your day in three simple places: today's top three, your habits, and a brain dump.
Free, works in your browser, no download. Sign in only when you want it saved.
YOUR DAY, IN ONE PLACE
Everything you need to focus deeper
See time passing, choose what matters, clear your head, and keep your progress with you across devices.
24:59
FOCUS
A visual countdown you can feel moving.
Today's Top 3
- Finish the proposal
- Call the dentist
- Plan tomorrow
SYNC
Ready everywhere
Brain Dump
Book appointment · Send invoice · Pick up groceries…
IN DEVELOPMENT
Google Play version
We're working on EmberTimer for Android.
AI Focus Plan
BRAIN DUMP → PLAN
- Book appointment
- Send invoice
- Pick up groceries
- MUSTSend invoice
- SHOULDBook appointment
- COULDPick up groceries
One tap turns a messy brain dump into an ordered plan — with a reason and a tiny first step for each.
Features for Chaotic Brains and Focus needs
Visual countdown
A big, calm ring you can read from across the room. It stops at zero — never sneaks you into another cycle.
Today's top 3
Three things, that's it. Anything left unticked quietly carries over to tomorrow.
Habit streaks
Walks, sleep, mood, energy — tick them off, log a missed day, and watch the week fill in.
Brain dump
Empty your head in one line. Add a deadline or a must / should / could tag later, if ever.
Gentle or impossible to miss
Pick a soft chime — or an alarm, siren or klaxon that repeats until you notice. Your browser can pop up an alert too, plus a reminder for notes due today.
Light, dark, system
Warm ember colours in both. It follows your device unless you tell it otherwise.
Designed to prevent focus fatigue and eliminate distractions, our visual countdown provides immediate spatial awareness of passing time. This helps minds stay anchored to the present moment without the anxiety of traditional ticking clocks.
Carries over to your other devices
Sign in once and your tasks, habits, notes and timer history follow you from laptop to phone. Days roll over at midnight in your own time zone.
Your data is protected
We never sell your data and you can delete everything at any time. Not signed in? Nothing leaves your browser.
WHY EMBERTIMER
A timer with no catch
Most tools want an account, a credit card and a tutorial before they show you anything. EmberTimer is the opposite: open the page, press start. No onboarding, no paywall, no “free trial ends in 3 days.”
Why free? Because I built it for my own chaotic brain first — a visual timer, a dump list and a habit track I wanted on every device, without a subscription for it. Sign in only when you want your days saved and synced; everything essential is free, and most of what comes next will be too.
Add it to your home screen
EmberTimer works in your browser, but it feels like a real app once it is installed.
iPhone or iPad
- Open embertimer.com in Safari.
- Tap the Share button.
- Choose Add to Home Screen.
Android
- Open embertimer.com in Chrome.
- Tap the menu (or the install banner).
- Select Add to Home Screen or Install.
Chrome or Edge on desktop
- Open embertimer.com.
- Look for the install icon in the address bar, or open the menu.
- Choose Install EmberTimer.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?+
Yes. Every timer, habit, brain dump and focus plan feature works without a subscription or a credit card. EmberTimer was built first for personal use, and the plan is to keep the essentials free for everyone. Signing in only adds saving and syncing between your devices.
Do I need an account?+
No. Open the page and press start — no sign-up, no onboarding. An account is only needed if you want your tasks, habits, brain dump and timer history saved and synced across your devices. Without one, everything stays in your browser.
Does it work offline?+
Yes. Once you have opened EmberTimer, a copy is saved on your device, so the timer, habits, brain dump and today's focus tasks keep working without a connection — even from a home-screen install. When you are back online, everything syncs again automatically.
Can I use it as a regular Pomodoro timer?+
Yes. Focus 25 and Break 5 are the defaults and you can change both lengths in settings. On a computer, press Space to start or pause, F for focus, B for break and R to reset. The timer always stops at zero — it never sneaks you into another round on its own.
What happens when the timer finishes?+
It stops — no automatic next cycle. The orange disc fills as time passes, a sound you chose plays, and you get a notification if you allowed them. Pick a soft chime or a louder alarm, siren or klaxon that repeats until you notice, and decide whether the sound applies to breaks too.
Can I switch between focus and break without stopping the timer?+
Yes. Switching from a break to focus — or the other way around — does not stop the running timer; it keeps counting down until it finishes. A running block is only replaced when you press Start for a new one, and the block you leave is still recorded in your history. You can turn off recording of breaks in Settings → App personalisation.
Is the AI focus plan free too?+
Yes, and it's included for signed-in users, limited to 100 focus plans per account. In Brain dump, one tap sorts your notes into a Must / Should / Could plan with a reason and a tiny first step for each item. Everything else in the app has no such limit.
Can I install it as an app on my phone?+
Yes. EmberTimer is an installable web app: add it from your browser's share or menu and it opens full-screen from your home screen, works offline, and syncs when you're back online. Long-pressing the icon offers quick “Focus 25” and “Break 5” shortcuts.
Who can see my data?+
Only you. Tasks, habits, brain dump, timer history and settings are stored privately under your account, and without an account nothing ever leaves your browser. You can download a backup of your brain dump and focus plan at any time, and delete all of your data from settings.
Can I log habits for a day I missed?+
Yes. Habits support retroactive logging — open any day of the current week and add what you did. The weekly bars fill Monday to Sunday, and a full history with streaks and goals lives in the habit archive.
Start Your 25-Minute Productivity Timer
No setup, no account needed to try it. Pick a length and press start.