How to use the Focus Pomodoro timer in Left

Focus turns work and rest into a visible cycle. Start with the familiar Pomodoro rhythm, change every duration, and keep the current phase available on your Lock Screen or in a widget.

New to the Pomodoro method? See how Left works as a Pomodoro timer for iPhone.

Start with the default cycle

The default cycle is 25 minutes of Focus, a 5-minute short break after each session, and a 20-minute long break after four completed focus sessions. Focus is part of Left Premium.

Open Focus, choose the phase you want, and tap Start. Pause and Resume preserve the current phase. Reset restarts the current phase from its full length.

Customize durations and cycles

Set focus sessions, short breaks, and long breaks to anything from 1 to 60 minutes, and choose a long break after 1 to 12 completed focus sessions. Change them in Settings, or tap the clock button in Focus. Before a session starts you can also swipe up or down on the Digital and Pulse timers, or drag around the Clock dial. New settings apply to the next phase, not a timer already in progress.

Use timer controls and styles

Extend the current phase by 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes, up to 60 minutes per phase, skip to the next phase, or restart the current one. Open the display options menu at the top right to choose between four styles: Digital, Clock, Squares (one square per minute), and Pulse (a soft glow in the phase colour). A strip under the timer shows today's focus and break sessions.

Choose what happens when time ends

Continue automatically moves straight into the next focus or break phase, with no Start tap needed. Keep going when time ends counts upward past zero until you choose to skip. The two work against each other: while Keep going is on, Continue automatically is greyed out and has no effect. Choose the one that matches how you want a finished phase to behave.

Notifications, Live Activities, and widgets

Phase notifications tell you when it is time for a break or a new focus session. The Live Activity keeps the active timer and today's session strip on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. The Focus widget comes in small, medium, and large sizes for the Home Screen and in circular and rectangular sizes for the Lock Screen. The Home Screen sizes show the phase, the countdown, and today's strip. The Home Screen sizes and the rectangular Lock Screen widget have Start and Pause or Resume buttons that work without opening the app.

Review Focus history

Tap My focus to see your last 7 days, a 14-day chart, how focus and breaks balance out, and a six-week trend. Completed and skipped sessions are listed, so you can correct a session's start or end time or delete an entry that should not count.