Focus with the Pomodoro timer

The Pomodoro timer splits your work into focus blocks with breaks in between: 25 minutes of focus, then a 5-minute break, and a longer break after every fourth block. You can tie the timer to the task you’re working on and keep it running in the sidebar while you use the rest of Heym. This page covers starting it, the controls, profiles with your own lengths, and a one-off countdown.

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Start the timer

Open the timer in one of these ways:

• From a task: open the task, click ⋯ at the top right of it, then Start Pomodoro. The task is linked to the timer.
• From Home: click Start focus at the top of Home, to the right of the Add task… box and New note. If you don’t see it, click ⋯ at the top right of Home, point at Configure widgets and click Quick actions (Customize Heym).
• With the keyboard: press G then F, or press ⌘K, type Pomodoro and pick it. The timer opens over Home, so you’re on Home when you close it.

The timer fills the window. Click the play button under the clock to start focusing.

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How a round works

With the standard Work profile:

1. Focus runs for 25 minutes.
2. A Short break of 5 minutes follows.
3. Focus and short breaks take turns until you’ve finished 4 focus blocks.
4. A Long break of 15 minutes follows. After it, the round is over and the timer is ready for the next one.

When a block ends, Heym plays a sound (unless you turned Sound off) and shows a notification, such as “Focus session complete! Time for a break.” In a browser, the first start asks whether Heym may show notifications; allow it to get them. Notifications only appear while Heym is open. The next block doesn’t start on its own: after a focus block, the break waits until you click play. To have breaks or focus blocks start by themselves, turn on Auto-start break or Auto-start focus in the profile.

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Pause, skip or stop

While a focus block or break runs, three buttons sit under the clock:

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Link a task

Linking a task keeps it in front of you while you focus.

1. Click Add a task at the top of the timer.
2. Pick a task, or type to search. The list starts with today’s and overdue tasks.

The task’s title replaces Add a task, and the task opens on the right, so you can read it, edit it or complete it without leaving the timer. To unlink it, click the title and choose Clear. Starting the timer from a task’s ⋯ menu links that task right away.

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Keep working while it runs

Click × at the top right of the timer, or press Esc, to go back to Heym. The timer keeps running, and a card at the bottom of the sidebar shows the block, the time left and the profile. Use its buttons to pause, resume or stop, or click the card to open the timer again. After you’ve opened the timer once since loading Heym, ⇧P hides it and shows it again.

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Set up profiles

A profile holds your lengths and settings, so you can keep one for deep work and one for short tasks. To change a profile or add one:

1. With the timer stopped, click the profile name under the clock (it starts as Work).
2. Point at a profile and click ⋯ to change it, or click New profile.

Changes save as you make them. Click a profile in the list to use it; switch profiles while the timer is stopped. To remove a profile, open its ⋯ and click Delete profile (there’s always at least one). Drag profiles by the handle on the left to reorder them.

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Run a one-off countdown

For a single timer without breaks, click the time while the timer is stopped, type a length and press Enter. The timer starts right away and shows Countdown. You can type minutes (45 or 45m), hours (1h, 1h30m) or seconds (90s), up to 24 hours. A countdown has only the stop and pause buttons, no skip. If you click somewhere else instead of pressing Enter, nothing starts: the clock shows the new length, and focus blocks use it until you pick a profile again.

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Good to know

• Profiles stay on this device. Your profiles and a running timer are saved in this browser or in the Mac app, not in your account, so another computer starts with the standard Work profile.
• Reloading is safe. If you reload the page or close Heym while the timer runs, it keeps counting. If a block ended while Heym was closed, it ends when you open Heym again.
• After a reload, pick your profile again. When you reload the page or open Heym with the timer stopped, the timer shows your profile’s name but uses the standard lengths (25, 5 and 15 minutes, 4 sessions). Click the profile name under the clock, then click your profile, to use its own lengths.
• There’s no history screen. Heym doesn’t show a list or a chart of past focus sessions.
• On the Free plan, Start Pomodoro, Start focus, G then F and the command menu open the upgrade window instead of the timer.

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Limits

Focus blocks and breaks can each be 1 to 1,440 minutes long, and a round can have 1 to 10 focus sessions.

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