--- title: "A Pomodoro timer in the Mac menu bar. — iSurge" description: "The Pomodoro technique in two lines, and how to run it on a Mac: 25-minute focuses and breaks from the menu bar, the notch or one shortcut." url: https://isurgemac.com/blog/focus-timer-mac/ --- [BLOG](https://isurgemac.com/blog/) # A Pomodoro timer in the Mac menu bar. 25 minutes of focus, a break, and the notch tells you when. The Pomodoro technique in two lines, and how to run it on a Mac: 25-minute focuses and breaks from the menu bar, the notch or one shortcut. By Ruthran Baskar · 27 October 2026 · 6 min read IN SHORT - The Pomodoro technique: focus on one task for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, and after four rounds take a longer one. - In iSurge, start a focus from the notch, the menu bar or ⌃⌥F. The time shows in the menu bar and beside the notch. - When time’s up, the notch tells you, with one soft sound. If you step away for 5 minutes, the focus pauses itself. - Lengths are yours to set: focus 15 to 60 minutes, breaks 2 to 10, the long break 15 to 40. The Pomodoro technique is a simple way to work in rounds. You focus on one task for 25 minutes, then rest for 5. After four rounds you take a longer break, often 15 to 30 minutes. It was made up by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s and named after a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato (pomodoro in Italian). All it needs is a timer. On a Mac, the best place for that timer is somewhere you already look, so you don’t have to keep a window open or reach for your phone. iSurge’s Focus Timer lives in the menu bar and the notch, and it runs the rounds for you. Here is how to use it. FOCUS TIMER ## How do you run a Pomodoro timer on a Mac? With iSurge open, it takes one click or one key: - Press ⌃⌥F, or click **Start focus** in the notch or the menu bar. A 25-minute focus starts. - Work. The time counts down in the menu bar and beside the notch. - When it ends, the notch grows out and says “Focus done: Take a 5 min break”. Click **Start break**. - When the break ends, it asks “Ready for focus 2 of 4?”. Click **Start focus**. - After the fourth focus it says “Four in a row” and offers a 15-minute break. Then the next round starts again at focus 1 of 4. The notch’s Focus tab while a focus runs. MENU BAR ## Start it from the notch, the menu bar or a shortcut There is more than one way in, so you can start a focus from whatever you’re doing: - **The notch:**open it and pick the Focus tab. Choose 25, 50 or 60 minutes and click**Start focus**. - **The menu bar:**click iSurge and use the Focus card at the top. Or right-click iSurge’s icon and choose**Focus Timer**, then a length. - **The keyboard:** ⌃⌥F starts the next focus or break, or pauses and resumes the one running. You can turn it off in Settings › General › Shortcuts. A click or the shortcut starts the length you picked last, so if you like 50 minutes, you pick it once. The Focus card at the top of the menu bar dropdown. NOTCH ## What you see while it runs While a focus or a break runs, the time gets its own item in the menu bar: just the numbers, no icon. Click it and only the timer opens. Beside the closed notch you see the same time, and nothing else. There is no coloured ring at the top of your screen, because a red ring up there looks like a warning and pulls your eye. Open the notch, the menu bar dropdown or the window, and you get the full timer: - A ring that empties as the time runs out: red for a focus, green for a break, grey while paused. - Digits that flip over each second, like the cards of an old clock. With Reduce Motion on in macOS, they fade instead. - Which focus of four you’re on, as dots, and what comes next, like “Then a 5 min break”. - **Pause**,**+5 min**,**Skip**and**Stop**. Skip goes from a focus to its break, or from a break to the next focus. NOTIFICATIONS ## What happens when time’s up? The notch grows out with what ended and the next step on a white button, plus **+5 min** if you need a little longer. It plays one soft sound. You can pick a different sound in Settings › Focus Timer, or none. Nothing starts until you click. If you’d rather the rounds roll on by themselves, turn on **Start the next session automatically** in Settings › Focus Timer. On a Mac without a notch, or when the notch isn’t showing, you get a notification with the same buttons. FOCUS TIMER ## What if you step away? A coffee shouldn’t count as focus. If nobody touches the keyboard, mouse or trackpad for 5 minutes during a focus, it pauses itself. The time you were away goes back on the clock and comes off today’s total. When you’re back, the notch says “Focus paused” and how long you were away, with **Resume**and**Stop**. You can turn this off with**Pause when you step away**. Two more things happen quietly: - Your Mac stays awake while you focus, so the screen doesn’t dim mid-thought. Not during breaks, and not while paused. The switch is **Keep your Mac awake**, and it doesn’t touch iSurge’s Keep Awake. - A new day starts fresh. A focus or break left paused overnight goes, and the next one is focus 1 of 4. A focus running across midnight carries on. If you quit iSurge or restart the Mac mid-focus, it carries on where it was when iSurge opens again. FOCUS TIMER ## Can you change the 25 minutes? Yes. Settings › Focus Timer has a slider for each length, in whole minutes: - **Focus length:** 15 to 60 minutes. 25 to start with. - **Short break:** 2 to 10 minutes, after each focus. 5 to start with. - **Long break:** 15 to 40 minutes, after every fourth focus. 15 to start with. The menus that start a focus offer 25, 50 and 60 minutes, and the length you set in Settings when it isn’t one of those. PRIVACY ## Where did your focus time go? The Focus Timer keeps a short record so you can see how your days went. The notch’s Focus tab shows today’s time, the apps you used most while focusing, and the last 7 days. Point at a day’s bar to see its time. The Focus page in the window goes further: today’s time, focuses, streak and breaks taken, the last 30 days with your average and best day, and the apps you used while focusing this week, with the minutes in each. It all stays on your Mac. It records app names only, never websites, window titles or what was in them. You can wipe it with **Clear** in Settings › Focus Timer. If you’re curious how iSurge names the apps on your Mac, [A thousand processes](https://isurgemac.com/blog/a-thousand-processes/) explains it. ## Questions ### Does it work on a Mac without a notch? Yes. The time shows in the menu bar, the full timer is in the dropdown and the window, and time’s up comes as a notification. ### Is the Focus Timer free? It comes with iSurge, which is $14.99 for life or $9.99 a year. See [pricing](https://isurgemac.com/pricing/). If you used iSurge before version 0.4, it stays free for you. ### Does it block websites or apps? No. It times your focus and your breaks, and it notes which apps were in front. It never stops you opening anything. The notch does more than the timer. [Look up](https://isurgemac.com/blog/look-up/) is about why iSurge lives there, and the [changelog](https://isurgemac.com/changelog/) lists what changed in each version. ## Get iSurge Pay once, yours for good. [Buy iSurge](https://isurgemac.com/pricing/) Already have it? [Download](https://isurgemac.com/download) Requires a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 15 Sequoia or later. Notch features need a MacBook with a notch; everything else works on any supported Mac.