How to use Untimer
A session from the first hold to the break, and the 4 screens around it. This guide covers each control and what it does.
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Why a session is 25 minutes
A session is 25 minutes and a break is 5 minutes. A 2023 study found that a fixed schedule of focus and breaks raised concentration and lowered fatigue. Here is why Untimer sets the lengths for you.
Untimer has 4 lengths. A session is 25 minutes. A break is 5 minutes. A long break is 25 minutes and comes after 4 sessions. Those 4 sessions make a set. The lengths are the same on your phone and on your computer. Untimer sets them for you. You decide when a break ends and when your working day ends.
People ask about this more than any other part of Untimer. Could a session be 30 minutes? Could it be 52 minutes, a number they read about somewhere? Could it be shorter on the days when starting is hard? This article explains why Untimer keeps one length.
What the 2023 break study found
25 minutes is a common length for a focus session. What matters most is that the length stays the same from one session to the next.
The best controlled study we found on fixed break schedules is by Biwer and colleagues (2023). It followed 87 students. It compared 2 fixed schedules with breaks taken whenever the students felt like it. The students on a fixed schedule reported higher concentration and motivation. They also reported less fatigue and less distraction. All 3 groups got the same amount of work done. One fixed schedule was 24 minutes of work and a 6 minute break. The other was 12 minutes of work and a 3 minute break. Both gave the same benefit. The structure made the difference.
So Untimer builds the structure in. It sets one length for sessions and one for breaks. You keep one decision: when to begin.
A set length is easier to start
Untimer is built for people who find starting hard. Each choice between you and the start is a place to stall. A length setting puts a choice right there. Would 20 minutes be better today? Is 30 too much? Should this one be short because it is only email? That debate takes the place of the work.
Early versions of the hourglass let you pick a length as you wound it. It changed how the wind felt. People watched the number and stopped feeling the spring. So we took the choice out. You wind the hourglass and the session is 25 minutes. The one decision left is whether to begin.
Starting takes one move. Hold the hourglass for 2.5 seconds and let go. A 25 minute session starts. Why you hold the hourglass to start a session explains the hold.
The founder’s own record says the same. He has recorded thousands of sessions over several years. All of them are 25 minutes long. His old timer had a setting to change the length the whole time. He left it alone. A length that stays put needs no control. A control invites you to adjust something you meant to set once.
The hard days
The usual objection is about starting. On some days 25 minutes feels like too much. A 2 minute session would get you going. That is true. A length setting is still the wrong answer. The answer is that you can stop early.
You can stop a session at any moment. Wind the hourglass, work for 4 minutes and press Stop. The sand pours back to the bottom. A soft low note plays if sound is on. The 4 minutes are saved and left out of the day’s counts. You did the hard part when you started. The next session is 25 minutes again. Stopping a session early explains what Stop does.
Long sessions
The other objection is about deep work. Some tasks take 20 minutes to get into. A bell at 25 minutes can feel early. For people who do not feel time passing, that bell is the reason to use Untimer. It tells you that 25 minutes have gone. The sound is soft. The break it announces waits for you to start it. Finish the thought. When you want to go on, choose Focus in the selector and wind the hourglass again.
Breaks
After a full session, a break scene takes the place of the hourglass. The break starts when you press Start the break and runs for up to 5 minutes. End the break stops it as soon as you have had enough. The next session starts when you wind the hourglass again.
The set
After 4 completed sessions the long break comes round. The figure beside the time shows where you are in the set. For example, 2/4 means you are on the second session of 4. The count can drift if you ran a session somewhere else. Press the figure and choose which session this is. The count is easy to put right, so you can keep trusting it.
What is yours to set
Untimer sets the 4 lengths. One setting is yours: an end to your working day. Settings has an option called An end to the working day. Turn it on and choose a time. A flag appears at that time on the day strip at the bottom of the Timer screen. A set time to stop gives the day a place to end. Only you know where that place is.
Settings holds no session or break lengths. A screen of numbers to adjust is one more way to put off the start.
