Guides
Short, practical writing about focusing at a computer: the parts of the Pomodoro technique that people get wrong, and what to do when the timer is running but you are not.
What the Pomodoro Technique actually is (and why most people get it wrong)
The original method has two rules almost no timer app implements: a pomodoro is indivisible, and every interruption gets written down. Quoted from Cirillo's own paper.
Why you can't focus: the common causes and what actually helps
Concentration usually fails for ordinary, fixable reasons. What the research says about attention residue, interruptions and the phone on your desk, including one famous finding that failed to replicate.
5 gamified alternatives to the classic Pomodoro timer
Forest, Habitica, Flora, Focus Valley and Focus Hero: what the game actually is, what it costs, which device it runs on, and who each one fails. Each checked on its own site.
Pomodoro for developers: a setup that survives deep work
Twenty-five minutes cuts programming in the wrong place, and a build you are waiting on is not a distraction. Longer cycles, what to do during a compile, and the one way inactivity detection gets developers wrong.
How the Focus Valley world leaderboard works
How sparks become a weekly rank, how the top three earn 10, 6 and 3 permanent Gems, when prizes are awarded, and why the web timer and desktop app share one board.
Elsewhere on the site
How Focus Valley works explains every part of the timer and which version each part lives in. Comparisons puts it honestly next to other focus apps. Or just start a session. The web timer is free and needs no account.