Pomodoro timer for Linux
Focus Valley 1.1.6 for 64-bit Linux, as an AppImage, a .deb or an .rpm. A Pomodoro timer that counts the minutes you actually worked, not the minutes the clock was running.
Download
Downloads are currently unavailable while we work on improving the experience. The free web timer is unaffected and available to use now. More on the download page
Runs without installing. Make it executable first, and install libfuse2 if it refuses to start.
For Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives: sudo apt install ./Focus.Valley_1.1.6_amd64.deb
For Fedora, openSUSE and derivatives: sudo rpm -i Focus.Valley-1.1.6-1.x86_64.rpm
System requirements
- Architecturex86-64 (amd64). No ARM build.
- glibc2.35 or newer: Ubuntu 22.04 and later, Debian 12, Fedora 36 and later.
- For the AppImagelibfuse2, called libfuse2t64 on Ubuntu 24.04 and later. Without it the AppImage starts and immediately exits.
- Disk space114 MB for the AppImage, about 36 MB for the .deb or .rpm.
- AccountA Focus Valley account, and a Pro or Lifetime plan (or a redeem code) to unlock the app.
- InternetOnly for signing in and for the world leaderboard. The timer itself runs offline.
What the app does here
On Linux the app asks the system one number: how many seconds since your last keypress or mouse movement. Past sixty seconds it decides you have stopped working and pauses the timer on its own, so the session records the time you were really there. It never reads what you type or which programs you open, just that one number.
When a session ends, the break alert covers the whole screen, above the other windows, instead of becoming one more notification in a corner. The idle alert works the same way, and both can be switched off in Preferences.
The rest is shaped like the web timer: the four presets (15/3, 25/5, 50/10, 90/20), one spark per minute worked, day streaks, and a weekly leaderboard that resets on Monday. It is the same board the web timer writes to: sign in on both and your sparks add up on one row instead of splitting between two scores.
Before you install
The AppImage is the format we have actually run end to end, on Ubuntu. Make it executable before the first launch: right-click, Properties, Permissions, or chmod +x Focus.Valley_1.1.6_amd64.AppImage, then run it. If nothing happens, install libfuse2: sudo apt install libfuse2t64 on Ubuntu 24.04 and later, sudo apt install libfuse2 before that.
The .deb and .rpm come out of the same build and are published with every release, but they have had far less real use than the AppImage. If one of them misbehaves, the AppImage is the safe fallback.
Activity detection depends on the system being willing to report idle time. Where that number cannot be read, the app treats you as active and the timer simply runs without pausing, which is the same behaviour as turning activity detection off. It never fails loudly, and it never guesses.
You do not have to install anything
The Focus Valley web timer is free, needs no account and runs in any browser: the same Pomodoro presets, the same sparks, the same streaks, and the same weekly world leaderboard. Sign in on either one and the sparks land on the same row. Open the free timer. What it cannot do, because no browser tab can, is notice that you walked away from the computer. That is the one thing the desktop app is for, and how it works goes through the difference feature by feature.
If the timer is the easy part and sitting down is the hard one, the guides are about that: what the Pomodoro technique actually asks of you, and why concentrating at a computer is difficult in the first place.
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