Five minutes is the standard short break in the Pomodoro technique and one of the most searched timer lengths there is. It is also a good unit for getting started on something you have been avoiding.
Where a 5 minute timer fits
- The break after a Pomodoro. In Francesco Cirillo's Pomodoro technique you work for 25 minutes, then rest for 5. After four rounds you take a longer break. Run the full cycle on the Pomodoro timer, or use this page for the break and the 25 minute timer for the work.
- The five-minute start. If a task feels too big, promise yourself only five minutes. Often starting is the hard part, and you can stop when the alarm rings if you really want to.
- Tidy-up time for children. A visible countdown is easier for a child to understand than "in a bit". Switch to the Disk view for a shrinking wedge they can see from across the room.
- A five minute warning. Start it when you want to tell a class, a team or a family that time is nearly up.
- Short meditation or breathing. Pair the timer with the Calm tones or Soft rain ambient sound under More options. The meditation timer adds an optional bell.
- Quick cooking steps. Resting something, toasting spices, or letting a tea brew where the label says five minutes.
Sound, if you want it
Open More options and choose an ambient sound: soft rain, brown noise or calm tones. These are generated by your browser as it runs, so they are not recorded songs and they loop without a break. If you want a particular playlist, start it in your music app and run this timer alongside it. See also the 5 minute timer with ambient sound page.
Short how-to
The display is set to 5:00. Press Start or the space bar. Press Full screen to fill the display. If you will be away from the screen, tick Repeat the alarm so it keeps ringing until you come back, then press Test sound to hear it first.
You can also share a link to this exact timer, for example a 5 minute timer labelled Break that starts on its own.
A 5 minute break menu
Breaks work better when they are different from work. Pick one of these, start the timer, and come back when it rings:
- Stand up and move. Walk to another room and back, or stretch your neck, shoulders and wrists.
- Rest your eyes. The American Optometric Association describes the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. A five-minute break covers that comfortably.
- Drink some water and refill the glass.
- Tidy one small area. A desk corner, a sink, a bag.
- Do not open social media: it is the break that rarely ends after five minutes.