The timer that knows what you were actually doing
A regular pomodoro timer just counts minutes. Polden also sees what you’re doing in those minutes: which app is open, which site. Got distracted? You’ll see it in the evening stats. Stayed focused the whole session? You earn a token to spend guilt-free on your break.
- Completely free
- Works offline
- No account needed
- Everything stays with you
210
guests at the campfire
297
achievements
How it works
What happens in 25 minutes of work
Usually this takes three separate apps: a timer, a time tracker and a blocker. Here they work together. This is what one session looks like.
The timer keeps time
By default it’s 25 minutes of work, a 5-minute break, and 15 minutes of rest after every four sessions. You can set anything from one minute to four hours. A session can be tied to a task, and you can switch it along the way.
The app sees what you’re doing
Every second it notes which app and which site are open. It barely takes any space: a whole year of history is a few megabytes.
You decide what counts as work
You make two lists: the sites and the apps you need. Everything else counts as a distraction during the session — breaks included.
Without that YouTube visit, you’d have earned a token. And in the evening it’ll be highlighted in the stats, right where you see where the time went.
Tokens
You can get distracted — for a token
I didn’t want to make an app that punishes you. So getting distracted here isn’t a failure, it’s a purchase. You decide to spend a token, and it’s your conscious choice.
Work without distractions
Make it to the end of the session and you get a token.
Spend it on a break
For that time the site is allowed. You can unlock it for a token right from the screen cover.
Stats stay honest
Bought minutes don’t count as a slip. Anything without a token does.
How tokens work
- Only on breaks. You can’t spend a token mid-focus, or it would just be a “give up” button.
- No more than three per break. Each buys ten minutes, but never past the end of the break. And none if there’s less than a minute left.
- Tokens don’t expire. Save them up and spend them in the shop: skies and phase colors, portraits, sounds, streak freezes, doublers.
- Can’t be bought. Tokens are only earned: with clean sessions and cycles, new levels, daily quests and phone detox.
Breathing
A break to breathe out
When your hand reaches for the feed on a break, Polden offers to breathe instead: for one, three or five minutes. The sun on screen rises as you inhale and sets as you exhale — all you do is breathe along.
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On a break
A “Breathe” card for 1, 3 or 5 minutes. It counts if you stay in Polden the whole time.
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Before focus
“A minute of breathing” — and the session starts on its own, no extra tap.
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After a distraction
“Cool down”: a minute of breathing takes one slip off the guest at the campfire, so it stays.
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Whenever you like
A standalone session of 5–20 minutes, a streak of breathing days and a practice journal.
Five techniques, each rhythm drawn on its card
- Box inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, pause 4
- Coherent equal inhale and exhale, about six a minute
- Double inhale two inhales through the nose and a long exhale — eases tension fast
- 4-7-8 inhale 4, hold 7, exhale 8 — one minute only
- Body scan attention moves through the body in eight steps
Phase sounds and a voice guide are optional. Minimize the player and the practice goes on in a small widget on top of your windows. A finished practice earns XP, and breathing has its own streak, daily quest and two achievement families.
Screens
Everything in one window
Timer, tasks, notes, habits, breathing, meadow and stats. The timer screen keeps only what matters; everything else is one click away. Light and dark themes follow your system.
Just the timer in sight
The session, the task and its steps. Today’s plan, tokens, habits, breathing and thoughts sit as tabs at the edge and open over the timer in one click.
Notes
Jot down a thought without losing focus
Got an idea mid-work? Type it into the line right on the timer and keep going. Later, send it to notes or straight to tasks.
Task steps
A big task, step by step
The current step shows on the timer marked “in this block” and is checked off with one tap.
Notifications
They don’t interrupt
Anything non-urgent collects under the bell and only pops up on your break.
Mini widget
A timer on top of every window
With “Collapse into the mini timer” on, a closed window becomes a widget on top of the others. The color shows the phase; during a practice, the sun breathes on it.
Campfire, guests, meadow
A little game to make you want to come back
Every finished session adds a log to the fire: a spark at the start, a big campfire after four in a row. Abandon or skip a session, hit Stop, let the computer sleep or never start the next one — and it’s back to a spark.
Spark
session started
Log
session complete
Big campfire
four in a row
Embers
break
Eleven of 210 — just like in the app
210 species and 1,326 looks
Animals, birds, insects and fish of temperate and northern forests, plus six from folklore. Looks change with the season and time of day, and each guest tells you a fun fact when you first meet.
The meadow they live in
Birds in the sky, fish in the lake, insects over the grass. At night it gets dark, and only the campfire, the moon and the stars shine. Where everyone lives is random — your meadow is unlike anyone else’s.
Levels don’t lock anything
A counter of how far you’ve come, with a title — from “Dawn” to “New Dawn”. Every feature is available from day one, and each new level brings a token. For fun there’s a daily bet, quests and a shelf of rewards.
Distractions scare the guest
During focus a guest walks toward the fire. After the second distraction it grows wary, after the third it leaves. A minute of “Cool down” settles it.
Sunset sums up the day
Hit Stop in the evening and you see the day’s best campfire, everyone who came to it, and who might come tomorrow.
You see what you’ll lose
Before Stop, the app names the price: XP, a token, the campfire. You can save the chain — mend it for two tokens once a day.
Platforms
Your computer and phone, working together
Windows 10 and 11
Version 0.3.43
Everything described above: timer, app and site tracking, soft blocking, breathing, stats and the game. Installs with a regular installer and lives in the tray. It finds updates on its own and installs them at a click; updates are signed, so nobody can swap them out.
Download MSIAndroid 7 and later
Version 0.3.43
A timer in the notification shade, tasks, notes, habits, breathing and screen time. Focus, breaks and long rests share detox’s allowed-app list: you have ten seconds to return, then the cycle stops. Quiet mode on Android 10+ and grayscale on Android 15+ require Do Not Disturb access. Sign in with the same account as on your computer and your data syncs.
Download APKPut the phone away
A dedicated section with sessions from 15 minutes to 12 hours, its own statistics, settings and rewards. Start manually or choose days and a time interval, including overnight. Essential apps stay available. Complete a session to earn XP, tokens and campfire guests. After syncing, you can view your phone statistics on your computer.
Straight answers
What people usually ask
Free now, paid later?
There’s nothing to charge for: everything that matters runs on your computer. And even if I ever abandon the project, the version you downloaded will keep working.
Is the app spying on me? Where does my data go?
Without an account, your data stays on your device. The app looks at open windows for your own stats and saves only a site’s address, like youtube.com. At startup and then once an hour, it asks whether there is an update without sending details about your work. After you sign in, account data syncs with the server and your devices.
Another pomodoro timer. Why?
Timers, trackers and blockers all exist separately. I wanted them to work together. Then in the evening you see not just “worked 6 hours”, but “four clean sessions, and Telegram ate two — twenty minutes each, around 4 pm”.
Isn’t the blocking easy to get around?
Yes, and that’s on purpose. The blocking is soft: a screen cover and an entry in your stats. You choose how strict the cover is — from “close it right away” to “only by stopping the session”. The app doesn’t dig into your system, installs no drivers, and you can close it any time. People get around hard blocks anyway — an honest number in your stats works better, I think.
Do I need an account?
No. Choose “Local profile” on the profile screen and everything is available. You only need an account to sync your computer and phone.
Is there blocking on the phone?
Opening an app outside the allowed list brings a warning and ten seconds to return. Otherwise, the interval is interrupted and the cycle stops. This applies during focus, breaks and long rests. There is no overlay covering other apps. A separate detox — “Put the phone away” — is available for 15 minutes to 12 hours.
Will there be iOS and macOS versions?
They’re not planned. Polden is built for Windows and Android — that’s where it works in full.
Could my antivirus complain?
It might. The app watches the active window and shows a cover over other windows — antivirus tools don’t like that until a program has a paid developer signature. Updates are still signed, and the installer won’t install someone else’s file.