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A study timer for your laptop that keeps the phone out of the room

Most study timers are phone apps, so the phone stays on the desk. A free study timer that runs on your laptop, with rain or brown noise, and a simple routine for a study session.

· 4 min read

Study apps like Forest made the timer something you look forward to. But they run on the phone, so the phone sits on the desk all session, one glance from a message. If you study on a laptop anyway, the timer can be on the laptop and the phone can go somewhere else. This page is a timer you can use right now and a routine to go with it.

The timer

It runs in this tab, with no account. Type what you are studying, pick a length, press Space. The countdown is in the tab title, so you can switch to your notes or a PDF and still see it. A chime marks the end of the block and the break starts by itself. Rain, brown noise and alpha binaural beats are free and play in the same tab.

A study session in five steps

  1. Put the phone in another room, or at least in a bag across the room. Distance does more than willpower.
  2. Write one target, small enough to finish: "summarise chapter 4", not "biology".
  3. Pick a length. 25 minutes if starting is hard, 50 for reading and problem sets, 90 for essays and revision you are already into.
  4. Pick a sound and keep it low, just loud enough to cover the room. Brown noise and rain work for most people; music with lyrics works against reading.
  5. In the break, stand up. Water, a window, a short walk. Not the phone, or the break becomes the session.

Why the laptop, not the phone

A 2017 study by Ward and colleagues found people did worse on memory tests with their phone on the desk than with it in another room, even when it was off. Later replications found a smaller effect or none, so treat it as a hint rather than a law. The simpler point holds either way: a phone you cannot reach cannot interrupt you. More in how to study without checking your phone.

When a phone app is the better choice

  • You study from paper, away from a computer. Then a kitchen timer is better than both.
  • The tree is what keeps you going. If Forest's game works for you, keep it. Our Forest for laptop page compares the two honestly.

For long projects, there is also a page for students and one for thesis writing.