Articles
Articles about how Untimer works
Each article explains one part of Untimer, from how a session survives a refresh to what the research on starting found. The articles are also available by RSS.
How Untimer counts a day
Untimer counts a day in sessions of twenty five minutes that are all the same size. This is what a session records, how the day is drawn and what changes when a day is counted in sessions instead of guessed at in hours.
Read the article29 August 2026 · 6 minute readMilestones
Untimer has fifty four milestones in four groups. They answer the distance between a session and a faraway goal, and the research on rewards is why they report facts about your work. Reaching a milestone is free.
Read the article29 August 2026 · 5 minute readWhy starting work is hard
Most of what gets called procrastination is a starting problem. Untimer makes the start small, gives it weight with a hold of the hourglass and makes it cheap to walk away from, and here is why each of those matters.
Read the article29 August 2026 · 6 minute readWhat Insights shows
After a few weeks of sessions, Insights starts answering questions: which tasks the sessions went to, when you focus best and what pulls you away. This is what each panel shows.
Read the article22 August 2026 · 7 minute readHow the timer keeps running after a refresh
Refresh the page and most browser timers forget the session. Untimer stores each session on the server as an end time. A refresh, a closed tab, a sleeping laptop or a second device all show the same session.
Read the article22 August 2026 · 6 minute readStopping a session early
A session you stop adds no time to the day and stays on the record. This is why Untimer counts it that way, why it counts returns instead of streaks, and what Reset and End the break do.
Read the article22 August 2026 · 4 minute readHow Untimer handles interruptions
An interruption does not end a session in Untimer. You press Interruption, choose where it came from and write one line about it. The line comes back under Where you left off, and a study by Leroy and Glomb is behind it.
Read the article22 August 2026 · 6 minute readWhy every session is twenty five minutes
A session is twenty five minutes, a break is five minutes and a long break is twenty five minutes. Here is what a 2023 study found about fixed break schedules, and why the structure is the part that does the work.
Read the article22 August 2026 · 6 minute readWhy you hold the hourglass to start a session
Hold the hourglass for two and a half seconds to wind it up. The session starts when you let go. This is why starting works that way and how the hold works with a mouse, a touch screen, the keyboard and assistive input.
Read the article