Your Timer on the Lock Screen & Dynamic Island
The Pomodoro method has a design flaw on phones: the timer lives inside the device built to distract you. Check the countdown, see six notifications, lose ten minutes. Live Activities fix the flaw — the timer meets you outside the apps.
What you see without unlocking
- The live countdown — rendered by the system itself, ticking accurately with the app closed.
- Focus or break — a briefcase for work, a palm tree for rest; you know the state at a glance from across the desk.
- Cycle progress — which session of the cycle you're in, so “one more to go” is visible motivation.
- A working Start/Stop button — pause for the phone call, resume after, all from the lock screen.
On the Dynamic Island
On iPhones with the Dynamic Island, the session wraps around the camera cutout: a compact glance while you're in other apps, and a long-press expands it to the full card — countdown, state and controls — floating above whatever you were doing. The timer stays ambient: present when you look for it, silent when you don't.
Why this protects the method
- Checking the time stops being a trap. The classic failure — unlock to glance at the timer, surface twenty minutes later in a group chat — can't happen when the glance never leaves the lock screen.
- The phone becomes the accountability object. Face-up beside you, it now displays your commitment instead of your temptations. The countdown staring back is a tiny public promise.
- Interruptions get cheaper. Doorbell, coffee refill, quick question — stop and restart from the lock screen in two taps, which makes you likelier to pause honestly instead of letting the session run fictional.
Using it
There's nothing to configure: start a session in Mira and the Live Activity appears; end the cycle and it leaves. Pair it with the home-screen and lock-screen widgets for starting sessions, and let the session-end notification — “Time to take a break” — flip you between states even when the phone's in your pocket.
The desk setup: phone locked, face-up, Live Activity showing; sound from the ambient bank if the room is loud. Your whole focus apparatus is visible in one glance, and none of it requires touching an unlocked phone until the cycle ends.
Focus you can see from across the desk
Live Activities, Dynamic Island, lock-screen controls. Free on iPhone and iPad.
FAQ
What is a Live Activity?
A live-updating card on the lock screen — and around the Dynamic Island — showing the countdown, state and progress.
Can I control the timer without unlocking my phone?
Yes — the Live Activity's start/stop button works right on the lock screen.
Does the countdown keep updating in the background?
Yes — the system renders it natively, accurate with the app closed.