Give work a boundary.
A defined focus block and break cycle create a deliberate point to pause rather than relying on the task to end naturally.
Our story
I built the timer I couldn’t find.
Not another countdown. A single place to bring focus, water, movement and short learning back into screen-heavy days—and a prompt that would not quietly disappear while I carried on working.
Simon Poole
Founder of UP Timer
The starting point
The day was moving. I wasn’t.
“A full working day could pass with one glass of water, no meaningful movement and no proper break. ”
I tried different timers, but each solved only one fragment. A focus timer did not help me remember water. A water alert did not structure the task in front of me. Movement and learning lived somewhere else again.
The issue was not a lack of good intentions. It was what happened when attention narrowed around a screen: time disappeared, the alert passed, and the intention was postponed.
UP Timer grew from the need for one connected workday rhythm rather than four unrelated tools.
The product decision
Hearing an alert was not the same as noticing it.
Ordinary notifications could sound once and vanish. The timer had technically done its job, but I could remain absorbed in the same task and forget the prompt seconds later.
Persistent acknowledgement changed the interruption. The selected sound or voice and on-screen prompt remain active until a response is made.
What shaped UP Timer
Product decisions made from real use.
The interface is designed around the moments when a useful intention is easiest to lose. Every pillar has a distinct job, but they share one workspace and one acknowledgement behaviour.
Make the personal target visible.
Working hours, cup size, target and reminder pacing belong together. UP Timer does not prescribe one target for everyone.
Interrupt prolonged stillness.
Movement prompts can suggest a change of position, standing, walking or a guided exercise chosen to suit the user.
Make a small piece of learning possible.
Immediate and scheduled Learn Sprints create space for reading, recall or review without beginning a full course.
Do not let the prompt disappear unnoticed.
The alert waits for acknowledgement so the user makes a conscious choice rather than losing the notification in the flow of work.
What changed for me
A rhythm I could actually return to.
Using the timer consistently has personally helped me bring several small intentions back into the same day.
More visible water
A target and reminders made it harder for the glass beside me to vanish from attention.
Movement breaks
A prompt created a clear moment to stand, walk or change position.
Clearer work blocks
Focus cycles gave long tasks a shape and an intentional pause.
Space to learn
Short Learn Sprints made a useful review possible without needing a large block of time.
These are personal experiences, not guaranteed medical, wellbeing, learning or productivity outcomes. UP Timer provides timers, reminders and guided prompts; each person decides how to use them.