One question. Go deeper.
Tend is a focus timer for thinking work: reading a paper, writing a chapter, working through a proof. Begin each session with one question and end it with a note on where you stopped. That note becomes your next question, so your work keeps a thread from one session to the next.
WARM UP FIRST
One short attention task a day, a new one at midnight: follow a few ripe tomatoes as they move, tap only the ripe ones, find which way the middle arrow points, name the ink and not the word, remember where the square was two steps back, or count seconds with no clock. Each takes a minute or two, says which part of the brain it works, and keeps your best score and a streak. The tasks come from attention research. Practice makes you better at each one, and Tend doesn’t claim more than that: think of them as a warm-up before a session.
REST DURING BREAKS
When a break starts, Tend offers rest instead: sigh it out (two breaths in, one long breath out, following the tomato), look far away for 20 seconds to rest your eyes, or write down one good thing from today and keep it to read back.
LEAVE A THREAD
Note what you learned, where you’re stuck and the next small action. Every field is optional, and the next session starts from where you stopped. Export the week’s notes as Markdown for a meeting or your lab book, or keep a full backup.
STAY OFF YOUR PHONE
Your session runs on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island: your question, a pixel tomato and the countdown, with Pause and Done. When the time is up, leave your note from the notification without unlocking. Pick the apps that pull you away, once: while a session runs they stay behind a “Tend is on” screen, and Done or the end of the session opens them again. Tend never learns which apps you chose. You can start a session from Siri or the Action Button too.
A LITTLE PIXEL ROOM
Big pixel digits, a ring of blocks that empties as the minutes pass, and a tomato that ripens from green to red while you stay with it. Quiet view hides everything else.
FIND YOUR RHYTHM
15/3, 25/5 or 50/10, or your own lengths. A longer break follows four full sessions, and a quick timer fits between sets (“plank 90 seconds”).
PARK A THOUGHT
A new idea, a worry, another tab to open: write it down without leaving your question, and come back to it later.
ROOTED IN SOURCES
Short, linked notes on Deep Work, Slow Productivity, the Pomodoro Technique, if–then planning and research on breaks. Tend says which parts are its own adaptations; no interval is presented as best for everyone.
YOURS, ON YOUR DEVICE
Works offline. No account, no ads, no analytics, no AI service. Your notebook stays on your device until you export it. Your question shows on the Lock Screen while you focus; notifications never show your notes.
Tend is an independent app by Houfu Chen, a PhD researcher, and is not affiliated with the authors it cites. Timer minutes record elapsed time, not attention or research quality. The warm-up is not a medical or diagnostic test.
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