Focus To-Do Alternative: A Simple Pomodoro Timer for OBS

Focus To-Do is a real task manager with a Pomodoro timer attached, not a Pomodoro timer with a couple of task fields bolted on. That distinction matters once you actually try to start a session and the app wants a project picked and a subtask checked off first.

For people who track a full backlog across devices, that structure is the whole point. For a developer streamer who just wants a clean timer visible in OBS, or a solo developer who wants a desktop widget next to the editor, it is overhead standing between you and a 25-minute focus block.

Focusdoro was built for the second case: start a session immediately, show it live, and skip the project setup entirely.

Why Focus To-Do Feels Heavy for a Timer

Focus To-Do's core interface is a task list with priority flags, due dates, subtasks, and tags, sitting alongside the timer rather than behind it. Reports, streak stats, and calendar sync all key off the tasks you enter, so the app rewards keeping that list current. Skip it and the Pomodoro feature still works, but you are using a fraction of an app built for something bigger.

That heaviness shows up hardest on stream. A developer streamer wants a small, quiet timer graphic, phase and current task, nothing else. Focus To-Do has no export built for that. The only way to put it in a scene is capturing the full desktop window, task backlog and all.

Solo developers hit a quieter version of the same friction. Every session either gets filed under a task you maintain, or drifts into an "unassigned" bucket that slowly turns into clutter you clean up later.

Focus To-Do vs Focusdoro: Side-by-Side

What Focusdoro Adds That Focus To-Do Cannot

Focusdoro strips the task-management layer out entirely and keeps just what a visible Pomodoro session needs.

• Zero setup before your first session. No project, no priority flag, no subtask checklist. Sign in and start a timer.
• An overlay actually built for a stream scene. A small, transparent browser source showing the timer, phase, and current task, nothing that would expose a task backlog to your audience.
• The same session on stream and off. Start on the OBS overlay and pick it back up on the Focusdoro desktop widget later, with no task list to reconcile between the two.

How to Switch from Focus To-Do

If Focus To-Do's timer is what you actually wanted and the task manager around it never stuck, switching takes a few minutes.

1. Sign in to focusdoro.app. Use your Google account. No project or task list to import first.
2. If you stream, copy your overlay URL. Click the Overlay URL button in the header.
3. Add it as a Browser Source in OBS. Set width to 220, height to 140, and add body { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin: 0px auto; overflow: hidden; } in the Custom CSS field for a transparent background.
4. If you work solo, download the desktop widget instead. It mirrors the same clock and task field off-stream, with no project setup required.
5. Keep Focus To-Do installed if you still need the task manager. Just stop routing your focus sessions through it and let it go back to being a to-do list.

For the full OBS setup with sizing and positioning details, see the complete OBS Pomodoro setup guide.

Who Should Stay on Focus To-Do

If you actually use the task management side, subtasks, projects, calendar sync, and long-range reports, Focus To-Do is doing a job Focusdoro was never built to replace. Nothing here suggests dropping a task manager you rely on.

The switch makes sense for the narrower case: you installed Focus To-Do for the Pomodoro timer, never touched the task management side, and now want that timer visible on stream or sitting on your desktop without the rest of the app around it.

For other Pomodoro app comparisons, see the best Pomodoro app for developers on Mac or the Toggl Track alternative comparison. If you stream and need the overlay side specifically, the best Pomodoro timers for streamers roundup covers that ground too.