Published September 2026 by 25Mint. Data: Google Ads Keyword Planner, Australia, September 2025 – August 2026 compared with September 2024 – August 2025. You're welcome to use these figures — please link to this page as the source.
How do Australians try to focus? We analysed 13,495,040 Google searches made in Australia over the past year for timers, stopwatches, focus techniques, background sounds and "phone-free" tools — and compared them with the year before. Four clear trends stand out.
Key Findings
- Short timers are booming. Searches for a "1 minute timer" rose +43% and "3 minute timer" +46%. The two most-searched timer lengths in Australia are 10 minutes (650,200 searches) and 5 minutes (570,300), both up +33%.
- The classic Pomodoro is plateauing — deep work is rising. Searches for "pomodoro technique" fell -20% and "pomodoro timer" was flat (-1%). Longer blocks grew fast: "50 minute timer" +52% and "90 minute timer" +56%.
- Australians are trying to physically get away from their phones. Searches for "faraday pouch" — signal-blocking bags — jumped +151%, and "dumb phone" rose +38%.
- The background-noise craze is cooling. "Rain sounds" fell -21%, "white noise" -6% and "green noise" -55% — though white noise is still searched 355,200 times a year.
1. Australia's Most-Searched Timer Lengths
People overwhelmingly look for short, round numbers. Ten and five minutes lead by a wide margin, and the 25-minute Pomodoro — the most famous focus interval — sits well down the list.
| # | Search | Searches (12 months) | Change vs prior year | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 minute timer | 650,200 | +33% | March |
| 2 | 5 minute timer | 570,300 | +33% | March |
| 3 | 15 minute timer | 436,200 | +28% | October |
| 4 | 30 minute timer | 408,300 | +33% | October |
| 5 | 20 minute timer | 348,700 | +29% | March |
| 6 | 2 minute timer | 275,300 | +30% | August |
| 7 | 1 minute timer | 234,100 | +43% | May |
| 8 | 1 hour timer | 221,000 | +38% | October |
| 9 | 3 minute timer | 213,700 | +46% | August |
| 10 | 40 minute timer | 159,200 | +31% | March |
| 11 | 45 minute timer | 131,500 | +38% | March |
| 12 | 25 minute timer | 111,800 | +19% | March |
| 13 | 50 minute timer | 104,900 | +52% | March |
| 14 | 2 hour timer | 75,300 | +43% | October |
| 15 | 90 minute timer | 20,590 | +56% | October |
Almost every timer length grew by 20–50%. Overall, searches for "timer" reached 5,246,000 (+18%) and "stopwatch" 2,934,500 (+31%).
2. Exam Season Shows Up in the Data
Longer timers peak in October — when Year 12 final exams begin in most states — and many shorter study timers peak in March, early in the school year. The 2 hour timer (October), 1 hour timer (October), 30 minute timer (October) and 90 minute timer (October) all hit their highest month then, consistent with students practising papers against the clock.
3. Pomodoro vs Deep Work
| Search | Searches (12 months) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| pomodoro technique | 67,300 | -20% |
| pomodoro timer | 157,500 | -1% |
| 25 minute timer | 111,800 | +19% |
| 50 minute timer | 104,900 | +52% |
| 90 minute timer | 20,590 | +56% |
| study timer | 23,490 | +25% |
Interest in the Pomodoro name is fading, but timed focus is spreading in a different form: people search for the length they want rather than the method, and increasingly they want longer, deep-work blocks.
4. The Phone-Free Movement
| Search | Searches (12 months) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| faraday pouch | 60,700 | +151% |
| dumb phone | 112,000 | +38% |
| phone jail | 6,150 | +8% |
| phone lock box | 11,940 | -6% |
| digital detox | 7,520 | +2% |
| adhd tools for adults | 1,110 | +95% |
The fastest-growing search in our dataset is for signal-blocking Faraday pouches. Together with the rise in "dumb phone" searches, it suggests Australians are moving past screen-time apps towards physical ways of putting the phone away. Our guide compares the options: phone lock box vs Faraday pouch vs app blockers.
5. Background Sound: Past Its Peak
| Search | Searches (12 months) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| white noise | 355,200 | -6% |
| rain sounds | 96,300 | -21% |
| brown noise | 83,300 | -3% |
| pink noise | 38,600 | -6% |
| green noise | 10,030 | -55% |
| study music | 45,600 | -1% |
| focus music | 30,700 | +12% |
After the social-media-driven boom in "coloured noise", searches have cooled — green noise more than halved. Steady options like white noise and brown noise remain widely used.
Methodology
We collected monthly Australian search volumes for 36 focus-related search terms from Google Ads Keyword Planner covering September 2024 to August 2026. "Searches (12 months)" is the sum of monthly volumes from September 2025 to August 2026; "change" compares that total with September 2024 to August 2025. Keyword Planner figures are estimates rounded by Google, so small percentage differences should be read as indicative rather than exact. "Peak month" is the highest-volume month within the latest 12 months. Search interest reflects what people look for, not what they buy or use.
Media, teachers and bloggers: you're welcome to quote and chart these figures. Please credit "25Mint Australian Focus Index 2026" with a link to this page.