A study with me timer for friends, without the webcam

A study with me session is a block of focused work done alongside someone else, either live or recorded, usually on a shared timer. The best-known format is the study-with-me video: a person studies on camera through Pomodoro-style blocks and breaks while viewers study along at home. Live versions run on video calls and virtual coworking rooms.

Body doubling is the broader name for the same idea: working with another person present, in the room or online, so it is easier to start a task and stay with it. The other person does not help with the work. Their presence is the point. Many people who find it hard to begin tasks, including people with ADHD, describe body doubling as useful, though it is a practical strategy rather than a treatment.

Each format trades privacy and effort for a different amount of social presence.

None of these is the right answer for everyone. If you need someone to say out loud what they are about to do, a live call works better. If a camera makes you self-conscious, a presence-only pond keeps the company and drops the performance.

A Shared Pond is a small group of friends inside Pondoro. Each member keeps their own aquarium, timer and settings; the pond adds a view of each other.

1. Sign in. Shared Ponds need an account to sync, so sign in with Apple, Google or email from your Profile. The rest of Pondoro works without one.
2. Create a pond or join one. Create a pond and share its invite code, or enter a code a friend sent you. Pick the display name your pond mates will see.
3. Start a focus session as usual. While it runs, your pond mates see that you are diving. Your intent, tasks and apps stay private.
4. Finish and see who else showed up.Finished sessions appear in the pond, and pond mates' fish can swim through your tank as visitors.

Shared Ponds include moderation: pond and display names are filtered, you can report or block a member, and you can leave a pond at any time. Blocking someone hides their name, fish and sessions everywhere in Shared Ponds.

A simple routine that works for a group of two to six people:

1. Agree on a start time and one length. 25 minutes is the classic Pomodoro block; 50 works well for long revision. Starting together matters more than the exact length.
2. Each person names one task privately. Pondoro asks for an intent before the session starts, and only you see it.
3. Turn on Deep Focus.It shields the apps you choose for the length of the session, using Apple's Screen Time.
4. Start, then leave the phone alone. The pond shows everyone is diving; that is the whole check-in.
5. Take the break together.Pondoro's breathing breaks end on time, which keeps a group in sync for the next block.

Chat is the fastest way to turn a study session into a conversation. Shared Ponds deliberately show only one thing while you work: who is focusing right now. There is nothing to reply to, nothing to read, and no one can see what is on your screen. No one's session fails because someone else stopped early, either. Each person's rewards depend only on their own finished focus.

Pondoro also counts on its own as soft company when friends are offline. Your companion fish reacts to your focus during a session, and the reef is waiting when you surface. It is not a video call with a person, and it does not claim to be.

Everything that makes Pondoro a study timer for students works the same inside a pond: a timestamp-anchored countdown that keeps running when you lock the phone, a Live Activity, a streak that rests instead of breaking, and a Field Guide that logs a sea creature for every finished dive. If starting is the hardest part for you, the ADHD-friendly focus timer guide pairs well with body doubling. For long sessions, see the deep work timer guide, and if your group is switching from shared trees, the Forest app alternative comparison covers the differences. Features and pricing are on the Pondoro homepage; all guides live in the Pondoro focus guides.