Stop Losing Your Focus History: The Limits of Anonymous Mode

Fri May 08 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Tomatoro works without an account. We made it that way on purpose — the timer shouldn't gate-keep your focus. But there's a price for not signing in, and it's worth knowing about before you build a 30-day streak only to lose it to a browser update.

What anonymous actually stores

Open DevTools, go to Application → Local Storage → tomatoro:segments. That JSON blob is your entire history. It lives in one browser, on one device, and disappears if you:

Clear your browser data
Use private / incognito mode (gone when you close the window)
Switch browsers
Reinstall the OS
Open Tomatoro on a different device

Most users hit at least one of these within a month.

What you lose

The Reports view redirects anonymous users back to the timer because there's nothing to report. No weekly summary, no streak counting across devices, no long-term trend visible.

You also can't customize timer durations and have them follow you — those settings live in the same local storage bucket and vanish the same way.

Create a free account to fix this

When anonymous is actually fine

If you just want to try the technique for an afternoon, anonymous is perfect. No friction, no commitment. But the moment you find yourself thinking "I want to see how I did this week," that's the signal to sign up.