I think the idea behind the app is great. But I wish there were some additional options, or at least greater transparency. For example: it's OK that the text disappears after a set period of time if you don't keep typing. But I'm an old guy with slower reaction times, and I'd like the option to increase that to 7, 8 or maybe even 10 seconds to better suit my own pace. I like the fact that sessions are stored automatically in iCloud, but I'm not crazy about the fact that they are (apparently) stored in the Flowstate sandbox where I can't see them. It appears that the only way I can access them as text files is by exporting them from the app. Once a session has been saved, I would prefer an option that let me access the file directly.I guess what I'm saying is that in some ways it's a little TOO stripped down for my taste. But I can see the value of the discipline, and I'm going to keep using it for awhile and see what happens.

Review is coming from a Mac mini late 2012 running Yosemite with a SSD drive running macOS Sierra GM Beta. Since this only works with EL Cap and higher I’m using Flowstate on my external SSD running the Sierra GM Beta.The app runs so smooth. Love the different times and fonts you can choose. When typing I played with the text disappearing to the point where it was ‘almost’ totally gone, and resume typing to bring the text back in a-nick-of-time. It’s fun to play around with how long you have before the text actually is gone. I like the way you can save your work as well as the different ways it can be saved, for example, by name, by date, etc. For testing, I did a bunch of text returns to get me to the bottom of the page and kept on hitting return so it’s good to know that you will never run out of a page to type on. One thing, when the time is up there’s no feedback, maybe that’s a good thing. The timer turns into a button that you click on to end the writing session, or if you prefer, just keep on writing (the good thing). This app really forces you to write. My problem is I still find myself doing spelling edits. To stop that, when I make a spelling mistake I try to either retype it or if my fingers become all thumbs I hit return and start a new line. I believe if I use this app ‘everyday’, it will help me become a better writer.

I mostly love this app. I have serious issues that come up when I find myself with a blank word doc in front of me. It’s amazing what you can produce when you have to keep writing or you’ll lose everything. Flowstate is helping to get back to writing and I am seeing the results in my work. One minor quibble - the interface is simple, which is great, but it’s almost too minimalist. It would have been helpful to have some sort of tutorial when you log in.I’m ticked off about two issues:(1) I was really on a roll, I had just a couple minutes left in a 15 minute session. I tried to click on the paragraph above to add something I’d thought of and then I couldn’t start typing again. I pounded my keboard in vain as my beautiful 13 minutes of writing faded away.(2) when I tried to rate the app within the app, it directed me to write an email rather than rate it in the app store. I guess they only want you to come and leave a rating here if you’re planning to give it 5 stars. This strikes me as rather weasely.

Great concept— the only thing I’ve found (besides drugs) that prevents me from trying to do the impossible and squeeze out a perfect first draft rather than trusting the revision process.The one design gripe I have is that while this works great for sittings of an hour or less, it’s a bit too draconian for two or three hour sessions — some of us mortals occasionally have to pee, answer urgent phone calls, or go check on the fire alarm, whatever. It’d be nice if there were a setting such that if you failed to stay engaged with the text for five seconds it took a screenshot of everything before wiping your work. Having to retype a screenshot would be annoying enough to deter me from using the setting to undermine the app’s purpose, I think.Unfortunately, the brand’s whole marketing angle is embarrassingly hypermasculine and sort of /r/im14andthisisdeep — as if my Sunday School teacher’s idea of what Nietzsche was like came to life and collaborated with the Dr. Pepper TEN advertising team to market an app. Makes it tough to recommend it without caveat to my friends, who are all either women or sensitive wusses like myself.EDIT: Sync’s working better, so I’ve deleted those quibbles and upped the rating.