Focus Keeper: Productive Timer Ratings and Reviews

Wow! Never in a million years would I have thought that I would gain effective productivity with an app, such as this one! I suffer from anxiety and uncontrollable ADD and my medication to control this challenge, lately, has been effective for my energy (caffeine boost), but I needed something to support me, in addition, to my focus concerns. I have been extremely behind on my work assignments which increases the negative behaviors through my anxiety. I find that I do well, with my medications, combined with a simple tool or self-challenge to hold myself more accountable toward my efforts (or ability) to complete my massive load!!! This app is beyond simple and user friendly and that’s all you need to get your task DONE!!!! I love the fact that I have the ability to change the countdown times, however I see fit for myself in the moment of. I have literally been more productive in my very first time of using this app, that I have in MONTHS! This is my new life saver and I would totally recommend this to ANYONE with ADD/ ADHD. I feel more accomplished and at ease because I am getting my work caught up in long sittings!!! The routine breaks are perfect!!! Prior to the app, I had my life coach advise this on and off rotation for my condition, but it’s not as beneficial or effective as an app that can track your progress! I’m grateful! I think this app saved my job as a director!!! Wow.

Trust me I’ve scoped them all, even written a couple myself (via Shortcuts), but this is the best app on the AppStore if you’re often distracted, unmotivated, or suffer from adult ADHD. I definitely upgraded to pro, worth it to customize my chimes (Pavlov conditioning myself haha), and set the background colors to something I enjoy glancing at all day. The main benefit of this app in my opinion is the tracking/data analytic aspect they perfectly built in. The only thing I wish this app had was a text box you could enter your current task into so that it was present on-screen while the work-session timer is counting down. All in all this is my favorite and most used app whenever I have big tasks to work on or if I ever feel my productivity isn’t at the level where I know it can be. Highly recommend my friends!

Edit: One other note, seems the chime settings are a bit backwards. I guess I expect to set the chime sound that would start the session. For example when setting the Focus Alarm to News Is expect that sound to play when I’m going into a new Focus session however I have to set this sound to the other two breaks to get this to play how I intend since the sound for Focus Alarm actually plays when that session is over.

If I have a day of intense productivity (aka hyperfocus), I suffer from brain fog for the next few days, sometimes even a whole week. Today is one those days. I was struggling through the most basic tasks. I couldn’t even focus for a 5 minute stretch in order to answer my work emails.

This app is a lifesaver for my ADHD brain. I turned on the White Noise app and set the timer for 10 minutes. So far I’ve been able to complete 3 cycles of 10 minutes each. I’ve now bumped it up to 15 minutes. Hopefully the apps will carry me through the day.

Update 10/6 - I have one complaint about the way the app functions. I have it installed on my iPhone. It seems to stop randomly and it doesn’t restart itself or even alert me to let me know that I need to restart it. I don’t know if it stops when I get a text message or a phone call or if a calendar alert pops up. I’m so focused on my work (or trying to be focused re:ADHD). I only realize that the timer has stopped when I switch to it to see how much time is left until my next break. It’s very frustrating.

After switching from 5-6 days a week in the office, to COVID and working from home, I really struggled to balance everything. Somehow the load of laundry or the dishes in the sink were very hard to ignore while trying to focus on work. I found myself constantly distracted, only able to focus on work when household tasks were done (which of course they never are!)
This app changed my life. The structure of working for 25 minutes with a 5 minute break allows for focus time, and then I can take 5 minutes to switch the laundry or empty the dishwasher, which really helps to keep the work-life balance actually balanced. Four repeats of a “block” equals 8 hours of focus, which also makes a very tangible way to work 8 hours during your day. And this is broken up by 30 minute breaks between each two hour block, which I find helps me produce higher quality work throughout the day, while also giving me time to keep up with housework.
I highly recommend focus keeper to anyone struggling to work from home and keep their work life balance.

ADHD?? This is your GOD Send!! I have only been using this APP since this morning and I have already managed to complete several tasks with minimal interference! I’m beyond amazed! Nothing has ever worked for me. Squirrel Moments as my husband fondly calls them would overtake my days to the point that at the end of the day I hadn’t actually accomplished anything but had managed to begin at least 4 or 5 more projects!!! All of my “Projects” would remain unfinished until I HAD to complete one! Even then a 1 hour task, could and usually did, take upwards of 4 or 5 hours and even then maybe still not be completed but always another 3 or 4 would be in the works!! I’m not kidding you! Since this morning I have started and completed one project and finished 3 that were in the works!!! Hallelujah!!! And it’s only 2:15pm!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this App, I’m deleting all the rest except for AnyList!! I use that one daily and now I can actually get everything at the grocery that’s “On the List “. Before AnyList, I always lost the list! 😂 Anyway get this! You will Love it!! ❤️❤️❤️🙏🙌👍😀

I don’t have ADHD (as far as I know), but I do have focus issues that can make it difficult to be productive for long periods, and I have a lot of stuff to do (including school prep) on which I fall behind if I’m not consistent in my working habits. This app helps me get a LOT more done on a consistent basis and track how well I’m doing over a two-week to one-month period. I paid for the pro upgrade pretty much on the first day because I knew I’d be using the app to death and having the ability to customize everything is a huge help. One weird bug I’ve come across is that when I pick a time for the round and goals to reset, it always picks the time one hour before that. I’ve learned to work around this — it’s just a little odd and can be annoying if you don’t catch it when picking a new reset time. Otherwise, I have no major complaints — the app works beautifully. It would be nice to be able to use it in split view on iPad, but that’s more of a request than a complaint.

A simple but effective app to prevent burnout while working or studying (I use it for studying Japanese). The Pomodoro method helps not only with keeping you at your peak of attention span, but also helps with the much more subtle fear that feeds wandering attention and procrastination: the fear that the workload will never end. It's perfect and very comforting for overwhelming tasks that you dread sitting down to tackle.

The app itself is so visually simple, it doesn't distract, but reassures you in an easy to read timer. Personally, I customized it, turning off the tick tick sounds on the work sessions and the long break- on work sessions I found it to be stressful, and who wants a timer ticking loudly on their long break away from work? The ticking works well though for the short breaks, to keep you mindful that they're brief.

There's also a reminder that rings every Monday at 2pm, suggesting that you plug in for a session, which I rather found adorable. It's kept me from dropping the app and forgetting it, and as a result, put in more regular study time.

Are your projects ever so big you don’t know where to start? Or do you struggle to see the trees from the forest when you get too interested in something? I admit this is the first app of time cycling I have tried so I don’t have experience with competitors but this app has been a lifesaver. Making sure I have planned breaks helps me stop going even if I really want to continue. This avoids me wasting time when I get lost in the trees and not seeing the forest. The 5 min breaks are also nice. They save me from taking a break to do something and never getting back on task because one thing leads to another.

Thanks for developing a tool that is so simple but at the same time so valuable. This gives me structure in a sea of unending curiosity and saves me from just jumping from one thing to the next.

I agree with others that in a further iteration of the app it would be wonderful to label focus sessions. Linking to a calendar or even a graph to get visual representation of time spent would also be an awesome features.

This time is so simple and elegant. The timer just works and the interface is clutter free. I appreciate that there is a calculator that shows how much time you would be spending in Focus when setting up the rounds, which I find helps me stay realistic with my focus goals. I do about 8 rounds in a work day, which is about 4.5 hours of focus, and usually takes a whole work day. With this feature I can let myself off the hook for not working enough because I am not working “16 hours a day” as so many people in my field like to trumpet. When I can complete my work ahead of schedule with a regular rhythm of focus, all the workaholic unrealistic expectations start to dissolve

One feature that’s keeping this from being a five star review is that there is no option to have a sustained alarm to alert the end of a long break. When it’s the end of a long break usually I am away from my phone far enough that the one time ding doesn’t register to me until it’s too late and I need to reset the focus timer.

I downloaded this and ditched it after going to their link and reading their privacy policies. They are quite extreme, and be skeptical if the developer replies and makes it sound like you can opt out of them. Their own site says in clear terms that opting out makes the app basically nonfunctional. I’ve used many apps, including having tried several Pomodoro apps, and this is one of the worst as far as your privacy rights. Your personal data should not be for sale or shared with entities like Facebook, Google, and others for advertising or ANY purposes. You’re already paying a subscription fee. There are other issues like their statement that they can retain your data as long as needed, but they don’t tell you what that period is after you delete your app. Flimsy wording like this is a sign of a developer who only has his own interests in mind, and I refuse to patronize developers who gather and share my personal data to this extent. Privacy matters. Regardless of any possible future response by the developer to downplay these issues I’ve mentioned, I encourage you to click the link and read their privacy policy for yourself.