Freedom: Focused Screen Time 4+

I’ve only had Freedom for a week or so, but I already love it. It gives me the self control I never had on my own and I have multiple recurring sessions set up, to make sure I have a time to do certain work, to get a good night’s sleep, etc. I think “Freedom” is a pretty fitting name for it by the way. :) However I also have a couple of suggestions that could make it better:

1- have a “limit” mode in addition to the current “block” ability. What I mean is, adding sites and apps to a “limit” list for a certain time period, where Freedom will let you access it for a set amount of time (like 5 minutes), but then start blocking it. I understand there is a browser extension Freedom supports for limiting websites, but it would be nice to also have it for apps and just incorporate it better into the main thing.

2-have a toggle-able “random reminders” mode. What that means is, if the user turns this mode on, then during times where a block session is not active, sending reminders at random time intervals asking if the user is currently distracted by something time wasting. The random nature of the reminders could help the user to snap out of a distracted trance.

Thanks for your amazing review and great feedback! We're so happy to help you find focus & be more productive. We're always working on improvements & new features so you can trust that we'll keep being the original & best web & app blocker out there :)

Had trouble getting app to work, and emailed with tech support. Was surprised to discover that tech support person, who had no info about me except my email address, was able to tell me what settings I had used in the app, *even though when I emailed tech support I had uninstalled Freedom.* Want a company to have a permanent record of the sites you have trouble staying away from? Then Freedom’s the app for you.

Also, I apparently made big errors setting up the app. After I got it running, set I thought to block Twitter and nothing else, it blocked the entire internet. I could not even send emails. While I don’t work in tech I’m pretty competent with my electronics, and have never made the kind of a boneheaded errors in setting up an app that I apparently did with Freedom. According to tech support, though, I really screwed it up. If all the problems were really from my errors, seems to me the info for new users is not clear enough.

Also, after installing and setting up, and deleting Freedom TWICE after it paralyzed my iPhone, I asked to have my money refunded — this was after I had had app for about 2 days. Tech support said there was no possible way for them to get me a refund (and of course there are multiple possible ways), and told me I had to go to Apple and ask for a refund on my Apple account. Apple account does not show the $40 payment I made. Payment was withdrawn from my bank acct though. So I’m also out $40.

Hi there and thanks for your feedback. We're sorry to hear that the app didn't work out for you! At Freedom, unlike many other anti-distraction apps, we don't collect or sell your data. Freedom synchronizes your blocklists all your devices, which is what you are referring to. This is a feature of our product and not for data collection. Anyway, we are still very sorry you didn't have a great experience, but we wanted to add some explanation to your claims.

I bumped my review from one star to 5 stars. They’ve really improved since my last review and I’m fairly pleased with the app overall…

However I’d like to make a suggestion for an even better experience. Can you consider allowing scheduled sessions on certain calendar days. For instance scheduling a session for the 3rd and then a different session for the 4th and so on.

I don’t have the same work schedule from day to day, or even week to week. So sometimes when I schedule sessions for certain days of the week I often forget to change it based on my schedule for that day and end up being blocked when I really need certain apps or NOT being blocked when i need to be productive… if that makes sense.. Just a suggestion for those of us with inconsistent or hectic schedules… If you have tips on how to achieve similar goal with your current features I’d be glad to hear. Thanks!

Hi there and thanks for the update! I have shared your request for calendar integration with the team. Thanks again!