Focus Hero: Achieve your Goals Reviews

by Idas152

So I wanted to try FocusHero . 5 seconds in: “sign up for our annual subscription 100$ with a 7 day free trial.” No. I just want to try FocusHero first. 30 seconds later after going through a few screens…. “Sign up for our annual subscription only 70$ now with a 14 day free trial.” No. I would like to actually use FocusHero first to see what it’s like before giving money. 30 more seconds after setting up my name and goals. “Sign up for our annual subscription! It’s only 50$ now! This deal only last 5 mins though… oh and you cannot leave this screen for those five minutes unless you subscribe.” Closed app. Here I am. Disappointed. What the heck guys? This feels so scammy and pressures someone to drop a bunch of money, praying on people who statistically have anxiety on top of their adhd. Edit: reopened FocusHero to try it again. Had a nice lovely sparkling gift on the home screen “subscribe for 40$/year!”.

by Jaerwils

I went to update my previous review which was way more thorough, but for some reason it isn’t showing up…. So I’ll do a shorter review

FocusHero has to stay open on your phone. If not it crashes or you lose all your collected items and experience from that focus timer. If the purpose of FocusHero is to give a dopamine boost when you complete your focus then it hits you hard when you find out FocusHero crashed and left you with an almost empty phone battery on top of it all. So I have moved away from using it since it just disappoints me currently when I find out that it wasn’t collecting the time.

For $100 you could buy multiple actual pomodoro timers to keep at your desk and they will last more than a year. There are also other free apps that give you the timer and even have note keeping in them if you want more. The free trial was fun for the first 5 hours of studying, but I soon realized this needed a lot of work before what is a good idea is actually created and running properly. I was quick to cancel the subscription but would consider a $20 subscription for something that didn’t crash half the time. Then go up on price as more options become available in app. I’ll try and check in on FocusHero later this year and see if it has improved and lowered in price, but until I can only see the creator making money on this when people forget to cancel their free subscription. Do Not Pay $100.

by Kintheartist

I thought this could be a great app for someone with ADHD like me, but it doesn’t even let you try FocusHero on its own merits before asking for money. It felt bad. I know that’s how all apps are these days, but it was still sad to see.

There are also lots of minor issues I noticed just from testing it for a few minutes. There don’t seem to be a lot of ways to customize the focus mode, and FocusHero always chides you if your phone screen turns off or you exit FocusHero . For someone who prefers the screen off while I’m trying to work, it was irritating.

This is very nitpicky but I’m writing it out to hopefully help the devs: Going into settings didn’t let me re-arrange my goal order, and starting a focus always defaulted to the first one no matter what I was last working on.

Another nitpick, but the number one most annoying thing to me was that for some reason, even without the sound on and my phone screen off or if I went to a different app and just had Focus Hero in the background, it would grab the focus for my Bluetooth headphones. That meant that if I paused the audiobook or music on my laptop, Focus Hero would take the Bluetooth headphones to my phone (despite not having any audio) and I would have to completely close out of FocusHero turn my headphones off and on to listen to my audiobook or music again.

I see a lot of potential, and I hope maybe I could try this again sometime in the future and see improvement.

by Larsh Intonticles

It’s a good idea, and fun to play. But at the time of this review, I see zero initiative for trying to be honest and not just letting the clock run out to get experience. That kinda disrupts the idea for me because it makes everything feel less impactful and meaningless if that makes sense. I also would like to see an option that allows you to set blocked apps or uses while a focus is running. As of right now, I swipe FocusHero away and immediately get distracted and FocusHero becomes pointless. Idk, maybe I’m missing the point of FocusHero, but I felt that it was to help you reward focus and task completions. But it’d be nice if it actually locked your phone to a degree you set it to do so. Like in apple screen time settings. FocusHero is currently a game that does nothing to help you with screen time habits even though that’s what it’s going for. They did a good job on the game portion, but completely left out anything that helps you to start creating better habits..

by Annoyed And Poor

This is a great tool to help focus! I use it myself but I also use it to help my ADHD six year old stay on task with his school work. The ambient sounds are helpful (some cute tavern music would be a fun add!) and I like how you can choose to allow closing FocusHero or not. I also like how you don’t have to buy points, you can only earn them by doing real world tasks! The story is cute and the characters are charming. However, I’m not sure I can justify the $100 a year price. Keep in mind, the game of the year RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 has hundreds of hours of content and is only $60. This is a cute little 8 bit side scroller with a small fighting mechanic and a little story and it costs $100 a year, which means if you use FocusHero for three years that’s $300, and it just keeps adding up! $20 a year would be a much more reasonable price if it HAS to be a subscription but I’m of the mind that things like this should be one timer purchases only. If it was one time you could probably get away with charging $50 max, but anything more than that is absurd. It is a very cute and helpful app, but for hundreds of dollars, you’re better off just writing yourself a checklist on a piece of paper to hit that dopamine.

by BlubberButt51

Likes: pick your own personal goals, level up character for doing house hold tasks, some armor and weapons have color customization, soundscape optional while doing tasks, just to name a few things…
Dislikes: can only custom set five tasks, minimum time spent on task can’t go lower than 10 min, why so many coins with no where to spend them?
Suggestions: hero pets- I personally have a mini zoo in my home and would like the option to reflect a pet or two with my hero, time spent on tasks- five minute increments would work better for me personally, as some of my tasks take no more than 5 minutes. Time sensitive tasks where I could set a reminder to complete the task in a specific time frame would be cool. Apple Watch widget or phone widget to track tasks and to start and stop tasks from a separate device.

I do like FocusHero so far, I was telling my girlfriend about it and she knows how I struggle so we would like to pay up eventually because I’m hugely motivated by the style of FocusHero.
Keep up the good work on here and you’ll have a paying customer in me in no time!

by Slayth3day

Some friends and I were discussing this very idea - a video game that helps people adventure in the real world. ⚔️🌳✨I love leveling up my little adventurer character! I haven’t even had it for a day and I’ve already been better at getting stuff done, even achieving some studying I’d been putting off. 🥳 My only complaint thus far is that a $100 yearly subscription is far too much for most people to spend on an app, including myself. Maybe there could be a challenge where you log x amount of focus hours and win a discount or, if the challenge is completed, a free year? Just a thought 😉

by Cadee920

Okay so a few ideas/features that would be really appealing: 1. A more female presenting character, like a fantasy main character with a braid or something 2. Just kind of additional character customizations, things like hair color and style, eye color etc would be really fun 3. The pause play button was really confusing at first since it’s the opposite of most things and shows the play button when playing and the pause button when paused, drove me nuts my first go around 4. Last thing is that background noise on the home screen is super nice I wish it was also an option on the focus screen for working to Over all love FocusHero these are really small things that would just over all level up the experience. It really does make me want to focus because I know its the only way to advance in the game. I also really like how adventure mode adds a play component to the game.

by Fartbob Fartpants

It really helps me focus at work and helps me sleep which Is obviously amazing, but why the 4 stars if i love it so much, well a small issue that I'm unaware of wether its a bug or theres another reason for it, whenever i turn on focus mode, and sleep for the amount of time i put on, it says i level up my attributes which gets me excited, since i love customization! But then i check and instead of the level 12 defense it says i got, i still have level 1, I simply don't understand why? I let the end play out, i relax and breathe through the loading screen yet nothing! Ive had a level 9 shield and helmet that i cant equip due to this!

by 1029384756-"/@:&;$().',!?

I greatly enjoy focus hero. Needing focus points is a great way to make me focus, and, like with most things, there is an honor system if you decide to allow app usage on the phone still. I find this usage helpful when I’m not overly concerned about getting distracted.
One problem though. When I haven’t opened FocusHero for a bit, say a couple days, even though I have bought the option to continue using adventure mode FocusHero forgets and says I need to buy it again in order to use the adventure mode.
A suggestion I have for the items - include a “save” button after choosing the gear for the avatar. I’m not sure right now if the gear is kept on it or not (I think so) but it would be a nice confirmation that the changes made will flow into the adventure mode as well, and not just decoratively.
All in all, I find it a neat idea and compelling expansion on the timed activities ideas. Thank you. :)

by BelovedMusician

FocusHero has been so helpful in getting the ball rolling for me on a task. I’ll start and then have to reset the timer so I can have more time. Which is a good thing!
It even motivates me to delegate certain tasks, so I’ll do a little every day—instead of all of them, all in one day and burn myself out. And then I get more points which means I’m always rewarded for my task even if it felt dumb or pointless that day. 🫶
3 things that I think would make it better is (1) a 5min timer. Sometimes I NEED to only spend 5mins on something cause I don’t have the time or it’s not necessary… to be fair I could just use a timer on my phone if there’s a reason why 10mins is the limit.
2nd thing is please please please please put this on the focus app on iPhone! I want my sound on to tell me time’s up without my apps notifying me too.—but only when I’m using FocusHero .
3rd thing is I would like to turn off my phone and the timer go off and I hear it. Right now I turn off my phone to focus and then I open it up and the alarm went off 15mins ago 😅 I’ve gotten in a better habit of leaving my phone open when I use that but I think it would save battery (maybe) and be less distracting.
If there is a guidebook for any tips and tricks for the timer, leveling up (like the benefits in the game of which part I choose to level up) and game play hints, I would love to know where I can locate that. ☺️🫶

by Little Marhold

I saw this as an ad on some other app, and I thought, well, I like the graphics and I like to procrastinate, so I'll give it a go. I give it 4 stars. 1 star for the graphics and the fun things to do (other than just focusing on a task). IE, once you finish a task, you get FocusHero 's version of points and you can spend them to go adventuring with your character. It's fun, and in order to actually keep adventuring, you HAVE to do something on your little list of "focus"ing thingys. It's cool. 1 star for the setup. FocusHero 's coloring is well done, and the buttons and the mapping of FocusHero is navigable. 1 star for the background music and the Lock Screen for when you start your Focusing task. 1 star for something that is actually fun. I've actually used it, and it's something you can set up on your phone with ease and actually care about it. I just like how FocusHero uses a game system to help you stop procrastinating, but also at the same time provides a place where you can take a limited break from chores or exercise or whatever, but not get stuck on whatever version of endless scrolling. I didn't give it the last star because when you first get going on FocusHero , it asks you to do a monthly plan. You can exit the plan options and do the free version, which I do. I don't care for monthly plans like these. Free version works like a charm. No need to pay. Although I suppose if you end up using it enough, it could be very useful. I don't know.

by ImmortalHorsefang

I do not lie when I say that I think this is one of the only apps that gets me motivated to actually accomplish my tasks. I am moving out of my place soon and yet I could not get myself to clean anything despite how much I wanted to.

I have Finch and a few other apps that are supposed to motivate you, and they work well with some things, but it wasn’t really enough for me. FocusHero, however, got me moving. Being motivated to save a realm by doing what you need to was right up my alley!

Not only that—and I’m not sure if FocusHero was designed this way intentionally or if it just happened like that—but FocusHero is perfect for people like me who will try to get everything done all at once. You get three treasures at the end of a focus session which could be gold or some equipment. By doing smaller spans of time you get a rewards, you take a quick break, get back to it, get rewards, and continue the cycle.

Thank you to the devs who made FocusHero and this game. I am so incredibly grateful.

by ItzDatPoi

I hate cleaning. Meditating is too boring for me. I neglect the self-care I need. I’m too lazy to exercise. Reading feels like a chore. If I had it my way, I’d sit on my computer gaming all day. Somehow, FocusHero has made me focus on all this other mundane stuff that I typically push to the side. In the past two days alone, I’ve put in about 8 hours of “focus time”. My apartment looks better than it has in a loooong time, I’m feeling pretty good mentally, and I find myself feeling antsy to take 15-30 minutes and put some time in on FocusHero. Maybe I just like seeing “number go up” in the game, but it has helped me manage the not-so-fun parts of life :)

by Sarah_las

This has app has been really motivating for me while studying. I struggle a lot with staying on task, and while im unwilling to spend money on a timer, just the ability to unlock the different awesome timer backgrounds one by one and avatar options in the free version is enough “gameification” to really make it fun for me.

There are some bugs with FocusHero, and I’ve experienced some data loss that makes me wary of the paid version (especially because the price is a bit high) but as someone looking for a totally free app, I’d honestly say the free version of FocusHero is super cool and it’s a great choice.

Kudos to the solo creator, you made a real winner of an app with a great concept. I’m sure you’ll wrinkle out the bugs.

by Pikastrike

As someone who does not like to do chores or stay focused without a reward system in place FocusHero does it. Is it the best, I don’t think it has reached that level yet. Which is a good thing and here is why. FocusHero is pretty advanced to where it is now which means in the future it is only going to get better. The developers appreciate feedback and they are working to get it done. They have obviously put in a lot of work to get to where they are and it is on the rise. I have paid for this and I am very pleased with the amount of productivity that I have gotten out of it. I like gaming, but I also like to get things done and this is a great app to accomplish those task.

by 👹🧌

It’s really motivating to actually do my work! I want to see what’s on the other side and keep going in adventure mode, so I “have” to study and get focus energy. I would really love it if it could somehow lock me in FocusHero during a focus session, or lock me out of selected apps? I know the strict mode right now asks you what you were doing when you leave FocusHero , but the security of not being able to try would be great if possible! I’m genuinely considering cancelling my other focus app subscription because this one is way more interesting.

by Bunbun424

I love this focus timer - great accountability partner. I can't get distracted by my phone if my phone is busy telling me I only have to fold laundry for 5 more minutes - and by the time that 5 minutes is up, I'm in the groove & before I know it, all of my laundry is done!

Another way I use it is to focus on relaxing. Mindlessly scrolling is absolutely not restful for me, but putting on a show and crocheting is. Even doing those things, I have the temptation to grab my phone to max out the brain stimulation, but this puts a barrier between me & overstimulation, and I don't want to set back my tiny hero's progress by interrupting my own free time!!

by Esteban Y Andrea

I’ve been using this a few days and I really love it. It’s a great idea and well-executed. Totally worth using in its current state, but with some further refinement could be even better. I see the developer is still actively working on it! That’s great.

I’d like to see less strict adherence to the pomodoro style optionally. I track things like workouts in other apps so if I could add them here manually that would be amazing. Its not great to have to start a timer here, open another app, start tracking there, and make sure the pomodoro timer resolves correctly and I’ve pre-estimated the time correctly. I find myself trying to work around the pomodoro aspect of FocusHero at times. It would also be nice to suffer a penalty for ending early as opposed to no credit (optionally) and be able to get some credit for being focused longer than the original timer (again I find myself trying to work around the timer when I focus longer than expected, sometimes having gone 30m over, I then just start a new timer for 30m to get the credit, but I’m actually not even doing that task anymore (because I didn’t set the new timer as soon as the old timer finished).

So in a nutshell, maybe a set of tweaks that allow you to break out of pomodoro mode if desired? I do think having strict pomodoro as the default behavior is good though, I totally get it.

by Jaccaboye!

Focus Hero is awesome. It takes real life and gives my little neurospicy brain an instant gratification reward for doing things I need to do. I feel more motivated to do things because it feels a lot more relevant when I’m not just looking at the long-term - I have a reason to do it NOW.
I really appreciate the ability to have a stopwatch instead of the classic timer. I feel better about doing things longer and getting rewards for how long I choose to do something, rather than waiting for a countdown and feeling boxed into that time.
Nice job, devs.

by YellowEmperorPenguin

FocusHero is very easy to navigate and extremely useful even if you chose not to use money. It also really does motivate you to work harder and longer as the little hero you build in FocusHero makes you feel like you want to take care of it. Which you do by working for longer times and earning rewards! Apart from providing motivation, FocusHero makes it easy to track your goal and how long you’ve actually been working. ONE SUGGESTION: I feel like adding a calendar that can show how long you’ve been working on your tasks for in each individual day would better aid in keeping track of my goals. FocusHero also has an easy and quick onboarding process so if anything, download it to try it out even for a few minutes!!!

by Gabe-þrek

I personally love this concept of an app. A little fantasy world to be your own hero! To adapt to your goals or even achieving them! FocusHero will help you setting reminders and as well having fun! Never really had a app that was “fun” especially all the apps now a days seem so vague and expect you feel better after their “services” for a few months, I digress… I think it should be Atleast be fairly cheaper (here are my reasons)
(Reason 1.) it should be cheaper for the service you are paying and wanting change! But I believe if to make Atleast profit I would suggest adding a extended deal you can add with the service you get with FocusHero . As well I think people that want to change and make goals as well as gamers, that suffer having the gut fear of not making a good change or being “too late” I feel like FocusHero can change millions of people and it’s so simple as a lil cute fantasy game to look forward to!
(Reason 2.) in the current year of 2024 and how our economy has changed a lot… I would say for how much this cost I think people are rather get free apps or even do other alternatives unfortunately. BUT that doesn’t mean FocusHero is terrible I just think it can be readjusted and improved!

That is all!