Emphasis Reviews

I’m changing my review because it’s been a little upsetting about this most recent update. I had updated thinking that I’m only getting stability problems fixed but turns out all the features that I’ve been using are suddenly premium for $25 a year. I understand that in order to receive more benefits, updates, software, and overall app development that this is important. However, I was not notified on the update and seems like a lot for compared to other apps that may only have one payment and be done. Therefore I must part ways with Emphasis even though it was perfect for me and had everything I wanted. I couldn’t justify paying that much yearly for another app that does the same thing for perhaps a one time payment.

Emphasis is one of the best out there, literally the UX Design, the Interface, the colors, the fonts, the whole thing is fantastic (and would be a five star review) HOWEVER:

Although I understand the developers needing to profit off of these apps please change some features back to Free!

I think everything sans the stats and colors and future customizations should be free.

Even with the stats a basic overview of how much you’ve used the timer should be free as well.

Emphasis was one of my favorites and I am extremely disappointed that they have taken off some basic features and made them premium.
Please please please! I don’t disagreeing that some features should be premium, however some of these are necessary!

Here are my top features I wish were free again:
Sound Theme
Basic Stats and Weekly Report
Auto-Start Work Toggle
A few more color options

Also, some review said there is a limit to the number of sessions you can do; I haven’t seen that yet myself but I agree that it should be unlimited sessions, or a high number which works for most users.

(I will update my review if some improvements take place)

Before the most recent update, I used Emphasis daily alongside my flash card app Anki. I would study for 5 minutes, with 2 minute short breaks, and 12 minute long breaks. However, to get through my excessive amount of flash cards (+600... I’m in medical school), I need about 40+ 5 minute sessions (ie. The daily goal). However, the most recent update decreased the permitted daily goal to 16. This limitation actually makes it impossible for me to use Emphasis, my favourite of all the pomodoro timer apps. I ask, as an exhausted student, please change this feature back to allow for more study sessions! Because Emphasis it otherwise perfect, for which I thank you! No distractions, no ads, background colour options to decrease visual distractions. Honestly, I still try to use it but I have 1400 Anki cards today, I wanted to plead for the return of my study buddy. Thank you for all your hard work!

In a world of everything being premium and having to subscribe to enjoy the totality of an app, a one time pay app was a relief. And that’s what I enjoyed with this app when it was introduced first as Pomodoro. I did my payment and was able to enjoy all the features. Now, I have to suscribe to enjoy the things I once paid for? I don’t usually write app reviews, but it disappoints me that after years of using Emphasis as I paid for it, I have to now subscribe to another service to even use the palette of colors. It’s a hard goodbye, but I thought Emphasis as different from the broad app as with subscriptions nowadays. I was wrong.

Emphasis was perfect (keyword WAS) before the subscription was required. It let you set timers at any length and it had stats that you could use to track your productivity. It even had that lovely minimalistic style that is not distracting but also quite chic and it let you change the color of the background to a variety of soothing or fun colors. Now, they require a $25 annual subscription for most of the colors, most of the settings, and to even be able to view the stats. I really loved Emphasis and wouldn’t have minded an ad or two in the settings if it kept it free, but now I feel that most of Emphasis is restricted.

I have been using this timer for over a year. It has helped immensely with my productivity, as I use it to time my “animedoro” sessions. The interface is clean and easy to use. The design is pretty, and having the timer not use the exact minutes left is a great feature so it doesn’t feel like I’m just counting down the minutes until my break.

However, I have been steadily running into the same issue. I will start a work session, and the session will end without a notification or ding if I'm in another app despite me having both my sound and notifications on. I have it on my iPad, where I also take my notes at the same time, so it is possible this may be causing issues. Another problem I have is that I will finish a work session, and it will have me start another work session by pressing the timer, instead of starting my short break. Often times, I do not notice that it has changed and will accidentally start a new work session when I mean to be on a break.

Nice looking timer and promising statistics functionality. Biggest problems are related to the markdown-style editor. First, clicking the title of the template document unexpectedly closes Emphasis and means the template cannot be easily deleted. Second, it’s not possible to reorder lists of folders or documents. They just get added to the top of the existing list and stay there until deleted. Finally, deleting individual elements from the editor is somewhat undiscoverable, but once you know to scroll to the right horizontally on the keyboard toolbar after long pressing the element it’s not too bad.

I am really enjoying Emphasis so far; I love the design and ability to choose color scheme. The timer itself is a bit cluttered looking though. But I absolutely love that there’s space for notes, customizable tasks and intervals and overall really does help encourage focus.

The only reason I’m not going with 5, is the silly think with the timer design, but mostly that it’s not available for OS. The fact that I have to use it on my phone makes it considerably harder to ignore my phone, and I typically need to tuck it away somewhere to fully focus. Having this available for Mac desktop/laptop etc., would be an ACTUAL game changer, and I would probably start forcing everyone to get it.

Really hoping that’s something that will be coming in the future...hopefully very early future. But overall, great all.

I didn’t understand the functionality of the middle button/folders/notes at first. I think they could be simpler and more straightforward. Or a tutorial would be nice. I love the minimal design of Emphasis but this section is difficult to understand because of no instructions.
Also I think being able to define different tasks and seeing the time allocation in the graph would be perfect and is a feature that adds a lot to Emphasis without making it more complex.

I have ADHD and working in a focused way for long periods can be really tough. Enter pomodoros: it’s such a great way to get things done but it requires a good tracker. This is hands down the best one (and free?) that I’ve found.

Simple interface, a VISUAL timer (not numbers, which are harder to make concrete as they’re ticking down) that allows you to see how much time is left to motivate yourself without getting anxious with a countdown clock.

Even options to make beautiful text checklists and color customization. Download this now!

I’ve been using Emphasis for 2 years and love it. It’s great for productivity with the pomodoro settings, but also a great “colors timer” for my kid’s two minute transitions between activities. There are so few apps that can do both, and this one not only manages it but looks great doing it. When I ran into a pro subscription issue with the last update, the developer was quick to respond (within 24 hours) and fixed the issue right away. Overall - 11/10, would recommend in a heartbeat.

I don't do a lot of app reviews but this app is seriously impressive! Emphasis has everything - from its sleek design to its endless customization options and user-friendly interface. It's like having a mini productivity sidekick right in your pocket. You know those days when you feel like you've blinked and hours have passed? this app' sleek Pomodoro timer keeps me on track and focused.

And further, for different kinds of tasks, I’ve set up custom timers and chimes. For example, I’ve added an “I can do anything for 5-minutes” timer here. Anytime I’m not feeling productive, or procrastinating, I simply tell myself that I’ll do it for 5 minutes and turn on this timer, before I know it, I’m deep into work, and making progress.

I've tried many Pomodoro apps and even owned a physical timer, but none of those are easy to stick to. Each one of them has one limitation or the other. This is the first app that I've stuck to using for a month, and keep coming back to.

With the calendar view, you can quickly review how you spend your time, complete with neat pie charts that break it down.

I would strongly recommend keeping the widget on the Home Screen. It reminds me how I want to spend my time.

There is something about the graphical countdown, rather than a numerical countdown timer, that works perfectly in sync with my brain. I have an unhealthy obsession with time and I love how this so,how strips it away and lets me focus on the work to be done in a chunk of time. I’ve tried Pomodoro and tons of other apps but nothing clicked like this one. I also love the tracking capability, and how it syncs between my iPad mini and iPhone. I use an iPad mini for running Emphasis, and then have my phone free for productivity.

I love the simplicity, the color scheme, and the addition of being able to add a tag line, the ease of starting and switching timers. I love how the interface encourages long form writing. It’s more in line with the way I think and process what I need to do while also offering the option of simple checklists/to-do’s.

There is one glaring glitch though. When I logged out and then logged in, it did not remember my preset settings and some of my writing was lost into the abyss. This is a huge no-no, so I hope the developers really fix it or give us to export/back-up our data.

Incredible solution ADD/ADHD. I’m unbelievably distractible and struggle to refocus once I believe I’ve failed at focusing. I use a variety of techniques to help me, but this is one of the most important.

Most pomodoro apps are a little fussy and have distractions built in. Emphasis shows you only what you need/what’s important when you need it, but still has deep functionality so you can do things like track your progress.

Working for 25 minutes doesn’t feel like a long time at all, and frequent breaks feel like I’m cheating on how much time I actually spend working, but the thing is, *it works*. I’m at least doubly as productive when I use Emphasis versus when I don’t. That’s not an exaggeration by the way. I work in a metrics driven role and my numbers at least double every time I use Emphasis.

The dings/chimes at the end of a work session/break are rewarding and I honestly get so excited to hear the special melody after I’ve reached my daily goal.

10/10 would recommend.

The simplicity of the display is amazing; there’s nothing there to distract or confuse or overwhelm. The “pie” display for time is awesome. The ease of use is just wonderful, too; Emphasis (or at least, its developer) just “gets it.” I only used Emphasis for about 4 or 5 days before I decided it was definitely worth paying for it. I struggle with regulating attention and maintaining focus, especially when at work, and have tried a number of different apps to help keep me organized and/or on track; Emphasis is for sure one of my favorites.

I don’t really care for the fancy, multiple features that most pomodoro apps have so this is a perfect fit! minimalistic and no unnecessary features 👍🏽 if there was anything to add, its just an aesthetic idea i have. since you have the option to change the color theme, maybe add an option to change the font theme? just a small detail but it’d be cool to have!

edit: another feature i think would be cool is to have a timer widget that shows how much time has elapsed while using your device. For example, if I’m using an app for my focus work, then i could see a moveable widget timer on the screen. Hopefully that makes sense!

Love the aesthetics of Emphasis and the graphical nature of the timer vs digits or a clock. Also I like that it’s not bloated with unneeded features or busy menus.
One thing I would like to point out is when I’m either listening to text to speech/music or out of Emphasis , is that the sound is low and occurs only once. Some Bluetooth headphones create a delay between the phone playing a sound and the headphones actually playing the sound, causing the first maybe half or quarter second of a sound clip to be cut off. I have missed the bell/ding of the timer multiple times this way. I wonder if a repeating sound option or more sound choices could be added in the future.

Of course, Emphasis and the Pomodoro Technique have definitely increased my productivity.

[Background info, feel free to skip:
• I am a 15 year old girl
• I use the timer for school homework, reading and taking notes on self improvement and psychology related books, learning a 2nd language, and sometimes singing
• I have only really used the pomodoro timer so far

It has already helped me to get a lot more work done, in fact, I’m using the timer right now.
One thing I was hesitant at first about the pomodoro technique was the 5 minute breaks that occur after every 25 minute session. At first I thought they were disruptive to my flow, but I’ve come to realize they prevent overly long breaks and burnout. Think of it this way — lets say it’s been a few hours after lunch and a person starts to feel a tad hungry. They may hold off on eating, thinking they’re avoiding unnecessary calories, but then they end up overeating when they finally do allow themselves to because of the intense hunger. Meanwhile they could have simply had a moderate meal earlier and be just as full.
I highly suggest this technique to anyone, and this timer is perfect for it.
I also appreciate its simple but still pleasant layout, the choice of different colors, and how all of the sessions and breaks (long & short) are customizable in both duration and amount.

This is an awesome app that you should really try. I absolutely adore Emphasis. I have something called ADHD which means I have trouble focusing and I get very easily distracted. Emphasis is a life saver. Before I got Emphasis it took me hours to get homework that other people in my classes did in five minutes. With this app it now takes me so much less time than it was. But of course I still was a few minutes behind the others and I knew that, that would never change no matter what miracle life hack you have. And I’ll just say that this is definitely one of those miracle life hacks.