Focus - Productivity Timer Reviews

I wanted to like Focus but there are 2 fatal problems with it: First, it doesn’t even work. Notifications never come up, no sounds occur, so you keep working and working past the allotted times period. I disabled do not disturb and used Focus on my watch. No notifications ever occurred. Totally defeats the purpose of timeboxing.

Second, there is no way to END the subscription. The only way to even use Focus is to sign up for a subscription, which has a free trial for the first few days. After using Focus for 30 minutes it was totally clear I didn’t want it, so I went to “manage subscription” to end my subscription and conveniently for them....there’s an error! So now I’m going to have to track them down to end my subscription and they surely will drag the process out past the free trial period to get their money.

I regret downloading Focus. Please learn from my mistake and just use the timer that is already built in to iOS.

My primary use case for Focus is on my Watch. I rely on it to tap when it’s time to take a break, or when my break is done. However, it fails to consistently do this – sometimes I get the tap as expected, other times I’m working away and realizing that it’s been much more than 25 minutes, why didn’t it tell me? When I look, sometimes the complication is waiting for me to respond, other times it’s counting time *up* instead of down!

Also, “Sessions Until Long Break” has been consistently off by one. I have it set to 4, but it actually takes 5 sessions before I get a long break. (Does it start counting from zero internally? I’ve just tried setting it to 3 to see what happens.)

The Watch complications look fantastic, and I *really* want to love Focus. But I can’t depend on it to consistently tell me when time is up, or correctly identify when my long break starts.

I tried a number of Pomodoro timer apps across my phone and Apple Watch. They were all pretty good on the phone. Some had a little more functionality than others including premium services. The big issue was with the watch part of Focus . I wanted the watch and phone apps to sync and I wanted to have the watch as the main controller while working. I work from home and often don’t know where my phone is during the day but the watch is always strapped on. With this app the session modifications are managed on the phone. Once they’re set up the sessions can be controlled solely on the watch. I had questions about a couple things and emailed the developer. He was very responsive and helpful. So far I haven’t purchased the premium product but plan on buying it soon.

I use this pretty much every day to help this app through the less exciting parts of work. There are two things that would help make this a five-star app:

1. The ability to easily set different this app lengths. Some times you need 25 minutes this app to get started, but once you are up and rolling it would be nice to easily move this up to, say, 45 minutes.

2. A Watch app that actually works. There are way too many times where Focus just sits there and finally closes. And this is on a newer version Apple Watch.

For photosensitive users, dark modes aren't just an aesthetics choice. For these users, especially those looking at their devices all day, dark modes aren't just about being pretty. Dark modes are fundamentally required to make Focus useable at all.

Dark modes are an *accessibility* feature. They make Focus useable in the same way that AssistiveTouch or VoiceOver do. Would you charge more for accessibility features? No. That would be terrible. Dark mode is an accessibility feature in exactly the same way other features are. Night Shift, True Tone, and the lesser known Reduce White Point aren't enough for some users: dark modes are the only way for them to use apps they can look at for hours at a time.

Furthermore, some users have "floaters" in their vision caused by fluids shifting in their eyes. They cannot comfortably use black on white UIs as a result. Dark modes are the main way users with these floaters can interact with their devices.

All that said: I realise that app developers need to make money. That's fine, really! I work as a developer myself. I understand. But charging for an accessibility feature is the wrong way to do it. I'd be happier making a *donation*, and getting nothing, than I am having to pay to configure Focus to be useable in a way that doesn't cause me eyestrain and discomfort.

Dark mode is an accessibility feature. I shouldn't have to pay to make Focus accessible.

I’m an avid writer and keeping track of my writing sessions has always been somewhat of a challenge. That was until I discovered the pomodoro technique. Intuitively, I began looking for an app to assist me in tracking my sessions. Luckily, I found this app. I have to admit that at first I was very skeptical. Actually, I gave up on this app at one point. But I simply couldn’t find anything better. Then, they released an update around the release date of the iPhone X and it was everything I was looking for in a pomodoro tracker with the analysis, insight and stability lacking not only in the previous version but also from every other version of every other pomodoro tracker app. If you are a productivity app junkie like me, look no further. Focus is easily in my top 3.

Saw that this was watch compatible, and downloaded it for that reason. Perhaps that support only started with watchOS 6, but I find that doubtful since it was only made available (to séries 3 and above) a few days ago. As watchOS 6 is not yet available for Series 1 & 2 watches, I’m unable to download and use it with my watch. Disappointing. While it’s important for developers to keep up to date with OS updates, and I would otherwise appreciate the timeliness, there’s no reason to drop support for a previous version of an OS when it’s not yet available for all devices that will support it. Glad I have not yet paid for Focus. I don’t mind the subscription fee, as I understand the work involved in app maintenance and development, but I would have been livid if I’d been a paying subscriber and support for my watch was dropped before the watchOS update became available for me. Not exactly a fair way to handle things IMO.

I downloaded Focus for some help with activity tracking and time management. You can basically do nothing with the free version and have to sign up for the yearly subscription of $40 (for a Pom timer) with a free trial of only 7 days. First of all, that’s just wrong. That’s just hoping people will forget to cancel. Secondly, even if you cancel on the same day it doesn’t take effect for sometime. My app somehow is charging me for the full year even though I cancelled the very same day! How do I know? I looked to make sure on SATURDAG THAT I DIDNT I HAVE ANY ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS AND I DID NOT. Suddenly it shows up today as not being cancelled and is charging me for the $40. Not really sure who is at fault here, Apple or Focus . I don’t think I am because I checked literally twice last week. I’ve never given a bad review for an app even if I chose not to use it. But this just takes the cake.

Seems like the devs missed the interface norms that apps ignore the silence switch if headphones are selected, and that alarms ignore the silence switch entirely.

Focus won’t play the end of session alarm audibly with the silence switch on whether using headphones or not. For more fun, the end of session alarm uses your ringer volume, so that has to be up high while you leave the ringer turned on.

Upshot: useless at work unless you want your phone ringing loud and clear from your desk whenever you disconnect your headphones and forget to toggle the switch back.

Edit:

Thanks for the snarky “calm down” response. I’m not suggesting your app should do anything other timer apps don’t already do.

The limitation isn’t with system notifications, it’s with how you’re configuring your audio sessions.

Read both the Apple guidelines on sound behavior for alarm apps (silence switch shouldn’t affect) and the API re audio sessions and session behavior in relation to the silence switch and audio (this is all controllable).

For $2 I’d “calm down.” For what Focus charges? It had better be right and significantly better than the field, with constant and frequent updates until it gets there. At $40-60 a year you’re in OmniGroup pricing territory. Raise your bar.

I use Focus to study in med school as i don’t really know how to take breaks and at first it really helped me a lot. Now it has gotten more and more annoying that every time (E-V-E-R-Y T-I-M-E!) i get a notification on my ipad that my session has ended and I go into Focus it crashes and i have to reopen it. Also i downloaded it on my iphone and computer so when i take breaks i can stand and use my phone to know when the break has ended, but to say that the syncing of time between devices is glitchy would be an understatement. And i bought a whole year subscription so now im stuck with all of this😡.

Edit: changing rating to 1 star because of the passive aggressiveness of the person responding to the reviews.

And its not my end as i got friends with the same app and same problem so it seems like a software problem.

I would have loved to try the trial because Focus seems well made, but any time I exited Focus , a payment window automatically pops up for the annual subscription without me ever choosing to. That is sketchy. If it’s a bug in Focus , then it needs to be fixed.

UPDATE: I’ve downloaded Focus again to replicate what I saw and am now unable to. I will remove my poor review for that, but I experienced this twice with my first download. I’ve since updated my phone including a restart, so I can’t be sure if it was Focus or the phone.

Downloaded primarily for the Apple Watch. After downloading I discovered it is a pay as you go. Refuse to pay monthly or yearly! It's a timer for Pete sake.....

That's a great response; to answer, when you pay $500 for a product you expect said product to be useful and not keep incurring charges. Your business models earns millions; not specifically your brand, but the market is earns heavy. I assume based off your response your not a great company who doesn’t care of your people.

"Since the whole timer and therefore the Apple Watch app is completely free to use, we have no idea what your problem is. Is it that you don’t want to pay money for other people’s work? Or is it that you don’t want Focus to be constantly maintained and developed through a sustainable business model? Speaking of shameful..."

It’s a little glitchy syncing between all my devices. This isn’t super important in practice as I tend to be on a specific device while on a specific task but I do need my watch to be in sync with whatever device I’m on at the very least. There is definitely a lag sometimes which is hyper noticeable since this timekeeping methodology is all about intervals.

I really want Focus to work and be amazing. It is simple, clean, and does exactly what I’m looking for.

However there are multiple problems that occur intermittently over the months I’ve been using it that made me stop. This is based on using the watch app solely: 1) The watch watch app forgets the current timer during a session and resets to 0; 2) Focus crashes when starting a break after a session; 3) the watch app loses sync with the phone app (times out perhaps?).

I really hope Focus can be made more stable because I prefer it above the other pomodoro timers for the watch.

How on earth can anyone justify the rating that Focus has. You cannot use it at all without paying for a subscription. There are so many apps that are free that have this take a break feature. I’m almost certain that Apple will develop their own if they haven’t already. Why would I pay for a timer? And not even a timer that can be reset without paying. Focus is a waste of time and a scam. Focus should be free with certain functions available for purchase through subscription. However, in order to access the basic function which is set the timer - you have to pay! No. Outrageous.

I’ve been using Focus for a while and loved it. A recent update had a pop up requiring money after a free trial. That’s not an issue. I am happy to give money to people who make software I love.

The issue is after the update, Focus is absolutely unusable on my watch. I came to Focus store reviews to see if anyone else had mentioned this recently and got to see the developer responses to reviews. They were bad.

I’ve done customer support for a long time. These responses were bad enough for me to decide I’m not interested in pursuing any interaction with the customer support team and will find another app.

I understand the need for continued support but other similar or even more useful apps work without structure. I don’t mind paying a one time price for an app. I would pay 10-12 dollars for this at a one time purchase price. Maybe add a subscription for an optional monthly donation on top of that.

Other apps exist that more or less do the same job, with stats and all, for a sub 3 dollar one time charge. I’m giving this one a try with those but I feel like I’m starting off on the wrong foot already with this app.

I was going to try out Focus it looks great! But unfortunately the days are gone when I can simply buy Focus now every Apple and every dev wants us to pay monthly for the simplest of apps it’s ridiculous. So I figure I can wait until they change from monthly payments or wait until Apple release a copy-cat and the next IOS update. Until than I’ll be using Be focused, you can actually buy their app it’s not pay as you go) or just the timer on my iPhone or watch.

I really like how simple and clean Focus is. However, the timer never used the alarm sound. I had sound turned on, my volume up, etc. I closed out of Focus , restarted my phone, turned my phone on silent and back and nothing worked. I even tried using the ticking hoping that would allow the timer to alert - never did.I consistently worked past 25 mins and way over each 5 min break. I wish the sound alert worked and this would get more stars from me.

I’ve searched and searched for the best time tracking app and I though I had found it. I even bought the one year subscription. But after the update Focus complete bombs.
1- the Apple Watch app doesn’t work anymore it doesn’t pair with the phone app.
2- all other time tracking apps have the option to keep the display on, this one doesn’t work. You have to toggle it on and off for it to work every time you change apps.
I tried to get a refund but of course it was denied. So instead I leave this review as a warning to anyone that is considering purchasing the subscription.

I love Focus andy days are more productive and I’ve been using it over two years
I used to have Focus on my apple watch and i needed to reset it and erase everything and now i realized I can’t have the this app app on it and my guess is it only works for recent new apple watches and watchos
The update for older watch series isn’t released yet and we can’t use Focus on iwatch despite the description saying its for watch and ipad too (without saying that older watches can’t)
wanna keep using it and without having it on my watch i think it won’t be as effective as before
Please consider fixing this issue