Question 1

Why would this work when nothing else has?

Accepted Answer

Because it does not ask you to decide anything. By the time you would have to choose to stop, Focen has already started the session, already knows the tab is a distraction, and parks it for you. There is nothing to remember at the one moment you will not.

Question 2

How is Focen different from Cold Turkey, Freedom, or SelfControl?

Accepted Answer

Those wait for you. You build the blocklist, you set the timer, you press start. Focen works out what is work and what is not while you are working, and acts in the moment. Tell it once when it gets a site wrong and it remembers.

Question 3

What happens when I open something distracting?

Accepted Answer

Nothing, at first. The dot goes amber and you get a moment, because a ten second glance is not the problem. Stay there and it flashes red, then parks the tab and puts you back where you were. The tab comes back when the session ends.

Question 4

Who is it for?

Accepted Answer

Students, people with ADHD, and anyone whose work happens in the same window as everything that interrupts it. It was written by a student who could not focus.

Question 5

What is the best focus app for students?

Accepted Answer

The hard part is not picking one, it is turning it on. Focen starts itself when you start working, so nothing depends on you remembering. It runs on Mac and Windows, with an iPhone app, and starts with a 7-day free trial.

Question 6

Is Focen free?

Accepted Answer

Focen is a subscription at $2.88 a week ($149.99 a year) or $19.99 a month, and one subscription covers Mac, Windows and iPhone. Every new account starts with a 7-day free trial. On a computer you start it in the app after signing in; a card is entered then and nothing is charged until the trial ends. On iPhone the trial runs through the App Store.

Question 7

Does Focen work on Windows?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A menu-bar app on macOS, a tray app on Windows. The same behaviour on both.

Question 8

Does Focen block YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and whatever else you drift to during a session. Focen also sorts sites nobody ever put on a list, which are usually the ones you would not have thought to add. YouTube is judged one video at a time, so a lecture you need stays open.

Question 9

Is Focen private?

Accepted Answer

Focen is local-first. What you do on your computer is processed and stored on your device. To label a page it has not seen before, Focen sends the site address, page title, and the kind of work you do (if you set it) to the classifier; you can switch that off in Settings. Your browsing history and the contents of a page never leave your device. On our servers we keep your email, plan, and trial status.

Team