Focused Work - Pomodoro Timer

Wouldn't it have the best experience when used on the iWatch?

Im writing this review to try to get the app to stop bugging me to write a review, and because this app is a little intrusive with messages and notifications I can’t give it 5 stars. But other than that it’s a 5 star app. You can use premade pomodoro style timers or make your own custom ones. It’s helping me greatly to concentrate

So useful! Having set time sessions for work and break are easy to use and follow along :)

This app checks several of the boxes I’m looking for in a pomodoro system. Though, I can’t bring myself to use this app or pay for the subscription as it’s incredibly ugly. It needs a substantial UI upgrade. Very off-putting colors, constrained menus, odd layouts, etc. The entire experience needs to be more minimal while maintaining functionality. What’s worse, is there isn’t a single setting to alter any part of the app’s appearance, which is a very odd decision on the developers part. For instance, the green and orange glowing icons on the session structure screen. Yikes. That along with the ugly, bold purple core app color is just terrible. I also don’t understand why integrations is mentioned on this screen, it’s already in settings. There’s also a glitchy Siri thing at the bottom that is spazzing out. It’s unfortunate because having a session view screen like this that breaks down and labels each section of the pomodoro system isn’t available in other apps that I’m aware of. And it’s a bit ruined by the ugliness of it all. Also the tiny icons above the pomodoro timer wrapped in a bold red line. Why?? This is so weird. The entire top of the app is so cluttered and strange. And the bold red, uneditable color of the timer is not cool. And again, why is integrations on a tiny system menu icon that’s just cluttering up the limited space available? Integrations should be in settings and left alone. Makes absolutely no sense to keep pushing integrations. If someone wanted to use the functionality, they will… in settings. You also can’t remove the dumb tomato icon in front of pomodoro. Some of your users are over 12 and don’t want to use emojis. Weird thing to hardcode. Under appearance settings, where you’re weirdly only able to edit the font thickness (seriously), it even shows a purple timer color and yet the only available color on the actual main screen is VERY red. We also don’t need the “ready to focus?” text. Yes, we’re ready to focus, that’s why we downloaded a focus app. This isn’t to say that other pomodoro apps are much better, though some apps with limited functionality have a much better UI. This app has a lot going for it, but as a person who shys away from ugly apps, I just can’t bring myself to use it. But I do see a lot of potential here, so I’ll check back to see if UI improvements are made.

Hearing the timer helped SO much!!!

I love using Focused Work!! I love how I can change the focus sessions and make a workflow that works for me. Thanks for making this!!

It is Incredible that this tool has made such a difference in my daily work concentration and productivity

Edit: the new update fixed my below complaint! Thank you to the developer for talking serious consideration of reported bugs! Original review: I paid for the app to block other apps and it doesn’t work properly. I used to love this app and now it doesn’t work.

As productivity tools go—especially for those who use Toggl and want to integrate time-tracking—Focused Work is probably the strongest. Add to that the ability to integrate Shortcuts and it becomes a powerful tool with a lot of flexibility and potential. However, although it boasts many strengths, it does still have one (admittedly, superficial/minor) flaw: The emojis are non-negotiable. For all its flexibility, not having the option to opt out of using emojis—especially when they’re displayed so prominently—is incredibly distracting, and incentivizes me to hide what is otherwise a clean interface with crisp Live Activities. That’s not suggesting adding an alternative like SF Symbols; just that I wish the emojis themselves were optional, so I’m not required to use them or forced to decide which garish emoji best fits the custom focus session I want to create. PLEASE make these optional.

Pro version does it perfectly