The Focus Keeper App Makes It Easier to Stay Productive

Productivity-focused apps can be really helpful, though they all do slightly different things. Some apps are great for time boxing and time blocking, and others motivate you using games and animations that you can earn when you tick off your to-do list. The one I’m looking at today works by keeping track of how long you stick to a given task, and is great for when you want to cast all those frills aside.

While some people might benefit from opting for an all-in-one app that micromanages and encourages you, those who want to just get down to business might prefer this more basic approach. Focus Keeper simply helps you keep track of your time spent working, and is disarmingly plain while still being pretty advanced. At its core, it’s just a Pomodoro timer, but it works seamlessly on your iOS device, Android, or desktop to keep you focused and in a state of deep work.

Focus Keeper is no frills, all work

If you’re looking to gamify your productivity, Focus Keeper isn’t the app for you. When you start a focus session with Focus Keeper, you won’t earn any in-app currency, rewards, or animations, unlike what happens with a lot of its competitors. There are no animated birds giving you positive affirmations, no bouncing tomatoes acting as a representation of how many minutes you’ve dedicated to a task, and no drawings of trees that you can redeem for the opportunity to plant a tree in real life once you’ve worked long enough. All you will earn with Focus Keeper is a real-world benefit in your life, but for me, that’s sometimes all I want.

Focus Keeper relies on the principles of the Pomodoro productivity method, asking you to work for 25 minutes, take a five-minute break, and repeat that cycle three more times before getting a longer break. It’s really that simple. The method has lasted for a long time, because it really does work. To be really productive, you need two things: distraction-free work sessions and periodic breaks. You can, of course, time your work sessions without an app, as people have for decades, but there are some upsides to using one, especially Focus Keeper. For one, it tracks your sessions over time, giving you a data-filled breakdown of how long you spent working each day. But also, even the act of opening the app, starting a session, and hearing the “tick, tick, tick…” Focus Keeper plays can motivate you to get to work.

Sessions are customizable

The nice thing about Focus Keeper, aside from its no-frills experience, is that you don’t have to work for 25 minutes at a time to use it. The timer, which is its main feature, can be adjusted from one minute to 124 minutes, so your work sessions and breaks can be as long as you need them to be. This is helpful because a lot of people—myself included—believe in adapting the Pomodoro technique’s guidance to fit their specific circumstances. Yes, 25 minutes may be a generally optimal amount of time in between breaks, but it might not always fit your schedule or needs. If you only have 15 minutes to get something done or, worse, are staring down a project that is going to demand a lot more of your time, you have the option to customize the timer, which is really useful.

You select what you want to work on, pick the sounds the app plays, and label and customize your focus sessions.
Credit: Focus Keeper

The app fits into your life

When you start using Focus Keeper (which, by the way, you can access on your desktop, too) you’ll be asked what you want to use it for, which you can add to your sessions as tags so you can track that data later. You’ll also be asked to set goals, like waking up early or exercising, that you’ll be expected to check off of your in-app to-do list every day. Again, it’s very no-frills. Unlike other to-do apps, like my beloved Finch, you’re not going to get a reward for marking off your objectives. You just get to add whether you’ve completed them to the data section of the app, which serves to show you what you’re doing and how well you’re doing it.

Data plays a big role

I am a big believer in time tracking, or finding a way to write down how long I spend doing a given activity, because after a few days and weeks, you can really see some patterns emerging. Having access to that information can help you shape your schedule and to-do lists so they’re more effective. Focus Keeper does that for you, which I appreciate. Because you can indicate within the app what your specific focus sessions are, well, focused on, you can actually see how much time was spent on each task as you finish them.

With the paid version of the app (which I’ll get to in a moment), you can have access to 14-day and 30-day analytic breakdowns that show you how much time you spent focusing on your tagged tasks. It’s on you to indicate within the app what you’re working on when you use it so that can be reflected in the data, but over time, you’ll be able to see how long you spent on each activity. I haven’t used the app long enough to get a full data breakdown yet, but the customization present—like the ability to name focus sessions and color-code tasks—makes it obvious that breakdowns can get seriously in-depth. The data I can see, so far, is also impressive: Every minute I’ve spent with the app is accounted for, both numerically and in graph form.

Focus Keeper doesn’t curb distractions for you

One thing this app won’t do is force you to stay on-task. That’s on you. Unlike other apps, like FocusPomo, Focus Keeper isn’t blacklisting your apps during focus sessions, meaning you can absolutely fire up Instagram when you’re supposed to be writing or cleaning the house. If you’re someone who needs barriers in place to prevent you from self-sabotaging, this might not be the app for you, but if you’re looking for a simple way to track and manage your time and can commit to staying away from distractions, it’s not an issue. Know thyself.

There is a little bit of fun baked in

Just because it’s no-frills doesn’t mean it’s completely impersonal. During focus sessions and breaks, you have the option to toggle on sounds, like a ticking clock (the default) or rain, steam, and other ambient noises. I do appreciate those little details because they point to some deeper effort behind the app’s development. In general, I’m a fan of white noise for enhancing my focus, so this simple addition is another win in my book.

The app directs you to work on pre-defined tasks, runs a timer on your lock screen, and compiles data on your work sessions.
Credit: Focus Keeper

You do have to pay

If you want access to all of Focus Keeper’s features, including task and timer customization through naming, tags, and colors, as well as data tracking, unlimited to-do creation, and cross-device sync, you’ll have to pay. You can access everything for $3.99 per month or $34.99 per year after a one-week free trial. That isn’t as expensive as other to-do apps I’ve seen, though you might want to use those if you’re looking for more features. The cross-device sync is, to me, the most valuable thing you’d be paying for, as it enables you to track your Focus Keeper time across both your desktop and your phone, making sure you always have it logging your data no matter what you’re doing.

At its most basic, though, the app does give you access to the timer, as well as the ability to keep track of your tasks using progress charts and time-tracking. For free, you even get pop-up notifications reminding you to use the app.