Just paid $30 for a 'focus app' that was basically a timer

I bought this fancy app called ForestFlow last week that claimed to block distractions and track your deep work sessions. Turns out I could have just used the stopwatch on my phone and set it to airplane mode for free. Has anyone else fallen for a productivity tool that was just smoke and mirrors?

2 comments

2 Comments

tara7455d ago

Are you really that worked up over thirty bucks though? I get it’s annoying to waste money, but honestly, at least now you know those apps are mostly a gimmick. Most of the popular productivity tools are just dressed up timers with pretty colors and a fancy name. The real trick is just putting your phone away and committing to the work, not paying for an app to guilt you into it. These companies know people will buy anything that promises to fix their focus problems, even if it’s really just a digital stopwatch. Save your money and learn to ignore your phone on your own, that’s the only thing that actually works.

morgan_butler5d ago

And on top of that, the whole "gamified" thing with trees growing or coins popping up just tricks your brain into thinking you're being productive when you're really just feeding the app's algorithm. It's like paying someone to tap you on the shoulder and say "hey, get back to work" when your own alarm clock could do the same thing for free.