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Best Focus and Productivity Apps 2022
Is your phone a source of endless distraction? These apps can help turn it into a focus tool. We tested 9 apps to find the best focus apps at the best price.

Table of Contents
Best for Getting Things Done
Why we chose Focus To-Do:
- Free app w/premium upgrade at $2.99 for 3 months or $18 for a lifetime subscription
- Pomodoro timer that is also a full-featured task manager
- The app lets you create tasks, estimate the time they'll take, and time them all in one place
- Tells you how long you've worked each day, so it's easy to track your progress
- Guides you through your daily workflow: after one Pomodoro, it prompts you to take a 5-minute break, then brings up the next task on your list
- Projects, tags, subtasks, and recurring tasks let you take control of complex to-do items
Best Don't-Touch-Your-Phone App
Frequent phone use can divide our focus and keep us from concentrating on our goals. In Nox Ocean, you build cities when you stay off your phone.
Why we chose Nox Ocean:
- Free app, but you can purchase Shells Double Cards that double the rewards you get each session so you can earn points to buy new buildings more quickly. A monthly card costs $1.49 and a half-year card is $3.49
- An ocean-themed screen blocker that rewards you for not touching your phone for a set time period
- Earn undersea buildings by completing focus sessions
- Choose between 3 focus modes: extreme focus, where you can’t touch your phone at all; deep focus, where you can’t leave the app; and normal focus, where you can use other apps or websites if you need them to do your wor
- Easily tag your sessions to help track how much time you spend on different activities. The app has many presets, or you can add your own
If you're motivated by cuteness, this app can help you reduce your phone time while adding delight to your life.
Read Nox Ocean's Full ReviewBest for Students
Flipd helps users create productive and balanced lives by providing timers, social connections, and goal setting.
Why we chose Flipd:
- Free app with a premium upgrade for $5.99 per month or $44.99 per year
- Helps students stay focused and organized by tracking time spent on studying and other activities
- Has a variety of timers for different activities -- from a 25-minute Pomodoro timer to a 12-hour detox timer. This helps students (or anyone!) stay balanced. While timers are on, you can't use your phone, although you can pause a session
- Set daily goals to receive reminders and stay on track
- Has a social component -- users can start a study room and focus with friends
- Lots of features, but still easy to use
Flipd is oriented towards students with its study timers, but this app is for anyone seeking more structure and balance.
Read Flipd's Full ReviewEverything We Recommend
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Our Pick
Focus To-Do: Pomodoro & Tasks
4.6 Ratings 197K+ Reviews 5M+ DownloadsFocus To-Do combines Pomodoro Timer with Task Management, it is a science-based app that will motivate you to stay focused and get things done.
It brings Pomodoro Technique and To Do List into one place, you can capture and organize tasks into your todo lists, start focus timer and focus on work & study, set reminders for important tasks and errands, check the time spent at work.
It's the ultimate app for managing Tasks, Reminders, Lists, Calendar events, Grocery lists, checklist, helping you focus on work & study and tracking your working hours.
Focus To-Do syncs between your phone and computer, so you can access your lists from anywhere.
How it works:
1. Pick a task you need to accomplish.
2. Set a timer for 25 minutes, keep focused and start working.
3. When the pomodoro timer rings, take a 5 minute break.
Key Features:
- ⏱ Pomodoro Timer:Stay focused and get more things done.
Pause and resume Pomodoro
Customizable pomodoro/breaks lengths
Notification before the end of a Pomodoro
Support for short and long breaks
Skip a break after the end of a Pomodoro
Continuous Mode
- ✅ Tasks Management: Task Organizer, Schedule Planner, Reminder, Habit Tracker, Time Tracker
Tasks and projects: Organise your day with Focus To-Do and complete your to do, study, work, homework or housework you need to get done.
Recurring tasks: Build lasting habits with powerful recurring due dates like "Every Monday".
Reminders: Setting a Reminder ensures you never forget important things ever again, you can set up recurring due dates to remind you each and every time.
Sub-tasks: Break down your task into smaller, actionable items or add a checklist .
Task Priority: Highlight your day’s most important To-Do with color-coded priority levels.
Estimated Pomodoro Number: Estimate the workload or set a goal.
Note: Record more detailed about the task.
- 📊 Report: Detailed statistics of your time distribution, tasks completed.
Support the calculation of the total time of Focus Time.
Gantt Chart of the Focus Time.
Statistics on completed To Do.
Statistics on time distribution of project.
Trend chart of the completed To Do and the focus time.
- 🖥📲 All-Platform synchronization: View and manage your goals wherever you are for better goal achieving.
Support seamless synchronization within iPhone、Mac、Android、Windows、iPad、Apple Watch.
- 🌲 Forest: Turn your focused moments into a lovely plant, a interesting way to build motivation and makes you productive
Focus on work and study, generate sunlight for the plant, and grow with the plant.
- 🚫 App Whitelist:
Stop getting distracted by apps when focusing and get more things done.
- 🎵 Various Reminding:
Focus Timer finished alarm, vibration reminding.
Various white noise to help you focus on work & study.
- ⌚️ Support Wear OS
More convenient to focus on your watch.
- Daily/Weekly/Monthly Report
View all of your tracked time in a calendar view.
- Support prevention of screen lock:
Check the pomodoro time left by keeping the screen on.
- Handy Widget:
Get easy access to your to do by adding a checklist widget to your home screen
Contact Us: focustodo@163.com, reply within 24 hours.
Website: http://www.focustodo.cn
Pomodoro ™ and Pomodoro Technique ® are registered trademarks of Francesco Cirillo. This app is not affiliated with Francesco Cirillo.
Users have been focused on our app for 200 million hours, join us and we help you to be focused and increase your productivity, reduce procrastination and anxiety.CostFreeFreeIn-App Purchases$1.99 - $11.99 per item$1.99 - $11.99 per item -
Runner Up
Nox Ocean -Cherish everymoment
4.6 Ratings 10K+ Reviews 1M+ DownloadsNox Ocean is an interesting app to improve the focus. By keeping focus and accumulating focus time, it can build a wonderful underwater world, and has fun playing methods such as Focus Achievements and Deep Focus to help people improve the time and efficiency of focus and make focus simple and interesting.
🔍Product Features
Concentration timing: Customize the focus time to help you quickly enter a high-efficiency state;
Focus feedback: When goals are completed, the underwater city will be built, making the focus no longer boring;
Multiple focus modes: Meet multiple efficiency needs of different groups;
Focus Achievements: Achieve multiple focus goals gradually, say goodbye to procrastination and move towards self-discipline;
Professional data analysis: With scientific and comprehensive understanding of your focus state, self-improvement is at hand;
Exquisite design: Flat interface style, user-friendly interactive design, and simple operation;
Fast update feedback: Fast iteration based on user demand;
🌸They are using NoxOcean
Stressful students: With daily cultivation of the habit of focus, try to enter the "flow" mode;
People preparing for exams: Enter the state of study quickly, force self to farewell and quit mobile;
Self-improvement: You can study outside of the work to make yourself more powerful;
Distressed people with weak concentration: Establish excellent concentration habits gradually and rise self-discipline;
Aspiring young people who want to achieve their goals / skills: scientific Pomodoro setting, 10,000 hours of training is not a dream.
In any case, as long as you have the need to focus, regardless of your current self-control and willpower, NoxOcean will help you painlessly build focus habits, enjoy fun of focus, and cherish your every moment.
💗Opinions and suggestions
Welcome to contact us and offer advices!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoxOceanapp
Contact email: support@noxocean.comCostFreeFreeIn-App Purchases$0.99 - $3.49 per item$0.99 - $3.49 per item -
Also Groovy
Flipd: Focus & Study Timer
3.7 Ratings 11K+ Reviews 1M+ DownloadsTrack all your productive activities with Flipd. Join millions of students and productivity enthusiasts to reach your daily goals! Log all of your studying, focus, reading, learning, work time and more, analyse your progress, and join communities for free!
Whether you're studying for final exams or learning something new, turn your smartphone into a sophisticated productivity timer & tracker with Flipd.
5 ways to track your productivity with Flipd:
1. TIME & TRACK
Track and tag every activity and keep them organized in your productivity stats. Measure your progress like average productive time, time on break, day streaks, milestones, and more.
2. MOTIVATION
Prepare for each session with a motivating or inspiring quote. Take a few deep breaths before you get to work!
3. BACKGROUND MUSIC
Listen to curated lofi radio streams and relaxing background music while you focus. Find a track for any mood!
4. CHALLENGE & COMPETE
Push yourself to reach your goals and compete with others with daily, weekly, and monthly leaderboard challenges.
5. LIVE GROUPS
Join Live timed focus and study sessions with your friends, clubs, and popular studygram influencers!
PERFORMANCE: Track, categorize, and compare your history of productive activities and performance over time, and see where you rank against other community members around the world. Track your progress & analyse your performance in your stats.
FULL LOCK MODE: Stay motivated and focused toward your goals by locking away your most distracting apps and games. Create a whitelist of only the apps you really need!
CONNECT & SHARE: Record all of your productive activities on Flipd so friends and followers can keep up with your progress. Join Groups created by your favorite studygram influencers, schools, clubs, and friends to find motivation and a strong sense of community. Show off your progress and achievements with them!
SUBSCRIBE: Flipd is free to download, but get access to a fully customizable experience with a premium subscription. Enable unlimited session lengths, whitelist accessible apps, take multiple breaks, track your entire Flipd history, set daily goals and reminders, listen to curated music tracks, and much more. Dive deep into your productivity data with advanced statistics & extensive features!
Need help? Contact the team directly at info@flipdapp.co.CostFreeFreeIn-App Purchases$0.99 - $39.99 per item$5.99 - $49.99 per item
The 411 from our Appventurer
How we tested?
First, I explored each app to get a general sense of the design and major features. If an app had an onboarding process or profile set up, I went through the process. Then I used each app as my productivity tool for a day to see how well they fit into real life. I tested each feature, even those that weren’t something I’d normally use.
Since some of these apps track your progress over time, I tried to use each one every day, although typically for a short time or for something passive, like running Nox Ocean or Forest while watching TV. That way, I could see how the app displayed stats and progress.
If an app had a premium upgrade, I used the free version for a few days, then upgraded to see the differences. I considered whether the benefits of upgrading were worth the money, especially if other apps offered the same tools for free.
Above all, I noted which app I wanted to keep using. Obviously, productivity tools only work if you use them, so the apps that were most pleasurable to use were ranked highest. The winning app improved my focus and workflow in just a few days, and it’s one I know I’ll continue using for a long time.
Why get the app?
Others allow you to sync between devices, so you can use whatever device is convenient, perhaps using a web or desktop version during the workday and your phone for evening chores. To be honest, even though I use apps to keep me off my phone, I have it with me most of the day anyway (not just me, right?), so I often use a timer app while working on the computer.
More About Focus To-Do: Our Pick
A task manager with a Pomodoro timer built-in, Focus To-Do lets you manage your day all in one place. (A "Pomodoro" is a set period of time, usually 25 minutes, where you focus on one task before taking a break.) Using a task manager and a timer in two separate apps, as I used to do, was no great hardship. Yet, having both in one place has streamlined my process, and opening the app has psychologically become a cue that the workday has begun.
You don’t have to enter estimated Pomodoros — you can do as many as you need to finish your task, while Focus To-Do keeps track for you. This is helpful for tasks that you don’t do regularly, and it can also help time-challenged folks learn how long tasks really take. Just using it for a week, I got the sense that prolonged use could improve my ability to estimate time — a genuinely life-changing benefit. You can also list quick non-Pomodoro length tasks, so you don’t have to keep short to-do lists in a different app.
The upgrade also adds power to the task manager, offering unlimited projects and tags. It offers detailed reports so that you can track your progress. I most appreciated the ability to change the length of Pomodoros since I like to vary session length depending on what I’m doing. For me, Focus To-Do has replaced my previous task manager, so I think the price is well worth it.
Snags but not drags:
Focus To-Do also has some unnecessary features that are not well-executed. You can play “white noise” while you’re focusing, but the four sound options available are all incredibly annoying (to me at least). Maybe they turn into white noise if you listen long enough, but I found them too distracting to leave them on for more than a minute.
The app also has a sort of Forest-style reward system where you earn sunlight for focusing and grow plants over time. At least I think that’s what happens -- it’s an unnecessarily complicated system with a design that looks like a child’s science lesson. I’m halfway through the first level (whatever that means), and my plant has just begun to unfurl. To be effective, these little motivational tools need to be simple and gratifying. This one is neither, but you also don’t have to use it. The core features of the app are amazing and all you need.
More About Nox Ocean: Runner Up
I'm surprised to be writing this since I've used and loved Forest, probably the best known in this category, for years. The two apps have the same basic idea but different themes: In Forest, you grow a forest by “planting” trees when you stay off your phone for a set period. In Nox Ocean, you build an undersea city, earning buildings as you go. In both, you earn tokens that allow you to buy different buildings (or trees). The difference here is just aesthetic -- and both are pretty darn cute.
Nox Ocean also makes it easier to track how you're spending your focused time with tags. (Forest has tags too, but they’re a bit harder to access and more finicky.) Before you begin your session, simply select from preset tags (including work, study, sports, rest, entertainment, and social) or add your own. If you don’t set a tag at the time, you can do so later. Tags make it easier to understand how you are using your time. If you use the app for lots of different activities, tags let you know if you’re focusing on what you really need to be doing, rather than having entertainment lumped in with work, for instance.
While the app is free, you can purchase “double cards” that allow you to earn more coins to get new buildings faster. You can also watch ads to earn more coins per session. Obviously, this is completely unnecessary, but I will warn you that you may find yourself getting a little obsessed with your city. If that happens, the cards are only $1.49 for a monthly card or $3.49 for a half-year card, so the financial consequences aren’t too dire.
More About Flipd: Also Groovy
Flipd is built around timers for different activities. To keep the session going, you must stay in the app, although you can pause the session to take a break. Preset timers include a 3-hour study timer, 1-hour timers for exercise and hobbies, an 8-hour sleep timer, and a 12-hour detox timer if you want to take a real break from your phone. It also has a 25- minute Pomodoro timer and a custom option. You can change these lengths if they don’t work for you, whether because you only have 2 hours to study on a given day or because you know you tend to need a break after an hour and a half.
Flipd also offers a social component. Even if you don’t know other app users, you can join a live study room and focus with the knowledge that you’re not alone. If you do have friends on the app, you can create study rooms that meet at specific times to build accountability. You can also engage in some friendly competition to see who can log the most focused time.
Flipd has a premium upgrade that includes unlimited breaks, sleep and detox timers, detailed statistics, and more. At $5.99 per month or $44.99 yearly, it’s on the pricey side, and I would definitely recommend starting with the free version to see if you find yourself wanting the premium features.
Finally, I generally begin testing apps without reading reviews to avoid preconceptions. After using an app for a few days, I’ll check reviews to gauge how other users have responded to the product. When I looked at the Flipd reviews, I thought I must have missed something: almost all of them were about a feature called Focus Lock. This feature locks you out of most of the tools on your phone, and it appeared that many users had problems with it -- though some considered it the best feature of the app. I had never seen it. I did some digging and found that for iOS (which I was testing Flipd on), Focus Lock is a totally separate app, but the feature is built into the Android app. So the Focus Lock isn’t covered in this review.
Other Apps Considered
I am a long-time Forest user and was shocked (and a little sad) that it didn't make the list. A screen blocker where you get trees for focus periods, Forest is a delight to use. Looking at daily, weekly, and monthly forests is super motivating. However, compared to NoxOcean, the tags and timers in Forest are more difficult to use.
I really love the look of the trees in Forest, and the app is constantly adding more features. They recently added a stopwatch option. Instead of setting a timer, you start the stopwatch and turn it off whenever you need it, without killing your trees. You earn new trees at the same rate (1 per 30 minutes of focus).
Forest is free, but you can buy upgrades to earn more coins per session to buy trees.
Another cute screen blocker! When you stay off your phone, you earn donuts to feed to an adorable monster named Focus. A free app, though you can buy donuts if you want.
The graphics are appealing, and it's easy to apply tags to track how much time you're spending on different activities. I found donut accumulation less satisfying than growing the forests in Forest and creating the undersea landscape in NoxOcean.
A timer and goal setter for students. Kids can set the amount of time they want to study each day (and designate different goals for subjects and activities). Then they can start the timer to get to work.
The app tracks progress, has a calendar feature, and a premium upgrade that has lets you add unlimited goals and schedules. Premium upgrades range from $1.99 per month to $14.99 per year, with 3-month and 6-month options available as well. Flip doesn't have as many features as Flipd but may be particularly good for younger students.
Space provides tools to help with phone overuse. These include interruptions when you've been on your phone for too long, screen dimming when you've reached the end of a pre-set session, and notifications if you try to unlock too often.
Space also offers an 8-day course on phone addiction. These are useful and there are good ideas here, but the app is glitchy. Also, the app is designed around defining types of phone addiction problems - you take a quiz and are assigned a user type. But the recommendations appear to be the same for every type.
The Freedom web app solves a problem: people do deep work on their computers, but the internet, and certain websites, in particular, distract from that work. So Freedom blocks the internet for a set period of time or blocks specific websites. The situation is different with phones. People do work on their phones, but often not on the deeply focused writing or coding that is done on computers.
Freedom offers a web blocker, an app blocker, and an option to block specific websites. There are only a few situations where I can imagine that last one being useful. So you're left with a screen blocker -- and there are so many cuter options. But if you want a lock on your phone that doesn't rely on psychological motivation, Freedom is the way to go. (I also highly recommend the desktop version.)
A nice, simple Pomodoro timer. List your to-dos in a single list and knock them out one 25-minute block at a time.
The app has a pro upgrade for $3.99 per month that syncs with calendars, adds advanced to-dos and goal-setting functionality, and session-length customization.
The app works well but lacks the advanced features of Focus To-Do, which serves a similar function at a similar price point.
Caroline Rothnie
Hard as I try to keep a minimalist phone, I can't stop downloading more apps. In addition to my can't-live-without apps for organization, music and podcasts, fitness, and meditation, I'm constantly trying out new ones. So I love apps, but it's a complicated relationship -- some of my favorites are for keeping me off my phone/internet.
In second grade, I attempted to do a book report on a story I had written myself, so you could say I've always thought of myself as a writer. These days, I write a wide variety of web content with a focus on mental health and productivity. I also write personal essays. I live in Kansas with my husband and two dogs.
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Although they're valuable tools, our smartphones can sometimes stand in the way of productivity. But, with apps designed to improve focus, phones can help too. We tested some popular choices to find the best and whether they're worth paying for.
Our favorite was Focus To-Do, a Pomodoro timer and powerful task manager. We also loved NoxOcean, which creates undersea cities when you stay off your phone. Flipd was our pick for students and anyone looking for more balance in their life. Overall, you don't need to pay for a focus app, although certain features may be worth it for some users.