We all know it’s hard to stay focused when you’re working from home. You don’t need a coach to get yourself into gear, but having the right tools definitely help. There are a ton of productivity apps out there, but searching for the right one can take a lot of trial and error. With that in mind, here are three of apps on the market to help you stay focused at home.
Apps to Help You Stay Focused at Home
Forest
Forest has an appealing but simple layout and design. You essentially grow plants, hoping to build a forest, by staying on task. That means not using your phone. The app tracks your focus by remaining open, and discouraging you from checking on other apps like social media or other games.
You set up your account with a certain productivity goal in mind, and set a specific time goal. How well you focus determines how much your plants are able to grow. As long as you’re working, your tree is growing. If you get off task, the tree dies. It seems inconsequential, but there’s a game-like aspect to it. It’s really rewarding to see your tree grow, and pretty disappointing when it dies.
Now, if you do get off track and exit the application, you’ll get a message reminding you to return, or lose your tree. There are some other neat things about this app too. Even when you’re staying productive at home, you can make it a competition between friends and coworkers. Not only that, the app allows you to actually plant real trees depending on how much you use it.
Hocus Focus
Multi-tasking is not the most productive way to work. When you’re trying to stay productive at home, that’s even more true. It’s so easy to switch windows and go down a distraction wormhole. You might start working on one task, switch your tab or window, and immediately get sucked into another project.
If you find yourself swapping tabs or apps when you’re trying to work, this app was designed with you in mind. It’ll keep you focused by only allowing you to see the app or window you need to work on right now. It’s versatile too, which is a huge bonus for people trying to manage different projects from home.
Hocus Focus is so dynamic that it allows you to set up different profiles to accomplish different goals. For example, if you need to work on marketing campaigns, and also research a new product, just create different profiles for each.
Depending on how you set it up, it’ll hide apps that you’re not using, or don’t use after a while (you can set the time for how long it should wait). Even better, you can customize the settings for each different profile. Another nice thing about Hocus Focus is that it’s totally free to use, although the developer does accept donations.
Freedom
Freedom is definitely an app for people that just can’t help themselves stay on task, but really, really want to. Focusing at home is made harder because you know there’s nobody over your shoulder, checking on you. This app essentially helps ‘free’ you from your own bad habits (scrolling social media, checking out gifs, watching that next video).
If you’ve noticed certain sites, platforms, apps, or games eating up your time and focus, try Freedom. It blocks out the obstacles that keep you from achieving your goals. It’s not forever, but just for the intervals that you set (or sessions, as the app calls them). You can choose just about any interval length you want, depending on the tasks you’re working on.
Freedom is compatible with many devices. Even better, you can block virtually unlimited programs, so don’t worry about finding your way around the app. If you want to be really thorough, go ahead and sync it across your devices. Seamlessly pick up work and enjoy being ‘freed’ from your distractions.
Some users will love the ‘block’ feature, which puts your distractions on lockdown, with no way around it until your session is up. If you’re always on call though, you can choose settings to allow you to navigate around the blocks when needed.
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In Summary
Staying focused at home is hard. When you have the right tools and apps, it’s a lot easier. Whether you want a game-like challenge, a straightforward distraction blocker, or an app to clear your screen (and mind), there’s an app to help.
Ecodelogic is the best mobile app development company to help you develop such apps to aid yourself or your audience in staying focused at home.