FocusList: Pomodoro Timer Examine App

Simple enough that building and maintaining a stack of things to-do is not to, in itself, a bunch of work. Great way to stay focused.

You should be familiar with Pomodoro Technique if you buy this. There are many articles out there on to Pomodoro if you aren't yet familiar. This app is a todo list attached to a Pomodoro Technique-style timer, and that's it. If you need more features, consider using this app in tandem with pen and paper. The trap of productivity apps is trying to be all things to all people. Inevitably your app will clash with someone's working style and let me tell you, people who buy productvitiy apps are particular.

I really do like this app for basic to-do listing, but wow, being able to make multiple lists for days ahead or areas to work on would be great. Again, it's a wonderful start, I would just like to see some development.

It feels like an abandoned software. I experienced a few crashes already. I don't find it worth the price is being charged, I wish I could ask for the money back :( I'm switching back to use their previous version of pomodoro app. Tomate One.

I find this app very helpful for keeping myself accountable when studying. I just wish that it had a widgets integration for easy access. Other than that I'm happy with it.

Literally grabbed this app an hour ago, added 3 tasks and when I try to check the 2nd item off I get "App is not responding" I've tried 3 times and had to force quit each time. Maybe this app needs to be updated to support Catalina? Looks like the last update was 9mo ago. Will be requesting a refund.

I've tried a bunch of pomodoro timers with stacked features, stat tracking, multiple devices, etc. While those are great, I discovered over time that I like to have a simple pomodoro that looks nice to just GET THINGS DONE in one day, a few tasks at a time. This little app crushes it for me. Looks good, sounds good. If you're worried about spending more time setting up your pomodoro and tracking it, get something else. If you're a zen warrior who just likes to throw a task in and run til its done, I like this one better than others.

I liked this app a lot but unfortunately the sync is based on Firebase serverless functions and not on your own cloud storage so you're dependent on their own propriety system to manage syncing and account management. That wouldn't be such a big deal were it not for the fact that their login system is broken and they are ignoring email support requests. I don't trust software that isn't actively maintained. You shouldn't either.

I’ve had this app for over a year. Used to work but now it experiences these issues which make it unusable. • Freezes when trying to enter in a task, randomly. • Doesn’t display what you type so you think its frozen but when you open the app back up your typed text is there, randomly. • Support is non-existent. Dev hasn’t answered my support requests in well over 6 months. I don’t like leaving poor reviews but this is absurd.

Like the app. Just wish I could customize the time spent for EACH task instead of having each task have to be the same amount of time spent on it. This version right here should’ve been a free version & the paid version could be the one where you customize the time spent on each task. Probably will switch to another app that has that function. If you guys make an update with that function, it will perfect it & i’ll be back spreading the word to people.

My wife started using it after I recommneded it to her, and she loves it. It’s great for those that want a simple to-do list for the day, that can give you an estimate completion time, and let’s you reprioritize as your day/projects progress. Love it!

Literally just typing more than 2 characters as a new task will freeze or crash the app. How does this pass app review?

Been using this for two days, love it. More than Pomodoro for some reason, I think because it has the ticking sound, which is nice to have low in the background to remind me that I’m on a task. And the fact that I can set up how many sprints I need for a task is helpful so I don’t feel like it’s never ending. Okay, back to work! :) Update: app is buggy after upgrading OSX to High Sierra. Adding items is very difficult, sometimes typing is reversed (really!) and moving items in the list causes the list to dissappear. Here are the work-arounds I’ve found: Adding a new item can sometimes be done by clicking the + symbol, typing (the typing does not appear), Entering, then quitting FocusList, and re-launching it. Most often, whatever I typed is reversed, so I only type a little before hitting enter, then double-click the garbage and type the correct text. Moving an item in the list, the entire list dissappears. Just click anywhere in the list and it re-appears. Hoping there’s an update for HS in the works — love the app over all other varieties.

This app is completely broken on El Capitan. When I try to type in the textbox, it locks out after 3 characters. Then 'today's list' shows blank, and I can't click on the '+' button to add new tasks. It's a shame, I really like this developer's other app - the tomato one pomodoro timer. I'm requesting an app store refund.

Starting from the top. 1) After opening the app you can add a task to a list. 2) You can give this task an estimate of how many pomodoro sessions will be required to complete it. 3) Upon clicking on the task, the pomodro timer starts and runs until 25 minutes is over. After 5 minutes pass, a break timer starts and ends. That’s it. That’s all this app does. The rest of the functionality is completely busted and confusing. First off, the “Today’s list” text at the top is confusing. It’s one long running list, not a day-boxed list. Second, app tries to make you feel like it’s somehow going to track your completion and gamify it by showing you how much you’re getting done but the stats UI is junk, has no overall stats and all of this is buggy and confusing. If you do 2 pomodoros and then walk away for a couple of hours, you’ll come back to 4 more pomodors having been done for you. How? Who knows. But you can’t erase them. They are there forever, making your history completely irrelevant. And if you want to even understand what’s going on in the app? There isn’t even a help menu. The app needs tons of work to get it even near the features it’s promising. Let people edit their past sessions to remove irrelevant or buggy results and create proper stats.

Great Pomodoro app that allows for multiple tasks through the day, some day planning, but once you’ve completed the reporting is pretty incomprehensible for each day, and no commulative task information, so no real long term task tracking…

There is no free trial for a reason - you would never buy it after you try. It’s not what you expect - this tool will not allow you to plan your day. Also customer service is absent, I’ve never received any repy to my question.

This app does what it claims to do and it does it very well. It’s definitely the best “Pomodoro” type app (and I have tried many). But it goes beyond this and it does it super well. It has actually managed to help me focus and also managed to make me feel productive and happy. I first tried it on my mac and now I have it on my iPhone and Watch. Not that you need it on all devices at once, but it’s really nice to have on the Watch and on a Mac. It’s surprisingly good at syncing across devices. It’s very rewarding to see your progress as you get more done. And I really like the simple yet clear interface. A lot of info in a relatively small space. Nicely done!

I've been looking for this app for 6 years. It does just what I want it to do and it syncs across all my devices, so I don't lose the current time slice if I work on another computer. The only problem I've encountered is on more than one occasion, I don't get any response if I click on overlapping buttons overlapping an existing item.

The first time I ran the program, it worked great. I liked the flexibility to change the times for each task. The UI and colors were aesthically appealing. However, the next time I open it (like another user mentioned) it freezes whenever I try to create a new task. Please fix this so I can go back to using the app! Thanks.

What I like about this app is that it uses the excellent Pomodoro time management technique and keeps it simple to use. There are plenty of apps that do a lot of things but that doesn’t help me with focus. What helps is this: make a list, scope the time needed, buckle down and do it. Oh yes, and remember to take breaks. I also like the Mac to iPhone synchronization.

Abosolutely love this app!! I use it on my Mac, iPhone and Apple Watch.

I downloaded, I paid, it doesn’t work at all. When I try to enter a new task, it just freezes. I emailed them; no response yet.

The fundamental Pomodoro technique concept of employing the “long” break following a complete cycle of regular work-break intervals I find to be a great oversight in the development process of this NSTimer/Synchoronous bassed app.

This is a great pomodoro timer that is simple enough to work into your current workflow, but not so complicated that it conflicts with your current workflow. I make my normal to do list using my current method (Evernote), and simply set what I’m working on using this apps blocks of time. So far, it helps me stay focus and reminds me to switch tasks when my time is up. I was a little worried that I couldn’t change the length of each pomo because it wasn’t mentioned in the description, but you can. The UI for changing the length of each task could use a little help, that’s why I give it 4 stars. Regardless, this is exaclty what I needed!

Just got this app. I like it a lot! It’s simple and elegantly executed. The aesthetics of the app are excellent. I like the way the desktop app syncs with the mobile. Should be helpful… But I agree with another reviewer here, the UI needs some tweaking. The navigation and control icons do not adhere to any established conventions. While they look nice, they dont do what they would seem like they are going to. They also dont have roll-over explanations, so its a complete guess as to what is going to happen when you hit them. I keep inadvertantly clearing my timer when all I want to do is pause the task. If the developer could resolve this, this app would be much easier to use. Almost there. Just needs some UI massaging. :)

Conceptually, I really like how you’re thinking about this tool and I’m getting a lot of value out of it. That said, there are a few obvious refinements to the UI design that I’d strongly recomment. I suggest you revisit the logic behind the pause / play / stop / cancel behaviors and use standard icons. Really don’t understand what the “X" is supposed to do. Is it stop? Is it pause? Why is there a pause icon in the list view but not the full view for the task? In the list view, when I click pause, this icon “>|" appears. This icon typically means “skip to next.” However, in this instance, I think it’s actually supposed to indicate “play,” which is confusing. Thanks

This is THE pomodoro app i’ve been looking for for a very long time. It has every features that I need. Great job! Thanks!

The focuslist app is an amazing app for procrastinators. Im going to use myself as an example. As a college student, I have a tendency to save thing to the last minute, despite the fact that certain tasks take more time than I estimate them to take. Essentially, I am always cramming anything and everything with very litle time. Producing poor or average homework and exam results. This app has helped me fight this habit by allowing me to add tasks and an estimate of the time I take on completing them. I now over estimate the time just to be on the safe side. The task times are then summed and included at the bottom of window. As a procrastinator, around final exams, I had a ton of stuff to do, and focus list helped me realize this before I completely screwed myself over when I took my exams and turned assignments in. One thing that would make this app even more amazing is having the ability to schedule the tasks for certain dates, and then having subtotal of hours for each day. This would certainly increase my productivity, and perhaps the productivity of other users.

Been on the hunt for an aesthetically pleasing pomodoro style timer (no tomatos please). This app fit the bill. Overall, it has some nice functionality. Being able to create a list is a nice idea, so you can plan and prioritize your day. The flow for completing items is not very intuitive, nor is increasing the number of cycles. I would also like to see the ability to customize how much time you allocate on each item. Sometimes I just need to focus on a task for 10 or 15 minutes.

In general, this is a good, useful app. It does have a few bugs, namely that it will crash periodically, such as when you clear the tasks that you’ve already completed for the day. It would be helpful to have recurring tasks in a future version and to be able to see the amount of time left from the menu bar.

First, I have to say I feel the reviews are fake because I dont know how people are actually finding this app useful. Here are my issues: * Tasks have to be added one at a time, cant copy and paste a list of tasks, from lets say OmniFocus. Zonebox does it just fine. * I dont understand how an app is still using their own syncrhonization server, it asks to register with them for cloud sync. How can you be certain the info is kept private? They could have just use iCloud capabilitites to sync across devices. * Poor customization and useless menu icon which just opens the FocusList window, does nothing more. Wish they would have a trial version where I would have found out all these issues and not buy it at all, but now I just wasted 5 dls.

This planner works pretty well. Unfortunately, unlike Vojto Rink’s other app, Pomodoro one, there isn’t a function/preference allowing you to set the 4th break as a 20-minute break; all breaks are 5 minutes a piece, which itself can be changed. Overall, this isn’t a huge issue but I think it can easily be fixed to better reflect the Pomodoro technique.

Downloaded with high hopes, but I had problems with the very basic function of changing the times for tasks. I tried emailing support multiple times but no response. I usually appreciate bare bones functionality, but found this app too limited, even if it did work properly. $5 down the drain.

I can’t login on my mac app, but my user works fine on iOS app. it says no error and the login button disables forever.

I used to slack around not working as I was not really sure what to do. This app solves my complex problem in a very very simple and efficient way. I used to use Pomodore One from the same developer and wanted to donate to the developer because it has really made me productive. That is when I came across this app and decided to buy this instantly. Now I use FocusList to get anything and everything done.

So far so good! Really simple app focused on doing something well. A couple of feature requests: - the ability to edit the estimate of how many pomodoros you need to complete a task in the middle of a task on the timer screen (thinking ‘oh this will take another cycle’ while i’m working - a revise estimate option). - the ability to pause from the timer screen and not just the menu bar. Also, maybe adding the time left in the menu bar? – make entering a long task name wrap to multiline instead of shoving the text off stage to the left Keep up the good work! :)

I’ve tried so many of these apps and I think this one could be the one that sticks. Huge benefit to be able to switch back and forth between iOS and OS X.

First off, I am a big fan of all the productivity apps Vojto creates and this is his best yet. The app works very well to focus you on tasks at hand, gives you a light at the end of the tunnel with well-timed breaks and syncs flawlessly with the iPhone app. The only way this app could be better was if you could easily add tasks from Asana, but I realize that is pretty specific request! Keep up the great work.

This brand new Pomodoro/timeboxing app has many features that others lack, notably the ability to sync task lists with the iOS partner app (was not working in the previous version but works perfectly now) and adjustable time estimates for each task. The one additional feature I would really like is a display of the task itself in the menubar (or menu dropdown): it is really helpful when your work involves repeated distractions from people wandering into your office. (The only app I’ve found that does this is “Pomodoro Work”, but it does not support a task list, only one task at a time.) A more compact task list with a smaller footprint would also be helpful. Important: How to adjust the time estimates. In the Mac version, you drag the time field up/down to increment/decrement the time. In the iOS version, you swipe left/right on the task. I assumed the feature was not working yet as the app is so new, and only figured out the controls today by trial and error … so now I am very happy to give this very promising app a very positive review.

I needed a simple, good-looking pomo timer with tasks & estimates. This is not your one-stop solution for managing all your tasks, but it's perfect for keeping yourself on track while you're doing the work. Love it.

It works across my phone and computer flawlessly. There are some crucial things missing right now. - Subtasks - Reloading from templates. - CRUCIAL. PREFERENCES NOT SYNCING ACROSS PHONE AND COMPUTER. for example, if i change the pomodro length on my phone, it remains the same on computer. - Watch app is really awesome, only complaint is syncing slowly, and complication continues to run even after stopped on phone. May be an apple issue so idk. If Vojtech rinik could so something like importing calendars daily so I could pomodro my events scheduled, that would be a game changer. PROS: Cheap, beautiful, fast syncing. Really eseful stats after consistent use. Cons: missing crucial features in the syncing department. Overall, it works.

Edit button doesn’t seem to work. Cant change the default “30m” for a task. No subtasks. Clear button seems to do nothing but make a sound.

I’m a fan of this developer’s work with Zonebox and Zone, both of which have lived in my menubar since their release. This is a nice upgrade for Zonebox, given that my usage tends to be precisely what this app purports to do: I use it to lay out the things I’ve got to get done for the day, usually after consulting OmniFocus, and to keep myself accountable from a time standpoint. Pros: Love that it syncs instantly with the iPhone app, and the subtley of the animations make using the app on both platforms a (quick) delight: I get set up for the day in about two or three minutes, and adding/moving a task around is instantaneous. The Stats view is simple and explanatory, and a perfect way to get a quick glance at my productivity (and they say an app can’t make you feel good). Cons: It wasn’t immediately clear how to adjust the length of time alloted to a given task; speaking of clarity, I wasn’t totally sure what the Clear button would do until I hit it and saw my completedd tasks disappear. It was a nerve-wracking couple of seconds, I won’t lie to you.