How to use FocusOS

One focus session at a time. Tell it what you're doing and for how long, open what you need, and lock it in. Everything else has to ask.

Installing

Your browser or Windows may warn you, sometimes with strong words like "dangerous". They do that for new apps from independent developers, and FocusOS is free and doesn't have a paid certificate yet. It's safe to open when you download it from the FocusOS website: Windows Defender finds no threats in it. Only follow these steps for files from that site.

In your browser: open your downloads list and choose Keep or Download anyway. In Edge that's under the ... menu, then Keep, Show more, Keep anyway.

Windows: double-click the installer. If you see "Windows protected your PC", choose More info, then Run anyway.

A session

  1. Setup. Say how long, and what you're working on. Be specific: "Striver graphs L-10", not "study". That line is what the session is judged against. You'll also set the day's anchor, and can sketch a plan for the day.
  1. Getting ready. Open everything you need, in view. FocusOS writes down what you can see, and that list is your work. Something opened by mistake? Press the x.
 Some things don't go on the list just because they're open: games, chat, video,
 social media, remote desktops, phone mirroring and private browser windows.
 Anything minimised doesn't count either. They'll appear under "Not going on the
 list" and will be closed when you lock in, unless you can say in at least 8
 words why they are the work.
  1. Locked. FocusOS shrinks to a small floating companion. Save your work first: anything that isn't on the list gets hidden, on every screen, and then you are asked about it. You have three answers:
 A question you don't answer within 45 seconds counts as Close it. Once you've said
 no it won't ask again: that thing just gets hidden. To change your mind, bring it
 to the front yourself after ten minutes.
  1. Leaving early costs you 25 words and offers you half the time instead. What you write goes in excuses.txt, which only you can read.
  1. Done. Minutes, unlocks, phone sightings and time away. Nothing more.

The clock only counts time you were really there. If the computer sleeps, FocusOS is closed or the system clock changes, that time doesn't count, and the session picks up where it stopped.

Your phone

Lock your Android phone along with your computer. Calls and emergency calls keep working. You need FocusOS 0.3.0 or newer on the computer, and Android 8 or newer on the phone. iPhones aren't supported.

Setting up, once:

  1. Download focusos-android.apk from the website on your phone and open it. Android will ask you to allow your browser to install apps, and Play Protect may warn you about an unknown developer. Choose to install anyway.
  2. Open FocusOS and follow its steps. Android 13 and newer may call the first one a restricted setting. If so, open App info, tap the three dots at the top right, choose Allow restricted settings, and try again.

Each session:

  1. Start a session on the computer and press Get a key on the Getting ready screen. The key stays on the floating companion until a phone has used it. If you don't press it, the session sends nothing online, and that session can't lock a phone.
  2. Type the key into FocusOS on the phone and press Lock this phone.

The phone shows the same time left and the same Pengu as the computer, within a few seconds. While you're getting ready on the computer it waits rather than counting.

The phone stays covered until the computer's session ends, whichever way it ends. With no internet it still unlocks when the time runs out. Restarting the phone doesn't end the lock.

While locked you can make and answer calls, use Emergency call, and open any apps you chose under Settings, Allowed apps. Settings and the Play Store can't be chosen.

You also get two 10-minute breaks a session, the same as the unlocks on the computer. Your phone opens fully, your computer shows it's on a break, and it locks itself again when the time's up.

To get out early, press I need to leave, give a reason of at least 8 words, and wait 30 seconds. Your computer's session keeps going and shows that the phone left.

To update, press Check for updates in the app, on the main screen or in Settings. It downloads inside the app and Android asks you to confirm. The first time, Android also asks you to allow FocusOS to install updates.

Do Not Disturb is turned on during the lock if you allowed it. That silences messages too, so don't lock when you're expecting something urgent that isn't a call.

The webcam

A sound repeats if you're holding a phone or tablet, and stops the moment you put it down. One lying on your desk, with your hand off it, is fine. If you leave the desk for too long, Pengu shows it on screen, without a sound.

If the room is too dark to see properly, he stops judging altogether and says so rather than guess. Turn a light on and he carries on by himself.

Both alarms and the camera itself can be turned off on the first screen, under "Webcam and browser add-on". Pictures are never saved or sent.

The browser add-on

Without it, your browser is one item on the list, although FocusOS still reads its window title to spot a known distraction. With it, each tab is judged by itself, so leetcode.com can be the work while youtube.com isn't.

It works in Chrome, Brave and Edge. Firefox and Safari can't load it, so they are treated as one item.

  1. Open chrome://extensions (brave://extensions, edge://extensions).
  2. Turn on Developer mode, top right.
  3. Choose Load unpacked and pick the extension folder. It's the "extension" folder next to FocusOS.exe.
  4. Click the FocusOS icon and paste the pairing code from FocusOS's first screen.

Private windows and other browser profiles can't be seen by the add-on, so FocusOS will ask about them instead.

Sounds

There are four: when a session starts, when you pick up a phone, when something opens that isn't on the list, and when you finish. The phone one repeats until you put it down. Pengu isn't an AI. Sound can be turned off on the first screen.

Your data

There's no account. Your sessions, plans and notes are on your computer. If you ask for a phone key, it and the time left are stored in the cloud, then deleted. See the privacy policy for what and where. Delete the folder to start fresh. Uninstalling leaves it in place, so reinstalling keeps your history.

Updating

Press Check for updates on the first screen. You never need to uninstall first.

What it can't do

It's a speed bump, not a prison. If FocusOS is force-quit the lock stops until it is reopened, though the time doesn't count. It can't see inside a program you've allowed, or stop you picking up a phone out of the camera's view. On a phone, the lock can be removed by restarting in safe mode or from a computer over USB, and some phone brands stop background services by themselves. It only asks you to be honest, and makes not being honest take some effort.