Do focus apps such as Focus Friend actually help you stay focused?

It is no great surprise that we live in a time defined by distraction and smartphone addiction. Our phones break into our day, seize our attention and lure us into endless scrolling. Even without using them, simply having them nearby can make concentrating harder.

In response, developers have produced a huge range of productivity and focus apps, all claiming to bring order to the chaos through timers, app blockers, habit prompts and rewards intended to keep you focused and productive.

Before deciding whether these apps are worth using, however, we need to examine why it is so difficult to concentrate in the first place.

Why is it so hard to stay focused?

For the most part, poor concentration stems from challenges with self-regulation: our capacity to observe and control our thoughts, feelings and behaviours while working towards goals.

Put simply, a boring, stressful or tiresome task generates an unpleasant feeling. We look for a way to escape that discomfort, and for many people the smartphone is the preferred coping tool, despite its tendency to sidetrack us from the work that needs doing.

There has been plenty of discussion about whether our ability to focus has fallen in recent years, but scientific research does not support this claim.

Research does indicate, though, that some technology habits – particularly multitasking and frequent digital interruptions – are linked with increased distractibility in certain people.

So, our capacity for concentration may not be shrinking, but contemporary life makes substantially greater demands of it.

The rise of focus apps

To manage these pressures, a new wave of focus apps has entered the productivity market. They rely on gamification – using game-design features in non-game contexts – alongside appealing characters to promote concentrated work.

One of the leading examples is Focus Friend, which briefly surpassed ChatGPT as the App Store's most downloaded app in its first month, in August this year.

The app prompts users to choose a focus timer. While the timer runs, a virtual bean character knits quietly in the background.

Should you pick up your phone and launch apps you have marked as off limits, the knitting comes undone and the bean appears unhappy. Remain focused, and you receive digital rewards for the bean, including socks, scarves and decorations for its room.

How does Focus Friend get you to focus?

As well as the standard techniques of gamification, the app draws on several psychological principles.

First, it provides incentives through instant, concrete rewards: knitted objects and room improvements for finishing a focus session.

It also uses reward substitution, encouraging you to complete something that may be unpleasant – deep work – in return for an immediate pleasure: watching the bean's world get better.

The app further encourages commitment and consistency. Starting the timer acts as a modest pledge to yourself, and after making it, we commonly want to act consistently by preserving streaks and not doing anything that would end the session.

As you decorate the bean's room over time, the IKEA effect comes into play. We value items more highly when we have helped to create them, so the more you personalise and invest in that space, the stronger your motivation may be to safeguard it by staying focused.

Do focus apps actually help?

Research into whether focus apps work remains limited. One study considered several apps intended to reduce mobile-phone use and found that, although gamified focus apps received positive user sentiment scores, people seldom used them and they were less effective than simpler approaches, such as putting a phone into greyscale mode.

There are no peer-reviewed studies focused specifically on Focus Friend. Still, its strong App Store ratings and the large number of articles by enthusiastic users indicate that people like using it. Yet enjoying an app does not by itself mean it improves focus or productivity.

How to use focus apps wisely

Do you automatically and uncontrollably feel compelled to check your phone while working? If you do, a focus app may be worth trying.

Useful measures include planning particular focus sessions for the app and choosing a well-defined task. If you want to check your phone during a session, notice that sensation and remind yourself that discomfort is part of completing important work.

After using it for a week, assess your experience and consider whether the app genuinely helped you move forward. Ask: "is this serving me, or am I serving it?"

Take care to recognise possible drawbacks. Apps such as Focus Friend cannot judge the standard of your work, meaning you might devote concentrated time to tasks with little value. Using your phone settings also makes it relatively easy to fool the app.

Above all, bear in mind that a focus app may help you avoid checking your phone, but it cannot address the internal forces that draw you towards distraction.

Better concentration may require diagnosis rather than a download: learning to recognise what you are feeling, deciding how you want to react and committing to remain focused on what matters.

Dwain Allan, Lecturer, School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.