Focus Bear for Desktop

Also available for other platforms:
We're getting the Android and iOS Apps ready. In the meantime you can signup for the waitlist and we'll email you as soon as it's ready. You may try the Windows and Mac desktop apps for now.
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The iOS app is still in beta (but it works pretty well). It's a two-step process to download the app:

1

First, download Apple Test Flight
and then come back here
to get the redeem code

2

Download and install
the Focus Bear App

Let's do it

Click here to download
Apple Test Flight

Remember to come back here afterwards for the redeem code

Done installing Test Flight

Sweet! Now you can download Focus Bear with this link

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The Science Behind
Focus Bear

Why we built this app

Five science-backed
ways Focus Bear helps
you focus

1.

Remove distractions

The internet and smart phones have a negative impact on productivity. We based our system on studies indicating that blocking distractions can improve productivity. Importantly, our system blocks distractions across all your devices - most other distraction blockers only work on your computer or on your phone. Focus Bear works on both.

2.

Start the day right

Research indicates that exercise can help improve attention throughout the day in adults with ADHD. If you're not a fan of exercise - don't worry: you can meditate instead. Other focus boosting morning routine activities may help too though research is in its early stages. Focus Bear guides you through a morning routine that will boost your focus throughout the day. It's customisable as everyone is different.

3.

Eliminate Decision Fatigue

Thinking about what to do next can be mentally exhausting particularly for people with ADHD.

Focus Bear bridges this cognitive gap by showing the habit routines you've chosen every morning and evening (and also during breaks). Once you set your routines, they appear automatically each day, so you never have to worry about what will happen next.

5.

Increase Motivation

Get a holistic perspective of your goal-directed behavior without having to manually track everything. Every week, Focus Bear automatically tracks your breaks, routine completion, and time worked and displays a beautiful graph of how well you’re doing. Studies show that knowing where you stand in relation to your goals can really get your motivation going.

Why we built this app

We see ADHD as a massive issue that affects us personally (4 of us on the team have ADHD) and the broader community. It’s estimated that reduced productivity due to ADHD costs the US economy $87-138 billion USD per year (Doshi, et al., 2012). Children with ADHD experience significantly more difficulty with study than neurotypical children (Caci, et al. 2014). Untreated ADHD also has negative impacts on relationships, finances and almost every aspect of life (Wehmeier et al. 2010).

There are several reasons behind these performance challenges:

  1. Distractions from social media, entertainment sites and messaging services make it harder than ever to stay focused.
  2. Difficulties in detaching from hyper-focused states cause poor punctuality, poor deadline adherence and many other physical and mental health issues that impact productivity such as muscular pain, difficulties detecting interoceptive signals (ignoring hunger, thirst and even the aching necessity to go to the restroom) and overall nutritional balance (many neurodivergent individuals have nutrient deficiencies due to extreme problems with meal prep and grocery shopping – which extend to managing the expiry dates of the groceries stored in their fridge, forgetting storing items in the fridge, forgetting cooked meals, etc.).
  3. Use of technology late in the evening results in poor sleep quality which affects the ability to focus the following day.
  4. Lack of metacognitive strategies lead to inadequate planning and scheduling.
  5. Chaotic lives mean that people don’t follow regular routines even though routines including aerobic exercise, yoga and meditation have been shown to help reduce the impact of ADHD symptoms.

Diagnosis of ADHD in the community is increasing (Zablotsky, Benjamin, et al. 2019) due to greater awareness of the condition and also potentially due to the increased distraction potential of modern tech. Even people without ADHD are finding it hard to concentrate in today’s environment of constant dings and pings (​​Ra, Chaelin K., et al. 2018). 

Although existing productivity and habit formation apps exist, they are not well suited to neurodivergent individuals. Therapy/coaching programs can help but are financially inaccessible to many people.

Because we felt underserved by existing solutions, we built our own app. We based it on research showing that practices like aerobic exercise, yoga and meditation can help with ADHD symptoms. We also read studies showing that distraction blockers are ineffective if they are too gentle (just telling someone that they spent 1hr on Facebook today is not helpful). 

The goal of Focus Bear is to be a holistic productivity solution that blocks distractions during the workday and also guides users through morning and evening routines in real-time. The combination of (not gentle) distraction blocking and the real-time habit guidance is both unique and effective at mitigating execution dysfunction challenges. We also built a feature to reduce tech usage in the evening and thus enhance sleep quality.

In the future, we hope to undertake a research study investigating the effectiveness of our app. We’d value your feedback on how we can make Focus Bear even better.



Meet the team behind Focus Bear

Jeremy sitting in an office

Jeremy Nagel

Founder & CEO
Diagnosed with ADHD
LinkedIn Icon

Marta Galán

ADHD Specialist
Registered Clinical Neuropsychologist
and ADHD specialist
LinkedIn Icon

The four biggest features to keep your brain happy and your life better

Timed Habit Routines

Pre-chosen routines have to be completed before you can start work. Each routine step has a countdown so you finish it before you move on.

Productive Brain Breaks

Break activities are pre-chosen and show at regular increments with a countdown timer. Enjoy breaks that give your brain a rest and don't go too long.

Distractions, Blocked

Focus modes, either as Pomodoros, built in, or customised, keep you on task and in flow for a set amount of time.

Progress, tracked

Every break activity and habit is automatically tracked. Every time a task is completed, a graph shows you how far you’ve come.

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