School is about to start again and that means big books, writing essays and reading scientific articles. How do you stay focused on this? iPhoned puts it to the test and tests the best apps for maintaining focus.
Best focus app for iPad and iPhone
Just when you are at work, your iPhone makes itself heard again: you received a WhatsApp message. Your phone demands attention all day long, making it difficult to stay focused. Fortunately, there are plenty of apps that help you with this problem. iPhoned goes in search of the best focus app.
1. Flipd
Flipd promises to protect you from distractions like social media and games, leaving you more time for activities that really make you happy, like pursuing your hobby. So you use your phone to spend less time on – yes – your phone.
The app is notorious for ‘Full Lock’. Once you activate this mode, Flipd will mute all incoming notifications from social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter. You will no longer be disturbed by incoming emails. You can still make phone calls, use the calculator and view text messages.
During the time that Full Lock is in progress, you cannot do anything with your iPhone. That is why there is also a ‘Light Lock’, which requires a little more discipline. You can turn off this mode yourself, although Flipd tries to prevent this of course.
The science behind the app is based on nudging. This psychological trick influences you in a positive way to use your smartphone less. Flipd is free, but if you want to use multiple custom plans, you pay ten euros per year.
2. Forest
Forest also uses nudging, but by planting trees. The idea is simple: as soon as you start the app you indicate how many minutes you want to focus, you choose a plant species you want to grow and start the session.
The tree continues to grow as long as you don’t touch your iPad or iPhone. If you do this, you are back to square one and your tree is no more than a plant. You can of course choose to give up, but then you will be told that an innocent tree dies because of you, another example of nudging. The overview tab keeps track of how many trees you have already planted.
Forest is a lot less rigorous than Flipd, for example, and therefore requires more discipline. The app is free to use, but for the ad-free version you pay 2.29 euros once.
3. Space
Space is similar to Flipd and also tries to achieve a better balance between technology and leisure. However, the app takes it a little less violently and simply mutes incoming notifications. So when you press ‘Focus’ you will no longer be disturbed by calls, WhatsApp messages, Instagram DMs and more.
However, you can turn this mode off yourself, again requiring discipline. Another focus of Space is awareness. The app actively keeps track of how often you unlock your iPhone, how many minutes you spend on the device and provides tips based on this.
For example, if you are on your iPhone for more than fifteen minutes, you will receive a message that you need to take a break. In addition, you can mute notifications at certain times and, for example, receive a warning if you unlock your smartphone too much.
Space is free to download, but for the ad-free version you pay a one-time fee of 2.29 euros.
Conclusion: which app is the best?
We think Flipd is the best focus app. The app takes severe measures, but that is precisely why it is good. You literally can’t use your iPhone for a few minutes, so there’s nothing left to do but study.
The idea behind Forest is nice, but a bit too casual. Growing a tree is fun, but not enough to actually keep me focused. Space is a milder variant of Flipd and is mainly about awareness. However, you can easily turn off the focus mode, which is why I prefer Flipd.
Monthly theme Back to School
The whole month of August, iPhoned is all about school. With the new academic year just around the corner, we’re preparing teachers and students with the best education apps, tips to get the most out of your iPad, buying advice and more. We wrote this before:
- The 5 best iPad note-taking apps for the Apple Pencil (31-8-2020)
- Attention students: you get a student discount with these apps (17-8-2020)
- Overview: The 6 best calendar apps for school and study (16-8-2020)
- Back to school: the best deals for Apple users (14-8-2020)
- iWork, Microsoft Office or Google Docs on your Apple devices? (23-8-2019)