Bear Focus Timer
Concentrate with a timer that plays white noise
$1.99 From Ideamp Co., bearfocustimer.com
Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 10.0 or later
Bear Focus Timer’s premise is a simple one — to help you focus for short periods of time while you work, based on the Pomodoro Technique.
Using it is simplicity itself: Just launch the app, tap play, and turn your phone face down on the desk beside you. Cleverly, the timer doesn’t start until you turn the phone face down. After a period of time — 25 minutes is the default — it will notify you that your focus period is over. Until then, if you choose, Bear Focus Timer will play white nose through the iPhone’s speaker or earphones if you have them connected.
If you’re the kind of person who finds thunderstorms, lapping waves, or a crackling campfire relaxing then this really works, cutting out background distractions. If you’d rather listen to music while you work, this is not the app for you. There are eight sounds to choose from, along with silence, and you can set the focus periods for whatever time you want. You can also choose how to be alerted when the focus period is over.
In use, Bear Focus Timer is a delight. The app’s hand–drawn aesthetic is very well executed and makes what could otherwise be an austere and perfunctory tool fun. There are even “compliment cards” that appear on screen at the end of a focus period, congratulating you on focusing and encouraging you to take a well–deserved break.
THE BOTTOM LINE. A lovely, useful app that should help you to focus and get more done. KENNY HEMPHILL
AWESOME