Best Apps for Focus (2026): Focus Friend, Forest, Focus Traveller

when you’re trying To stay focused on something, there’s no distractions on your phone, through your web browser, or outside the window. And with attention spans shortening in the TikTok era, we now have a whole category of apps dedicated to helping you stick to what you’re supposed to be doing.

All of these apps work in more or less the same way, giving you a straightforward way to track how much time you’re spending on a task, and also provide some sort of incentive for continuing to stick to the allotted time. Sometimes you also get some extra features, like the ability to block access to other apps.

In an attempt to write this specific article without switching between browser tabs and apps every two minutes, I tried three of the best focus tools. Here’s how they stack up.

focus friend

Focus Friend gives you a companion bean to focus on.
Photograph: David Nield

The atmosphere at Focus Friend is very warm and relaxing. When you first set up the app, you get your own private bean, which you can give a name to. Once you see the intro screen, your beanie will start weaving – and after that, it will stop weaving whenever you pick up your phone.

The idea is that if you stick to the block of time you set, your Bean can come up with a variety of knitted creations, which can then be traded for various decorations for your Bean’s living space. As you might expect, you can also pay for embellishments, and the Pro membership ($2 per month) means your Bean is able to get more creative with her knitting.

It’s up to you how long your focus sessions are, and you have the option of playing some relaxing music, blocking access to other apps, or keeping the screen on while you work or study – and while your bean gets busy doing some knitting. It’s all quite unique and easy to set up. You don’t even need to register a user account.

How effective you find the Focus Friend really depends on how obsessed you are with your beanie and her knitting projects. At its core the app is really just a stopwatch, although the option to actually block other apps is useful. For me, an extra dollop of furry companion makes a difference, and helps stick to a task.

Focus Friend for Android and iOS (free or from $2 per month)

Forest

Virtual trees grow in the forest while you work or study.
Photograph: David Nield

One trick Forrest uses to keep you focused is to grow virtual trees inside the app. The longer you stay engaged and avoid distractions, the more trees you’ll find – until you have your own forest on your phone. The app developers have also partnered with the nonprofit Trees for the Future to grow millions of real trees in the real world.