FocusList: Pomodoro Timer for PC and Mac

Software Reviews and Criticism

• By bromide992

  Doesn’t make sense. No documentation. Unclear UI.

  Starting from the top. 1) After opening the app you can add a task to a list. 2) You can give this task an estimate of how many pomodoro sessions will be required to complete it. 3) Upon clicking on the task, the pomodro timer starts and runs until 25 minutes is over. After 5 minutes pass, a break timer starts and ends. That’s it. That’s all this app does. The rest of the functionality is completely busted and confusing. First off, the “Today’s list” text at the top is confusing. It’s one long running list, not a day-boxed list. Second, app tries to make you feel like it’s somehow going to track your completion and gamify it by showing you how much you’re getting done but the stats UI is junk, has no overall stats and all of this is buggy and confusing. If you do 2 pomodoros and then walk away for a couple of hours, you’ll come back to 4 more pomodors having been done for you. How? Who knows. But you can’t erase them. They are there forever, making your history completely irrelevant. And if you want to even understand what’s going on in the app? There isn’t even a help menu. The app needs tons of work to get it even near the features it’s promising. Let people edit their past sessions to remove irrelevant or buggy results and create proper stats.

  
  
• By Miles416

  SImple, focused

  Been using this for two days, love it. More than Pomodoro for some reason, I think because it has the ticking sound, which is nice to have low in the background to remind me that I’m on a task. And the fact that I can set up how many sprints I need for a task is helpful so I don’t feel like it’s never ending. Okay, back to work! :) Update: app is buggy after upgrading OSX to High Sierra. Adding items is very difficult, sometimes typing is reversed (really!) and moving items in the list causes the list to dissappear. Here are the work-arounds I’ve found: Adding a new item can sometimes be done by clicking the + symbol, typing (the typing does not appear), Entering, then quitting FocusList, and re-launching it. Most often, whatever I typed is reversed, so I only type a little before hitting enter, then double-click the garbage and type the correct text. Moving an item in the list, the entire list dissappears. Just click anywhere in the list and it re-appears. Hoping there’s an update for HS in the works — love the app over all other varieties.

  
  
• By Daphne-2009

  Best of its kind!

  This app does what it claims to do and it does it very well. It’s definitely the best “Pomodoro” type app (and I have tried many). But it goes beyond this and it does it super well. It has actually managed to help me focus and also managed to make me feel productive and happy. I first tried it on my Windows and now I have it on my iPhone and Watch. Not that you need it on all devices at once, but it’s really nice to have on the Watch and on a Windows. It’s surprisingly good at syncing across devices. It’s very rewarding to see your progress as you get more done. And I really like the simple yet clear interface. A lot of info in a relatively small space. Nicely done!

  
  
• By rallan1992

  Stay Simple

  I've tried a bunch of pomodoro timers with stacked features, stat tracking, multiple devices, etc. While those are great, I discovered over time that I like to have a simple pomodoro that looks nice to just GET THINGS DONE in one day, a few tasks at a time. This little app crushes it for me. Looks good, sounds good. If you're worried about spending more time setting up your pomodoro and tracking it, get something else. If you're a zen warrior who just likes to throw a task in and run til its done, I like this one better than others.

  
  

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