One of the really great things about smartphones and tablets is that they’re one-stop shops of every conceivable distractions known to man. Videos? Check. Music? Stream or download away! Games? Oh, God, don’t get me started about games! Injustice:Gods Among Us made me unproductive for quite a while, and when I installed 2048, I went nuts! But that’s the problem: so many apps tend to become so addictive that it tends to get in the way of things like matter, such as work.
It’s a big problem for me since I tend to get bored easily when doing mundane tasks, such as meetings. This is where the FocusLock App comes in. It’s a simple app with only one thing in mind: help you concentrate on whatever task you need to do without you resorting to closing your phone.
The interface is very simple. Once you open the app, you’re given three tabs. The main one is the one in the middle that lists down all of your installed apps. From here, you can choose which apps to lock by clicking on the lock icon beside the app’s name. You can put apps in your favorite apps to lock by long-pressing on its name and selecting the option. In both cases, the apps will appear in their respective tabs.
From there, you can tweak the time the apps are locked in the settings (the clock icon in the top right corner).
Once done, the apps are locked. So, if you put the timer for 30 minutes, you won’t be able to use the locked apps during that time. There is no way to stop or cancel the lock during this time, though you can specify a break, but that’s about it. Trying to open the app will net you this screen:
Clicking on the app’s name from the FocusLock interface will net you a reminder:
That’s something to think about when choosing what app to lock. When the time expires, you’ll get a notification and the option to unlock the apps permanently (i.e. you’re finished with whatever it was you were trying to concentrate on, such as trying to stay awake in meetings).
Perhaps one caveat I have is that you’re unable to specify a DateTime schedule for an automatic lock. As it stands, you’re required to use the app at the moment you want the lock. It would have been nice if I can specify, say next Tuesday at 10:30 AM to lock the apps. However, that’s just nitpicking on my part. In its current incarnation, it does its purpose well. I doubt that you’ll use this often, but it does have a small footprint, so having this installed isn’t a bad idea.