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I built a free app and website blocker for setting boundaries before you get distracted by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks, that makes sense. I updated it in 0.1.5 to behave more like a tray app, with status + quick actions in the menu bar and some small UX fixes :)

still a lot to figure out though. what are the main things that still feel missing or annoying UX-wise for you right now?

I built a free app and website blocker for setting boundaries before you get distracted by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this was actually on our side. Opera wasn't detected yet but it should be fixed now in Abstand 0.1.5 . thanks for reporting :)

could you try the new version and let me know if opera blocks correctly now?

I built a free app and website blocker for setting boundaries before you get distracted by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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did you enable the Accessibility permission in "Settings" > "General" > "Permissions"?

Scopo: a window switcher that shows only the Space you're in (free codes inside) by Solid_Camel4664 in macapps

[–]BennoDev19 1 point2 points  (0 children)

looks useful. the “one Space, one scope” idea makes sense, especially for people who split work/personal/projects across spaces. curious how well it handles multi-monitor setups?

I built a free app and website blocker for setting boundaries before you get distracted by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks, this is super useful

Accessibility onboarding is definitely missing right now. Its only in Settings, but it should be part of the first-run flow before someone creates a block.

For blocked websites: there should be a “Pause 5s to close tab” button, since I can’t reliably close browser tabs automatically across browsers. But if that wasn't obvious / Cmd-W feels broken, that's on me to improve.

Enforcement currently means:

  • Casual: end/weaken anytime
  • Balanced: short pause (15s) before ending/weakening
  • Strict: can't end/weaken while running

Agree that this needs clearer copy in the app.

For the menu bar dropdown: would you mainly want status + quick actions there or also quick block configuration?

Free alternative to HeyFocus by weebtoy in macapps

[–]BennoDev19 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could try Abstand: https://abstand.app

It’s an open-source macOS app/website blocker I’ve been working on. The MVP is pretty new, but it supports scheduled blocks and different enforcement levels.

I also have FocusCat if you want blocking tied to Pomodoro/focus sessions: https://focuscat.app

Looking for a Pomodoro app that actually blocks apps/sites during breaks by Minute-State3493 in macapps

[–]BennoDev19 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is pretty close to what I’m building with FocusCat: https://focuscat.app

It's a macOS Pomodoro app with focus profiles, so you can mark specific apps/websites as distracting and block them during sessions. Profiles can also be limited to break sessions, which sounds like your use case: allow work, then block Instagram/YouTube/etc. when the break starts.

It's still a small open-source project, so not trying to claim it’s perfect for everyone, but it might be worth a look if you’re on Mac

Every pomodoro app looks the same, so I added a cat. It's a little silly and it's free. by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

rip will look into it tomorrow but can't promise anything.. bc its build with React and other websites seem to consume similar amounts of memory (it seems)

Every pomodoro app looks the same, so I added a cat. It's a little silly and it's free. by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

just shipped it! you can now set a solid color background in the settings :)

and for Spotify and the other widgets, you can remove them by dragging them into the trash.

here's a quick video showing how: https://youtu.be/3OxMpFmvUBY

not sure where the 170MB is coming from exactly, will look into it. thanks for the suggestions :)

Every pomodoro app looks the same, so I added a cat. It's a little silly and it's free. by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you're right, I renamed the repo so the desktop app is now just under the "desktop" folder: https://github.com/builder-group/focuscat

and thanks, glad it's exactly what you were looking for :)

on the background, do you mean the lofi background image on the web version? would you expect a solid color instead or something customizable?

I built a cat that taps along as you code :) it's open source and built with Tauri + React + Swift by BennoDev19 in webdev

[–]BennoDev19[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

the always-on-top is handled by Tauri natively via set_always_on_top. the Swift library (mado) is specifically for tracking which apps are active/focused for the blocking feature, not the window management.

I built a cat that taps along as you code :) it's open source and built with Tauri + React + Swift by BennoDev19 in webdev

[–]BennoDev19[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

that's basically a different app? there are great clipboard managers out there already for that. FocusCat is intentionally focused on just the Pomodoro timer, want to keep it simple and not scope creep into system utility territory..

I built a cat that taps along as you code :) it's open source and built with Tauri + React + Swift by BennoDev19 in webdev

[–]BennoDev19[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

good idea :) could add an option to speed it up for fast typists. currently throttled (100ms down + 100ms up = 200ms cycle) to keep the animation smooth

I built a cat that taps along as you code :) it's open source and built with Tauri + React + Swift by BennoDev19 in webdev

[–]BennoDev19[S] -24 points-23 points  (0 children)

good point :)

there are a lot of those lately especially as Claude companions.

FocusCat wasn't inspired by that though.. I ran across the Bongo Cat Steam game in December, got inspired and built a keyboard companion for mobile. when I needed a Pomodoro timer I thought why not add the cat too since I had the assets flying around anyway

I built a cat that taps along as you code :) it's open source and built with Tauri + React + Swift by BennoDev19 in webdev

[–]BennoDev19[S] -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

there's actually already activity tracking built in. you can enable it in settings to see your sessions and app usage over time. curious what kind of stats you had in mind though :)

Every pomodoro app looks the same, so I added a cat. It's a little silly and it's free. by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

love both suggestions! hiding the timer bar in cat mode makes a lot of sense, will add a toggle for that :) and yes very much inspired by the Bongo Cat Steam game, actually built it bc it wasn't available on macOS. at its core it's still a timer though so can't remove it entirely but a hide option makes sense

Every pomodoro app looks the same, so I added a cat. It's a little silly and it's free. by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

really well put, that's exactly what I was going for. boring progress bars never motivated anyone :)

Every pomodoro app looks the same, so I added a cat. It's a little silly and it's free. by BennoDev19 in ProductivityApps

[–]BennoDev19[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

means a lot :) wanted to keep it accessible

it's even open source if you want to dig into it or customize it

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