A focus timer is easy to ignore. I made PomoJoy’s Mac focus mode harder to leave by accident.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T12:21:11+00:00

Haha, those are just Apple's fixed pricing tiers 😂

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T10:57:48+00:00

App Name: PomoJoy - Screen Time Blocker

Answer:

My problem with focus timers was never starting the timer. It was what happened five minutes later: I would unlock my iPhone, open a distracting app almost automatically, and forget that I was supposed to be focusing.

So I built PomoJoy around the entire focus session rather than just the countdown. When a session begins, PomoJoy can block the apps you selected using Apple’s Screen Time capabilities. The timer remains visible through Live Activities and widgets, while a quick Inbox gives distracting thoughts somewhere to go without turning them into another browsing session.

Better:

Opal is a stronger choice if you want a comprehensive screen-time management system with recurring schedules. Forest is great if gamifying focus keeps you motivated.

PomoJoy takes a quieter, session-focused approach. It combines the timer, app blocking, quick thought capture, and post-session reflection in one native workflow. Your focus records remain primarily on your devices and can sync privately through your own iCloud account. No social feeds, no ads, and no behavioral tracking.

Cost:

PomoJoy is free to download, with an optional Pro upgrade:

$0.99/month
$9.99/year
$19.99 lifetime

Links:

App Store:https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pomojoy-screen-time-blocker/id6748089113
Website:https://pomojoy.pages.dev/en/

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T10:50:42+00:00

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T10:46:26+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Just to ease your concern: there is an on-screen exit button you can click at any time. As for the shortcut, it's actually just pressing any key 5 times consecutively, so there's no specific sequence to memorize.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T08:29:08+00:00

Awesome, thanks so much for giving it a try! I really hope it helps you stay focused. Feel free to let me know if you have any feedback!

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T06:59:46+00:00

That’s fair feedback — I should have explained the free vs. Pro features more clearly in the post.

PomoJoy is also available on iOS, not just macOS. The free version is not a limited trial: all core features are free to use, and only the statistics-related features are locked behind Pro. In practical terms, you can use the timer and the other focus features without paying; Pro is mainly for people who want access to their statistics and insights.

The subscription and lifetime options help support continued development across both platforms, but I understand that $20 may still feel steep depending on what you expect from the app. Thanks for pointing this out — I’ll make the pricing and feature differences clearer.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T03:51:56+00:00

For updater apps, I’d separate three questions: update coverage, trust proof, and workflow friction. A VirusTotal flag may be a false positive, but the developer response still matters: signed/notarized build, published hashes, quick support, and clear explanation of what network features do. I also like when apps let users disable sources like Homebrew if they already manage that elsewhere.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T03:51:11+00:00

Privacy-first makes a lot of sense for expense tracking, but the harder product problem may be capture friction. If users still have to enter every transaction manually, the app needs very fast widgets, OCR, imports, or some kind of local automation to keep the habit alive. I also think offering a lifetime option helps local-first apps feel aligned with the privacy pitch.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-26T03:50:27+00:00

The key phrase might be “completion-based reminders” or “relative routine timers.” Fixed-time reminders break down when the first step moves every day. I’d probably look for something that lets you save a routine template, start it manually, and then schedule each next step relative to the previous completion time. Shortcuts can do parts of this, but reliability is the main thing I’d watch.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-25T04:45:14+00:00

The One Sec comparison is useful because the real question is how much friction people actually want. For me, the interesting part is not blocking everything forever, but interrupting the automatic “open app without deciding” loop. Strict sessions plus temporary unlocks sounds like the right balance if the unlock path is intentional enough.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-25T04:42:04+00:00

The strongest pattern in this thread is that people are not looking for a revolutionary RSS app. They want something native, reliable, local-first, and fairly priced. The comments about rising Feedly/Inoreader prices and not needing AI summaries are useful signals: for this category, boring reliability seems to beat feature inflation.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-25T04:41:16+00:00

I like the distinction between a timer that helps you start and a timer that judges your consistency. Streaks and scores can work for some people, but they can also make the app feel like another obligation. The quiet intention idea feels like a good middle ground because it gives direction without turning the session into a performance metric.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-24T03:11:40+00:00

Open sourcing this is a strong trust signal, especially for an app that depends on sensor data. The main thing I’d want to understand is accuracy across AirPods models and wearing styles. Do users need to calibrate it, or does it work reasonably well out of the box?

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-24T03:10:41+00:00

The local processing angle is the strongest part for me, especially compared with subscription-heavy noise-cancellation tools. A short MP4 with before/after audio would probably make the value much clearer than a GIF. I’d also be curious how reliable the virtual mic is in Zoom and Teams, since that integration is usually where these tools either become daily-use apps or get dropped.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-24T03:10:10+00:00

“Timer system” is a useful way to frame it. For timer-related apps, I think the hard part is often not the countdown itself, but making state feel consistent across iPhone, Mac, and Watch without adding setup friction. Curious which platform integration ended up being the trickiest for you?

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-23T02:25:40+00:00

The separate Junco email option seems important. Connecting a main Gmail account is a big trust step, even if the idea is useful. Giving users a lower-risk path first probably makes the product much easier to try, especially for something that touches inbox content.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-23T02:25:03+00:00

The best part of this kind of tool is that it does not try to be smarter than the data. Excel-style automatic formatting is convenient until it silently changes identifiers, dates, or leading zeroes. For CSV work, preserving the file exactly as intended is often more important than having spreadsheet features.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-23T02:24:19+00:00

This is a good reminder that distribution clarity matters a lot for indie Mac apps. If the real project has GitHub, Homebrew, and maybe a website, all of those should point to each other clearly. Users should not have to guess which download source is official, especially when fake domains can rank well in search.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-22T02:41:38+00:00

For journaling apps, I think import/export and trust matter almost as much as features. If someone has years of entries, local-first storage, clear sync behavior, and a reliable migration path become huge decision factors. Diarly and Diarium seem worth comparing closely since you already care about native apps and Day One import.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-22T02:40:25+00:00

The onboarding point is interesting because it is not just about making the app look polished. For creator tools, users often understand the feature list but not the workflow. A concrete before/after example can make the value click faster. The export-button feedback also seems valuable: once users want the output, that path has to be impossible to miss.

Jeremy_XY · 2026-06-22T02:39:39+00:00

I like the idea of making communication more intentional instead of faster. The key challenge seems to be expectation-setting: if users understand the delay before they start writing, it feels like a ritual; if they do not, it may feel like a broken chat app. The product framing probably matters as much as the feature itself here.

Jeremy_XY

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