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Hank Green’s ‘Focus Friend’ Tops App Charts With a Knitting Bean That Rewards Offline Time

The creators pitch a privacy‑minded, ad‑free model funded by optional purchases to keep attention on users’ terms.

Overview

  • After a late‑July soft launch, the app hit No. 1 on Apple’s free chart in several countries; by Friday it ranked No. 3 on the App Store and No. 2 on Google Play, with coverage citing roughly 740,000 downloads overall and 100,000+ on Android.
  • Users set focus timers while a bean knits socks or scarves to trade for room decor, and progress unravels if they pick up the phone before the session ends.
  • Deep Focus mode blocks most apps during sessions, while the Pro tier adds an editable allowlist, faster rewards, and scarf crafting for premium items.
  • Monetization avoids advertising in favor of optional skins and subscriptions, with pricing at $1.99 per month, $14.99 per year, or a $29.99 lifetime purchase reported as popular.
  • Hank Green built the project with indie developer Bria Sullivan of Honey B Games as a passion collaboration, and they say more rooms and a home‑screen widget are in the works.