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Hank Green’s Focus Friend Tops App Store as Viral Focus Timer Surges

The ad-free app marries a knitting bean with app blocking to help people put their phones down.

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Focus Friend, created by Hank Green and Honey B Games
Hank Green's Focus Friend app

Overview

  • The app reached No. 1 on Apple’s free charts in the US and several countries this week, briefly overtaking ChatGPT, and it remained near the top on Thursday.
  • Reports cite roughly 740,000 total downloads since its late-July soft launch, with 100,000+ installs on Google Play.
  • Users set timers while a bean knits rewards; Deep Focus Mode blocks most apps, and opening other apps mid-session ruins progress.
  • Monetization is ad-free via optional purchases and a Pro tier ($1.99/month, $14.99/year, or $29.99 lifetime) that enables scarves, faster rewards, custom beans, and editable app access.
  • Created by Hank Green with developer Bria Sullivan of Honey B Games as a passion project, the app’s rapid rise followed social promotion, and the team is preparing more rooms and a widget.