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Focus Friend: Hank's focus app (2025)

project history · status: running · last event: milestone (2026-10-23)

Focus Friend is a focus app co-created by Hank: a Pomodoro-style timer with a bean in your phone that knits while you stay off other apps. In 2025 it was the top app in the App Store, won an Apple social impact award and was named Google's App of the Year.

About: Focus Friend, Google

date event what video
2025-08-19 milestone John genuinely congratulates Hank on having the number one app, then goes back to writing with Focus Friend. The Problem with My Brother's Hit New App 00:04:15
2025-11-28 milestone Hank announces Focus Friend has won Google's App of the Year, outright rather than in a category, which he calls wild. Three Things! (Wait, no, actually four...) 00:03:22
2025-12-09 looked back John says Focus Friend, co-created by Hank, was the Google Play Store's 2025 app of the year; it helps you use other apps less so a little bean in your phone can knit socks. Hank Green, from A to Z 00:00:58
2026-01-02 looked back Hank says he did not work out Focus Friend's psychology, it just seemed like it would work; it had a bonkers launch and year: top app in the App Store, Apple's social impact award and Google's app of the year. I Got a New Disease and I Kinda Liked It. 00:04:21
2026-10-09 looked back Hank says that drive even led him to create a whole app that is basically a Pomodoro timer with a bean living in your phone. (playful) The Productivity Lie 00:03:27
2026-10-23 milestone Focus Friend's limited-time Lifetime Pro sale, which Hank had told viewers to wait for, is on and ends on Halloween (31 October 2026). → refers to The Productivity Lie The Best Email I Ever Got 00:00:00
2026-10-23 looked back Focus Friend winning Google's 2025 App of the Year outright, not in a category, is a huge deal but fell flat for Hank. The Best Email I Ever Got 00:03:28

What is said about it

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