Show IH: Mind Focus, and Android app to focus instantly and reclaim your attention
I'm a solo dev and some time ago I created an Android app for personal use, called Mind Focus, that helped me work much more focused and reclaim my attention.
And I've finally gathered the courage to publish it, because I think it can be useful to others.
In it I've combined the two things that have worked best for me and that the data also corroborates:
- The Pomodoro technique (and time-boxing in general as a task management approach).
- Isochronic tones (along with other sounds and soundscapes like pink or brown noise) to sync the brain with focused states of mind.
Personally, isochronic tones worked much better for me than other options like binaural beats and the emerging science also seems to show a greater effectiveness (yes, I'm a data nerd, here's an article about the science behind the app).
The main innovation is that the tones used are not looped mp3s, but generated on the fly, with an adaptive ramp system to naturally accustom the brain to the right focus state.
Likewise, that tone generation takes into account the time of day (and people's natural ultradian rhythms) to generate the optimal frequency.
I also gradually gathered what has worked best for me to tame my anxiety (for example, breathing techniques like the physiological sigh) or recover an attention ravaged by the tyranny of the algorithm.
I'm old(ish). I lived without the Internet and then with it, so I hate the endless scam of paying all the time and owning nothing, so there's a very cheap PRO version, but no subscriptions of any kind.
Although, honestly, the free part of the app is very generous for most people.
There are also no ads of any kind in that free version, it also doesn't collect statistics of any kind (not even anonymous ones) and the app works 100% offline.
I could keep writing, but what for? Mind Focus can be downloaded for free from the Play Store and everyone can check for themselves whether it works for them or not.
That's it, thank you very much for your time... and the attention, of course.
Love the focus on offline use and no data grabbing. One thing that might help folks stick with it is a tiny nudge system, like a gentle reminder if they keep skipping sessions. I’d also be curious about a quick calibration option so users can tweak the tones if they feel a bit off for them. Little quality of life stuff like that can go a long way for daily use.
Thank you very much for your kind words. I'm not very fond of notifications myself, but I'm probably the first person who needs those nudges in many situations...
In my personal version of the app, I'm working with more complex tones. Right now, users can adjust the tone volume and the brown/pink noise volume independently, so they can choose more subtle tones or fine-tune them to blend better while listening to music at the same time, since Mind Focus can be used together with Spotify or any other music app.
This is stronger than a normal Pomodoro app because the real angle is not “timer + sounds.” It is adaptive focus recovery: tones generated around time of day, ultradian rhythm, anxiety regulation, offline privacy, and no-subscription ownership.
That positioning feels more premium than the name “Mind Focus.” The name is clear, but it also sounds like a generic focus app, while the product itself has a calmer, more serious wellness layer underneath. If you ever move beyond Android into a broader focus/wellbeing system, a name like Zenvarya.com would carry that direction better because it feels more like a dedicated brand than a feature label.
Thank you very much for your feedback.