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Focus mode comes to Android to limit distracting apps
The big problem with owning a smartphone is that every temptation is just a finger tap away -- ooh, Twitter! -- making it hard to knuckle down on a single task. Earlier this year, Google promised to remedy this with "Focus mode," a new tool that stops you -- ooh, YouTube! -- opening apps that could distract you. You just select which apps like -- ooh, better check Facebook -- you find distracting, and lock them down until you choose to release them.
ActionDash 4.0 lets you set a schedule for 'focus mode'
Earlier this year, ActionDash added "focus mode" to its list of features to help you cut down on screentime even more. By doing so, the digital wellbeing app was able to offer the functionality before Google rolls out its own version with Android Q later this year. Now, ActionDash is giving its take on the feature a boost by allowing you to specify when you want it to activate automatically. Version 4 of the application comes with what the company calls "focus mode schedules," so you don't have to manually toggle it on anymore.
ActionDash 3.0's new 'Focus' mode keeps Android users on task
At I/O earlier this year, Google announced that Android Q will upgrade the recently added Digital Wellbeing feature with a Focus Mode to quiet attention-grabbing apps so you can get things done. However, there's a way to get that feature, and a few other tweaks, well ahead of the official Android Q release. Action Launcher developer Chris Lacy has released version 3.0 of ActionDash, which already provided the kind of monitoring and feedback you'd expect from the Wellbeing service, and now has a Focus mode that you can toggle on or off with a quick settings tile. It can temporarily shut off access to whatever apps you select -- news, Twitter and Facebook are probably a good start -- with a splash screen that pops up if you try to open them.
ActionDash brings 'digital well being' tracking to more Android phones
Late last year Google released a Digital Wellbeing app that surfaced insights about exactly how much you're using your phone, and in which apps. Apple installed a similar feature in iOS 12 with Screen Time, but on Android, Google's app only works with a few phones running Android P. For everyone else, there's now another option -- ActionDash, a free app from the developer of Action Launcher and Tweet Lanes. It keeps a record of everything from screen time, to which apps were opened and how many notifications were delivered.
