Streamlining Focus Time Sessions

Is it possible to start Focus Session with one click? I don’t want to go through preparation steps (including having to press skip multiple times).

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Also very interested in this. I go through 4-5 clicks every time I wanted to just type in a timeframe and start the timer. Is there any way to skip preparation, or potentially consolidate the numerous pages required to just start working?

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I am writing to provide some feedback regarding the process of starting a focus time session in the RescueTime Assistant app on Windows 10. While I greatly appreciate the features and benefits offered by the premium subscription, I would like to express my concerns about the current method of initiating a focus session.

To begin with, I find the process of starting a focus session to be quite tedious and counter-productive. It involves going through four steps, which I must repeat up to 10 times per working day. These steps are as follows:

  1. Click on the app icon.
  2. Enduring the “Prepare to focus” tour, which I find to be super annoying. Thankfully, there is an option to skip it, but having to do so repeatedly becomes cumbersome.
  3. Dealing with the “How long would you like to focus?” prompt requires me to click on the skip button.
  4. Navigate through the “Prevent digital distractions” screen and press skip.

I suggest simplifying and streamlining this process by disabling the tour and implementing default values for each step, allowing users to start a focus session with just one click. Additionally, it would be incredibly helpful to have a customizable hotkey that initiates a focus session with all default settings. Additionally, I can’t set a default custom session length like 45 minutes in the Default Focus Session length: menu in the web settings — only 15-25-30-60 minutes are available.

While I understand that the focus tour can benefit newcomers to the app, it would greatly enhance the user experience if there was an option to disable this feature entirely for users already familiar with the application.

By making these improvements, you would significantly reduce the time and effort required to begin a focus session, thereby enhancing your app’s overall productivity and user satisfaction.

Thank you for considering my feedback and taking the time to review my suggestions. I would appreciate your advice on how to address my concerns.

4 Likes

This issue has been raised up since last year, any idea when we can expect a global shortcut/and or an option to disable all the messages ? @Ciao

Yeah. The number of steps required is pretty ridiculous.

@andrew1 @VFP @lee appreciate all your feedback. The more the consensus the greater the chance that our product team will prioritize this. Shortcutting Focus Sessions has been discussed for some time now. We do have plans to improve this experience, however we don’t have a set date just yet. Right now all resources have been dedicated to rolling out a new feature that is slated to launch some time this summer. After that more time can be dedicated to making this improvement as well as some others.

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Hey! @andrew1 @VFP @lee @peter We’re happy to report you can now start a Focus Session with one click. You can open the assistant and click the blue Focus button and then you will see a “Focus Now” button that will immediately start a Focus Session. It will be putting the settings from your Focus Settings page. Thank you so much for your patience.

Thank you, much faster now