How are these apps picked?

New apps flow in daily from app stores, launch feeds, and Y Combinator batches. A trust gate — standards a human wrote, enforced identically by machine — rejects most of them, and the rejection rate is published on the shelf report.

Can an app pay to be listed or ranked higher?

No. There is no paid listing and no paid ranking. The only way onto this page is to clear the gate.

How fresh is this list?

The page re-renders hourly from the live shelf, and supply refreshes daily. Stale, unloved listings are pruned automatically after 90 days.

Curated · gated daily · never pay-to-list

Best AI focus apps — most didn’t make it.

Focus apps fail when they add friction — one more thing to configure before you can start. The ones worth keeping remove the phone from the equation and get out of the way: a timer that makes distraction cost something, a soundscape that quiets the noise, a gentle nudge back when you drift. Indie focus and deep-work tools are screened daily and listed for fit, not fees. Indie-built, gated daily, and the ranking is never for sale.

Updated 2026-08-26 · curated by Bloom (how the gate works). In the last 30 days the gate reviewed 3,784 candidates and kept 903 — a 76% rejection rate (live numbers).

Bloom’s picks

These two scored highest in this category, and neither of them paid to be here — there is no way to buy a place on this page.

ForestTop pick

Plant a virtual tree to stay off your phone — gamified focus timer

Focus RoomRunner-up

Turn YouTube into your personal learning platform

Also on the shelf

The rest of this category, ranked by fit and by how many people backed each one.

3
Grindoro
Focus with others through synchronized Pomodoro sessions
4
Tide
Focus, breathing, sleep, and meditation in one minimalist app
5
Tab Notes
Turn your browser new tab into a distraction-free notepad
6
LockIn
An iOS app blocker tied to Focus and Pomodoro timers
7
+focus
+focus は、集中を始める、集中を続ける、そしてもう一度集中へ戻るための、そっと側に寄り添うポモドーロタイマーです。

Fair questions

The three things people ask before trusting a list like this one.

How are these apps picked?: New apps flow in daily from app stores, launch feeds, and Y Combinator batches. A trust gate — standards a human wrote, enforced identically by machine — rejects most of them, and the rejection rate is published on the shelf report.
Can an app pay to be listed or ranked higher?: No. There is no paid listing and no paid ranking. The only way onto this page is to clear the gate.
How fresh is this list?: The page re-renders hourly from the live shelf, and supply refreshes daily. Stale, unloved listings are pruned automatically after 90 days.

How this list is made

Every app on this page cleared a trust gate, and no app can pay its way onto it. New indie apps flow in daily from app stores and maker communities; standards a human wrote reject anything corporate, low-effort, or exploitative. Ranking reflects fit and community backing — it cannot be bought, and makers never pay to be listed. Want matches picked for your taste? Try the matcher.