Focusmate - Virtual coworking for getting anything done

Focusmate is hands down the app that has changed my productivity the most. I don't think I'd get anything done without it.

I came here because this is the most important application I've ever used! Focusmate has been an integral component of my personal success. After reading the comments, I can see that everything that I was hoping for is being addressed. My main interest is in grouping with people who are good with movement! Even if I'm not doing chores during a session, I do get up and down a lot for things I forget, or for the cat, etc. I'm just jumpy and wiggly and I need to be sure my partner is comfortable with someone moving around. It's not an inordinate amount, but it happens. Plus I definitely use this for accountability on chores, or waking up or going to sleep at night. But the latter part has been less successful because I'm embarrassed to show up to a session where a stranger is in the middle of their work day and I'm disheveled and half awake. I love that I can see all of my favorites. The only thing I would add to that is having a page where all of their links are combined so I don't have to click on individual pages to see their schedules. 25, 50, and 75 minutes sessions of all of your favorites with just be lined up so you can just click and book. Somebody on focusmate chores Facebook made a page like that. People could opt to have their link on that page, but it's one of the main places I go to book because I can just see everything at one time and it's glorious. I've been both impressed and encouraged by all the changes. The addition of the 75 minute session has been awesome. I do dislike that sometimes I don't get matched for those, but I'm always willing to take a little bit of bad with the incomparable good of focus mate. This is such a genius idea. I tell everybody about it. It's so nice to have the legacy rate, but I'll be honest, I would pay more for this service! It's so worth it and I know I've saved time, money, reduced impact on my mental health, and in general, I've just become a better human because of this service. Thank you for everything that you've done!

Love love LOVE Focusmate! I've been using it for 18 weeks and am averaging 26.4 sessions per week. Wooo! Feature idea/request #1: Add the session countdown timer to the picture-in-picture pop-out window.

Hi! Focusmate has been a gamechanger for me - I'm a big advocate for it, and will continue to do so. (Is there a referral code option? I haven't checked.) Some thoughts: Info/ statistics: - It's nice to know I've done 2000+ sessions, but without knowing how many of them were 25/50/75, the data is pretty meaningless. I'm pretty sure Beeminder has some capacity for providing this info, but I'd love to be able to just be given a time value and a breakdown of how often I use which session length. - Being able to rate sessions out of 5 (in terms of productivity - not partner) would be helpful for me. Part of the appeal of FM is that I know I'm being asked how I did at the end - if I had a private track of how I was doing in every session, it'd keep me honest with myself, and my partner, and I'd be able to see if I was performing poorly or not over the day. too. - I'd also love a line chart of when I am most frequently on FM, maybe even one to correlate when I am most likely to use FM against which of my sessions are the "least productive"... but that might just be me. Matching gender preferences. I appreciate this function a lot. I have my gender preferences set to 'not cisgender men', which gives me comfort, but it's not a dealbreaker. - Sometimes I prioritise being matched with partners quickly. Adding a toggle to the dashboard so that I can turn gender preferences on and off without jumping into settings would be ideal. - Sometimes I'll book in a session at short notice (e.g, 19:58), and sometimes my partner doesn't show, leading to a rematch. I'd like to let Focusmate know that my gender settings are a *preference*, and I'd rather be rematched quickly with *anybody*, rather than have to wait. There is also a note here to add that some users have a bias against trans people - certain male users who select "only match me with men" may not be including transgender men in their assessment there (and vice versa for female users) - I don't have a suggestion here. It's a sensitive issue. Perhaps if FM signposts the policy it may be useful. A second rematch note: - Include a "re-match me with shorter session length" option. If I were waiting for a 75 minute session that had a no-show, I'd rather be rematched with a 25 or 50 minute session than wait 15 minutes to book another session. This benefits people in the shorter sessions who don't have anyone to rematch with, too. Blurriness - I second the other user's suggestion to blur a screen rather than turn it off (e.g.) for eating. I'd like to add a suggestion. - Let FM users blur *their partner's* screen. Sometimes I'm washing up in a communal space, and I have to turn my laptop away, because my housemates are coming in and are cooking dinner, etc. If I could pop a message in the chat to say "hey, there are other people here, and I'd like to give you some privacy." - it could be nice? Albeit, if someone is on FM and they see that they've just been blurred, they may take offence, so who knows. Low-qual streaming - It's nice to see partners properly and get good audio, but if there is a minor environmental advantage to switching to a lower resolution, I'm fine with adding that as an option for the bulk of a session. Lastly, I'd love for there to be more groups at some point. ADHD, writing momentum, creative spirals - they're all fantastic. Perhaps options for LGBT+ one, or ones based on faith, groups for people who use FM to tidy/ people who prefer to do deskwork etc. could be good for the community? I know there are FB groups, but maybe there's a way to streamline this. All in all, I think this is fantastic. Even if nothing is changed, I don't ever see myself cancelling. The fact that you are seeking feedback too is wonderful.

Love Focusmate endlessly - the only reason I was able to write my dissertation, I swear! I think a useful feature would be maybe matching people with similar tasks in a category, for example: reading, cleaning, writing, coding Specifically because I think sometimes I want to use focusmate for non-desk reasons and I don't know if the person on the other side is okay with me being up and around? But if they know I'm cleaning or we both know we're cleaning, then it might make the other person feel more comfortable or together we're more motivated! Just to help bring focusmate's utility beyond academics/work for me :) (Also have ADHD, so the accountability of setting a goal and getting it done in those 50 mins is so helpful for any type of work!)

Idea - Locking in a Focus Mate Community member (ensuring that a favorite CANT book a time with you and you are randomly assigned somebody new).

A lot of discussion around sub groups.  I'll add my two cents here.  I've tried to take care with my language, as I'm concerned that the content could hurt feelings.  Please know that I am sharing my thoughts with care and respect for all, and I hope I've written that well enough below.  If anything comes off as a slight, please chalk that up to my poor writing skills, and not to my intent or my heart.  Here goes:  I would suggest creating groups based only on type of work (e.g. desk work; cleaning; exercise/ movement) and video/sound preferences (mic on/off).   The creation of "subject area" groups was actually the reason I stopped using FM for a few months. Human beings are inherently biased, and our work is to acknowledge our bias and to try with kindness and sincerity to root it out.  So we can ask ourselves the question:  Why did we decide that a PhD group was essential, instead of a group for Electricians Doing Invoices? Or SAHMs coordinating and scheduling play dates for the month? Or faith leaders writing next week's sermon or tomorrow's eulogy?  The reason we decided that a PhD group was necessary is first because we care and we're excited to encourage and cheerlead anyone who is undertaking such an incredible pursuit!  But the second reason we decided that such a group was essential is simply because we are biased in our society to value scholars and scholarship more than we value electricians.  We've decided that PhDs are somehow more distinct, more niche, more in need of some sort of selective community, more valuable. But that is just our bias.  I want to work with everyone.  I love and adore people of all different classes, professions, and disciplines.  Focusmate is here to help us accomplish work- any kind of work. It's not really to connect with people who are in the same social or class strata.  There are other meaningful communities for that kind of interaction, both online and IRL.   Hope that sounds ok, and good luck to everyone with your projects and goals.

Love focusmate and all the recent changes! The only thing I can think of to make it better would be a mobile app!

I haven't noticed the "Picture-in-picture" feature yet. So this will allow me to minimize the focusmate browser so I can go full screen on my work document but still see a little 2 inch icon of my focusmate partner? Like how Zoom does it? if that's the case then that's awesome! I love focusmate. My business coach introduced it to me

Like everyone else here FM has been a game changer for me. I literally think it has saved my job more than once. I have found that it's lost some of it's effectiveness at times but I think that's a me problem. I do find that a number of my partners have given really good advise to help with this. For example, one of my partners suggesting matching with a sound on session when I'm really not motivated to increase accountability. Maybe a tips page for suggestions like this? An evolving page that maybe is curated so that it doesn't get bogged down with comments. For example, have a suggestion box type of thing and someone reviews them and posts the suggestion on the page. That way it eliminates having to search for suggestions or having suggestions repeated. I haven't used the picture in picture recently but I feel like initially it had both me and my partner on the PIP but it now just has my partner. I'd rather have the option to have myself on there too. Sometimes seeing myself off task helps push me to get back on track.