When I first struggled to stay on task while coding late into the night, I realized I wasn’t alone—so I set out to build Focus Detox. As a founder, my mission was simple: turn the isolation of solo work into the energy of a shared experience. I wired up a real-time feed so you can see exactly who’s grinding alongside you, and added live leaderboards to spark that healthy competition we all need when motivation wanes.
Under the hood, I chose a Node.js backend with WebSockets for instant session updates, paired with PostgreSQL to track streaks, achievements, and analytics. I leaned on a lightweight React front end to keep the UI lightning-fast, and wrapped it all in Expo so you can jump into focus mode on web, iOS, or Android—with offline support for airplane-mode work sprints.
Gamification was critical: I designed XP, badges, and tiered challenges around real work milestones (like “First 3-Hour Streak” or “Night Owl Mode”) because small wins build momentum. The dashboard and session analytics were born out of my own habit of over-analyzing productivity data—now it surfaces trends so you can tweak your timer settings instead of digging through spreadsheets.
Every feature in Focus Detox reflects the lessons I learned about accountability, community, and data-driven improvement. My goal was to create more than a timer—this is your focus squad, your friendly rival, and your personal coach all rolled into one.
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