Focusmate

Hello, dear PH and Focusmate community! Taylor from Focusmate here. So much has changed in the 4 years since our first launch. Unfortunately, being focused and productive while working alone still remains a huge challenge for millions of people. The reality is that human beings are just not wired to perform without structure, accountability, and connection. That’s probably why our first launch was so successful — despite our product’s bare-bones state at the time. It turns out that working with an accountability partner, over a video call, is an incredibly powerful way to ensure we show up, set intentions for our time, and follow through. And while the essence of Focusmate is unchanged, we’ve been working hard to create an experience that is both more reliable as well as more adaptive to your individual needs and preferences. And so, today, we’re back here trying something new — a conversation with the PH and Focusmate communities, for you to share your thoughts on our recent enhancements, and those we’re planning in the months ahead. Our most recent releases include: - Favorites 1.0 — save your favorite coworking partners - 25- and 75-min sessions — go shorter or longer depending on your task and mood - Snooze — elect not to work with certain partners, for any reason and any duration - Background blur + virtual backgrounds — for privacy or fun - Picture-in-picture — see your partner in a small floating window while you work - Yearly billing — by popular demand - Favorites 2.1: Combined Availability — see all your favorite partners’ availability in one place Our upcoming releases include: - Favorites 2.2: Preferential Matching — automatically match with favorites when they’re available in your chosen slot - Rematching 2.0 — don’t lose your session even if your partner cancels at the last second - Last Minute Booking — find a match even if you book last minute by being added to the re-match queue - Matching Preferences 2.0 — control who you match with; select preferences such as active work, desk work, mics on/off, and more - Referral program — get Focusmate for free when you refer a new customer - And many more improvements to the user interface and experience that will make Focusmate even easier and more pleasant to use Our whole team will be engaged and responding to comments here for the next 24 hours. We’d love to hear your voice, and we’re not afraid of criticism. With gratitude, Taylor & Team Focusmate P.S. New to Focusmate? We’d love to offer you a free month of Plus — just use code PH2023 when you upgrade. (Valid until April 6, 2023.)

Focusmate is one of the best productivity tools I've found. It is built around pre-commitment pacts — a psychological device that helps you get started and follow through on just about any task. Focusmate is an effective and accessible tool anyone can use — so much so that I mention it in my book, Indistractable, and invested in the company. I'm a huge believer in the team as well and thrilled with the evolution of this product in the four years since they last launched here. Looking forward to seeing what you all think!

I love Focusmate! I am an ADHD coach, and I recommend FM to my clients on a regular basis. It's a great concept and a valuable service - almost magical for some people! I also love the changes you've made, as well as the upcoming releases. I especially like the picture-in-picture and the favorites features. I wonder if it might be helpful to offer sessions for specific activities, such as exercise or cleaning/decluttering? I've had some clients tell me they'd like to use FM for those activities, but they are concerned that their physical movements would be distracting to their partner. BTW, it was a bit of an ordeal getting signed in through producthunt - I almost gave up, but I really believe in you guys, and I wanted to leave comments and support you.

I love focusmate. Here are a few tweaks I would love to see: 1. The optional session title should sync with your calendar so you can see what you accomplished on your calendar 2. Personally, I think there should be a (small) cost to cancelling a session within 10 minutes of the start. This adds some incentives to the powerful accountability of body doubling. 3. It would be interesting to experiment with 10 minute sessions. These could be for those who are just struggling to get started but are fine once started. These could also be useful for those hard single tasks like meditating or an email you have been avoiding sending! More, later!

I have suggested this previously to the team. Sometimes life happens. After a no-show to a scheduled session, I'd love to send a apology message to the person I was matched with.

--> I have thought many times that it would make sense for people with mic on/off preferences to be matched automatically with each other. --> Even more importantly: It would be great if those who have no mic at all and only write their hello & goals into the chatbox ("chat only") could be matched among themselves. --> A smart improvement would be this: Focusmate measures *how* punctual someone typically is and then matches them with people who have a similar punctuality score. Thus, those who care about starting early / on time are matched with each other and those who prefer being relaxed are matched with each other. --> Anything you can do to make focusmate easily and cheaply available for people with few financial means in developing countries is much appreciated. PS: As always -- I LOVE focusmate.

Thoughts on adding subscription pausing? I tend not to use FocusMate etc if I'm working on an internship / away in the summer, but at uni find it very valuable. (+ want to keep my legacy discount!)