Free native macOS distraction blocker
Block distracting apps during focus sessions. Menu bar timer, Pomodoro cycles, zero subscriptions.

Built with Swift and SwiftUI. No Electron, no web views, no bloat.

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What's new in v1.0.1

A visual rebrand. Same app, new look:

• New emerald-green shield app icon at all 10 macOS sizes
• Redesigned About banner
• Accent color refreshed from terracotta to emerald to match the new icon; break-phase tint shifted to cool slate so Focus vs Break still reads at a glance
• No feature changes from v1.0.0

See the full release notes (including SHA-256 and VirusTotal scan): v1.0.1.

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Screenshots

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Download

Download the latest version from Releases. Unzip, move FocusWall.app to Applications, and launch.

The app includes a built-in update checker -- open About and click Check Now to see if a newer version is available.

Features

Menu bar timer

• Live mm:ss countdown in the menu bar
• Ring-progress timer view with phase label (Focus / Short Break / Long Break)
• One-click Start/Stop from the popover

Pomodoro & single sessions

• Single mode: 1-180 min focus blocks
• Pomodoro: configurable focus / short break / long break / cycles-before-long-break
• Sessions auto-transition through break phases

App blocking

• Pick from your installed apps (scans /Applications, ~/Applications, /System/Applications)
• Apps that launch during a focus session are force-terminated
• Optional macOS notification each time an app is blocked
• Blocker disengages automatically during breaks and on session end

Session history

• Every completed focus block is recorded
• Popover shows today's count + total sessions + total focused minutes
• Persisted locally in UserDefaults (capped at 200 records)

Localized in 8 languages

• English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (BR), Chinese (Simplified)
• Language picker in the About window

Launch at login

• One-toggle registration via SMAppService

Requirements

	Requirement
OS	macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
Chip	Any Mac (Apple Silicon or Intel)

Getting Started

1. Download and install

Download the latest .zip from Releases, extract it, and move FocusWall.app to your Applications folder.

2. Launch and add apps to your blocklist

Launch the app from Applications. The hourglass icon appears in your menu bar. Click it, open Settings, then add the apps you want blocked during focus sessions.

3. Start a session

From the popover, pick Single or Pomodoro mode and click Start. The timer begins, and the blocker activates. Launching any blocklisted app will force-terminate it.

Roadmap

FocusWall ships in phases:

• Phase 1 (current): app blocking, Pomodoro timer, session history, settings, about, 8-language localization
• Phase 2: website blocking (privileged helper + /etc/hosts editing)
• Phase 3: recurring schedules, strict mode (can't cancel once started), macOS Focus mode integration
• Phase 4: session statistics charts, onboarding, keyboard shortcuts

Translations

This repository hosts the translation files for FocusWall. You can help translate the app into your language or improve existing translations.

How to contribute

1. Fork this repository
2. Edit an existing file in the languages/ folder, or create a new one by copying English.xml
3. Translate the string values (the text between <string> tags) -- do not change the key attributes
4. Keep any %1, %2, %@, %d placeholders in place -- the app needs them
5. Submit a pull request

Current languages

Language	File	Status
English	English.xml	Complete
French	French.xml	Initial (community review welcome)
German	German.xml	Initial (community review welcome)
Spanish	Spanish.xml	Initial (community review welcome)
Japanese	Japanese.xml	Initial (community review welcome)
Korean	Korean.xml	Initial (community review welcome)
Portuguese (BR)	Portuguese.xml	Initial (community review welcome)
Chinese (Simplified)	Chinese.xml	Initial (community review welcome)

Want to add a new language? Copy English.xml, rename it to your language name, translate the values, and submit a PR.

Bug Reports & Feature Requests

Please use Issues to report bugs or request features.

Support the Project

If FocusWall is useful to you, consider supporting development:

   

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Troubleshooting

"FocusWall" Not Opened -- Gatekeeper warning

FocusWall is not yet notarized with Apple. On first launch you may see a Gatekeeper warning.

To fix this:

1. Click Done to dismiss the dialog
2. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security
3. Scroll down -- you'll see a message that FocusWall was blocked
4. Click Open Anyway

This only needs to be done once. After that, the app will open normally.

Administrator password required when installing an update

When you click Install Now in the About window, macOS will show a password prompt before replacing the app in /Applications. This is expected -- the app needs elevated permissions to overwrite itself.

Some apps cannot be blocked

forceTerminate() may fail silently for certain signed system apps (for example some Apple Help/Services processes). Phase 2 introduces a privileged helper that will cover those edge cases.

Build from source

brew install xcodegen
git clone https://github.com/beyondthecode-bc/FocusWall.git
cd FocusWall
xcodegen generate
open FocusWall.xcodeproj