AlltraFocus User Guide
🚀 Quick Start
Start your first focus session in about two seconds
AlltraFocus is a calm, simple timer for focused work. You tap once and a focus session begins. When it ends, the app tells you clearly and starts your break. There is no account to create, no ads and no subscription, and the timer works without an internet connection.
- Get AlltraFocus from its page: open the free web timer in your browser, or install the Android app from Google Play
- Read the short welcome screens, or skip them. You can see them again at any time by tapping the ‘?’ icon at the top of the timer screen
- Tap ‘Start Focus’. A 25-minute focus session begins
- Work until the chime sounds. The break then starts by itself, and the next focus session follows it
- Tap ‘Pause’ if you are interrupted, or ‘End Session’ when you are finished
The timer itself is free and identical for everyone, with your own timings, sounds and light or dark mode included. An optional one-time unlock adds extras, described under Free & Unlocked Extras. The iPhone version is coming soon.
🎯 The Timer Screen
Everything you need is on one screen
- Top bar. Shows the app name, the ‘?’ help icon (replays the welcome screens) and the gear icon (opens Settings)
- Phase name. ‘Focus Session’, ‘Short Break’ or ‘Long Break’, always written out in words, with a slim progress bar beneath it
- Countdown. The large numbers in the middle. Before a session starts they show how long the next phase will be
- Main button. Always one action: ‘Start Focus’ (or ‘Start Short Break’ / ‘Start Long Break’) when stopped, ‘Pause’ while running, ‘Resume’ while paused
- End Session. A smaller control that appears while a phase is running or paused
- Skip Break. Appears only during a break
- Change mode. When nothing is running, steps the next phase from Focus to Short Break to Long Break and back, so you can begin with a break if you wish
- View Session History. A link under the countdown that opens the History screen
If you have turned on Focus Quiet Mode, a strip above the countdown reads ‘Do Not Disturb is on’ and shows when it ends. The strip stays visible for as long as your phone is being silenced.
⏱️ How a Session Works
Focus, rest, repeat, with nothing to set up each time
The three parts of a cycle
- Focus session: your work period (25 minutes by default)
- Short break: the usual rest after a focus session (5 minutes by default)
- Long break: a longer rest after every fourth finished focus session (15 minutes by default)
When a focus session reaches zero the app plays a chime, vibrates if you have that turned on, and starts your break by itself. When the break reaches zero, the next focus session starts by itself. There is no dialog to dismiss and nothing to tap. The timer keeps going, even with the app behind another app or the screen off, until you end it.
Pausing, ending early and skipping
- Pause stops the clock. Time spent paused is never counted, however long the pause lasts, and a paused session never expires
- End Session stops the session. After more than two minutes it asks ‘End this session?’ first, so a stray tap cannot throw away your work
- Skip Break ends the break without credit, and the main button changes to ‘Start Focus’
- After you end a session or skip a break, nothing starts by itself. You choose when to begin again
When does a session count?
A focus session counts as finished if it runs all the way to zero, or if you stop it after at least half of its time has passed. Stopping before the halfway point sets it aside and it is not counted. The same rule applies to your daily total and to the count towards your next long break.
When you come back later
The timer records when a session should end, rather than counting seconds, so a sleeping phone or a locked screen cannot make it drift. If you reopen the app after it was closed, it shows what really happened: the session is still running with the correct time left, or it finished while you were away and has been counted once. The app never starts a new session on its own after being reopened, and it never plays a chime for something you missed.
Days and midnight
A session belongs to the day it started, so a session begun at 23:50 counts towards that day even if it ends after midnight. Your count for today starts again from zero at midnight.
⚙️ Settings
Make the timer fit the way you work. Everything saves as you change it.
Tap the gear icon at the top of the timer screen. There is no Save button: each change takes effect immediately and is remembered. A session already in progress keeps the length it started with, and new timings apply from the next one.
Timings (free)
| Setting | Default | You can set |
|---|---|---|
| Focus session | 25 minutes | 1 to 120 minutes |
| Short break | 5 minutes | 1 to 30 minutes |
| Long break | 15 minutes | 1 to 60 minutes |
| Long break after | 4 focus sessions | 2 to 8 sessions |
Use the + and – buttons, or tap the number and type one. If you type a value outside the allowed range, AlltraFocus brings it to the nearest allowed value and shows a short note. ‘Restore defaults’ puts the timings back to 25 / 5 / 15 and four sessions, and leaves your sounds, colours and other choices alone.
Sounds and alerts (free)
Three separate switches control the completion sound, vibration and notifications. The completion sound is your phone’s system sound by default. While the sound is on, a picker also offers five custom chimes (Wind Chimes, Xylophone Clock, Done, Success and Steaming Milk) that are part of the unlock and show a padlock until then. Choosing a sound plays it once as a preview.
The completion chime plays on your phone’s media volume, so Do Not Disturb does not silence it. Music or podcasts in another app are turned down while the chime plays and then return to full volume.
Appearance
- Theme: light, dark, or follow your phone. All three are free
- Accent palette: ‘Calm’ is free. The unlock adds five more: Dawn Paper, Warm Sand, Ocean, Iris and Rose
- Timer background: the AlltraFocus logo is free. The unlock adds three calm scenes (Sunset, Field of grain and Mountains) and ‘My photo’, which shows a photo of your choice behind the timer
About and legal
Shows the version number, a link to the privacy policy, the open-source licences, ‘Show the welcome again’, and ‘Erase all my data’.
🔕 Focus Quiet Mode
Android only. Silence your phone for the length of a focus session.
Focus Quiet Mode switches on your phone’s own Do Not Disturb while a focus session is running, so notifications, calls and alert sounds stop interrupting your work. It never silences breaks, because a break is when you want your messages back.
- Open Settings and find the ‘Focus Quiet Mode’ section, directly below Timings
- Switch it on. AlltraFocus explains exactly what it will do and asks ‘Let AlltraFocus quiet your phone?’. Choose ‘Continue’
- If your phone has not yet given the app Do Not Disturb access, AlltraFocus opens the phone’s own access page. Allow AlltraFocus there and come back
- Start a focus session. Your phone goes quiet, and the timer screen shows ‘Do Not Disturb is on’ with the time it ends
Your phone is always put back the way it was
Your previous Do Not Disturb setting is restored when the focus session ends or is ended early, when you pause, when a break begins, when you switch the feature off, and the next time you open the app if anything went wrong. Tap ‘Turn off now’ on the reminder strip to restore your phone at once. This also switches Focus Quiet Mode off, so later sessions are not silenced until you switch it back on. If you turn Do Not Disturb off yourself during a session, AlltraFocus notices and does not switch it back on.
Alarms and anything your own Do Not Disturb rules allow through, such as calls from favourite contacts, will still come through. It cannot lock the volume buttons, and it cannot stop other apps from vibrating.
Focus Quiet Mode is part of the unlock, but you can try it free for one focus session. iPhones do not allow apps to switch on Do Not Disturb, so the option is not offered on iPhone or in the web timer.
📊 History
A simple record of what you have finished
Tap ‘View Session History’ under the countdown. Everyone sees today’s finished focus sessions and focused minutes. The unlock adds ‘Your last seven days’: one bar per day with the number of sessions, and a summary such as ‘12 sessions · 300 focus minutes’.
- History is deliberately simple: how many sessions were finished each day and the total minutes. There are no titles, notes or timestamps
- Only the last seven days are kept, so the app never builds up years of personal data
- History stays on your device and is never uploaded or shared
🎁 Free & Unlocked Extras
One optional payment, no subscription
| Feature | Free | Unlocked |
|---|---|---|
| No ads, no account, works offline | Yes | Yes |
| Your own timings and long-break count | Yes | Yes |
| Completion sound, vibration, notifications | Yes | Yes |
| Light, dark or follow-the-phone theme | Yes | Yes |
| Today’s session count | Yes | Yes |
| Custom chimes | — | Yes |
| Focus Quiet Mode (Android) | One free trial | Yes |
| Five extra colour palettes | — | Yes |
| Calm scenes, or your own photo, behind the timer | — | Yes |
| Seven-day history | — | Yes |
Unlock the extras
Tap any padlocked item, or choose ‘Unlock the extras’ in Settings, to open the unlock screen. Tap ‘Unlock for’ followed by the price your store shows. The extras unlock the moment the store confirms the purchase, with no restart needed. It is a single payment with nothing to renew. If the payment is still pending, the extras unlock as soon as the store confirms it.
Restore a purchase
If you reinstall the app or move to a new phone, open Settings (or the unlock screen) and tap ‘Restore Purchase’. It is safe to tap more than once. You need to be signed in to the same Google account you bought with.
🌐 The Web Timer
A free, basic edition that runs in your browser
The web timer lets you use AlltraFocus at a computer, or try it before you install anything. Open the web timer in its own tab. It works in current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. It matches the free Android timer: the same timings, the same session rules and today’s count.
How it tells you a phase has ended
- A chime plays when a phase ends, once you have pressed Start. It can be switched off in Settings
- The tab title always shows the state, such as ‘12:34 · Focus Session’. When a phase ends while you are looking at another tab, the title starts with a tick
- A browser notification appears if you allow it when you first press Start, and only when the tab is out of view. Safari on iPhone and iPad, and most mobile browsers, do not allow this
Alerts only work while the tab is open. If you close it, the timer is exactly where you left it when you return, or shows the session as finished and counted, but you get no alert in the meantime. A browser may also put a tab that has been hidden for a long time to sleep, which can make an alert late. The time shown is always correct.
What the web timer leaves out
- Focus Quiet Mode and vibration, which a web page cannot do
- The live countdown in a notification
- Custom chimes, extra palettes, background scenes, your own photo and seven-day history. These are Android extras and are not shown padlocked
- Payments of any kind
Only one tab runs the timer. If you open it in a second tab, that tab says ‘AlltraFocus is already open in another tab’. Choose ‘Use it here instead’ to move the timer to the new tab. Your settings and history are stored in your browser on this device only, and are not shared between browsers or devices.
🔒 Your Data & Privacy
Nothing about you leaves your device
- No account, no email address, no analytics, no tracking and no advertising
- Your settings, timer state and history stay on your phone, or in your browser for the web timer, and are never uploaded
- The app asks for notification permission the first time a session starts, and works fully if you refuse. It asks for Do Not Disturb access only if you switch on Focus Quiet Mode
- The web timer makes no requests except to download the app from alltratech.com, and uses no cookies
Erase all my data
In Settings, under ‘About and legal’, ‘Erase all my data’ clears your settings, history, counts and any saved photo after you confirm. It does not take away a purchase you paid for. Read the full Privacy Policy for details.
🔧 Troubleshooting
Answers to common questions
I get no notification or chime when a session ends
- Check that the sound and notification switches are on in Settings
- If your phone has notifications switched off for AlltraFocus, Settings shows a note with a shortcut to the phone’s settings
- The chime plays at your phone’s media volume, so turn the media volume up
- On the web timer, press Start at least once on the page so the browser allows sound, and keep the tab open
The timer is not where I left it, or my session was not counted
A session counts only if it ran to zero, or if you stopped it after at least half of the time. A session stopped sooner is set aside. After the app was closed for a long time, it completes at most one phase when you return and starts nothing by itself.
My phone stayed silent after a session
Open AlltraFocus and tap ‘Turn off now’ on the strip, or open Settings and switch Focus Quiet Mode off. The next time the app opens it also restores your phone’s previous setting. You can also turn Do Not Disturb off yourself in the phone’s quick settings.
My extras are missing on a new phone
Tap ‘Restore Purchase’ in Settings while signed in to the Google account you bought with. If it reports that no previous purchase was found, check that you are using the same account. Nothing is charged when you restore.
The web timer will not remember my settings
Some strict privacy settings, and private windows that are closed afterwards, stop a browser from storing anything. The timer still works for that visit, and a short note tells you settings will not be remembered. Clearing the browser’s site data also erases them.
Need more help?
- Tap the ‘?’ icon at the top of the timer screen to see the welcome screens again
- Read the questions and answers on the AlltraFocus page
- Contact support through our Contact page
Ready to Focus?
One tap starts your first session. The rest takes care of itself.