I tried Focus Mode on a Chromebook and it saved me from all the world’s distractions

Smartphones, tablets and digital media can easily distract you and negatively impact your work and daily life. Luckily, device manufacturers are offering ways to solve this problem with features like Focus mode in Windows And iPhoneAnd Do Not Disturb Mode on Android. Google recently added Focus Mode to ChromeOS, and after using it for a week on my Chromebook, I found it to be quite useful.

I’ve never used this feature before. So, I decided to try it and now I can’t live without it. Focus Mode was introduced in ChromeOS 129, and I use this feature extensively to minimize distractions.

Focus mode is available in the ChromeOS Quick Settings panel. You might think that it works just like Windows, Android and iOS, and you’d be right. However, it also takes advantage of Google’s app ecosystem by adding a few more features, resulting in a richer experience.

How Focus Mode Works on a Chromebook

Activating focus mode is quite simple. Open Quick Settings panel and tap Focus mode tile with table lamp icon. You can then use the up or down arrow buttons to increase or decrease the focus timer and press Start off to activate the timer.

By default, activating Focus Mode turns on Do Not Disturb mode to avoid distractions. But you can easily turn off Do Not Disturb mode in the Focus Mode settings.

Once the timer starts, the focus mode icon will appear on the taskbar. It has a progress ring that shows the time remaining. You can click on it to expand the timer and add another 10 minutes to the countdown. There is also End buttonand pressing it will end the timer and turn off focus mode.

How Focus Mode Helped Me Get Work Done Faster

The Google ecosystem integration I mentioned above now includes Google Tasks And YouTube Music in the Focus Mode function. I use Google Tasks extensively in the Calendar app to keep track of my “to-do” work, and it’s one of my favorite features. It is also available in focus mode. One of the best things about Google Tasks in Focus mode is that it asks me if I want to add tasks from an existing list.

I write articles all the time. When I have a lot of things on my plate, I write down the order in which I want to do them. I could pick up my phone and add tasks, but that would distract me.

As a result, I enter the title in Google Tasks in focus mode, and then the time. So Focus Mode helps me block out distractions and Tasks reminds me of what I need to do. I would love to be able to add times and reminders for each task, but this feature is missing.

My OnePlus 12R is always connected to my Chromebook. I have notifications turned on on my phone and they become very distracting when I’m working. It still baffles me that Google doesn’t offer the ability to turn off notifications on a per-app basis. ChromeOS Call Center. And since you can now conveniently cast apps from your phone to your Chromebook, it’s harder to stay focused on the task at hand.

Because of this, I have to either turn off Phone Notifications in ChromeOS settings or turn on Do Not Disturb. Because Focus Mode automatically turns on Do Not Disturb, it also stops notifications from my phone and helps me focus.

I’d like to see Google add a floating icon for focus mode using the same API as Chat Bubbles, like it plans to do with apps in the future. Perhaps display the remaining time and tasks when I hover over them. This will make accessing Focus Mode much easier than dragging the cursor all the way to the bottom of the taskbar.

YouTube Music integration can only be enabled via Chrome flags and is currently broken. I’m not a fan of listening to music while working because it distracts me a lot. The same goes for focusing sounds; I didn’t find them useful.

I listen to Chiptune-style music from artists like Kubbi when work is done, and I can definitely see myself using the YouTube Music feature once it starts working. However, there is currently no option to add your own sounds.

Things I want to see here

Focus mode on Chromebooks is already great, but there are a few things that will make it even more outstanding.

Add tasks using the Focus Mode icon

The first change is the ability to add more tasks directly from timer menu on the taskbar. This will save users additional clicks since adding a new task will require you to go to the Focus Mode tile. You can add new tasks from Calendar, but they won’t show up in Focus Mode because you didn’t add them from the Focus Mode menu.

Focus Mode Schedules

Likewise, I’d like to see customizable focus graphs. Android and iOS allow you to do this, and ChromeOS should support it too. For example, allow users to schedule focus mode. If they are active on a Chromebook, send a notification 15 minutes before activation letting them know that Focus Mode will be enabled soon.

Priority notifications from phone and Chrome apps

Finally, you should implement priority notifications from Chrome and phone apps. As mentioned earlier, Google will first need to allow users to set up notifications from connected phones; however, once this feature is implemented, the priority notifications feature should allow users to select priority notifications so that they don’t miss important notifications even when Do Not Disturb is turned on.

Have you tried Focus Mode on your Chromebook? What do you think about this and how would you do it better? Let us know in the comments.