There are times when you’re at work and you want to focus on tasks without being distracted by the apps on your phone. You can’t not look at or use your smartphone because you need emails and messages and other work-related things. Google is about to bring a new feature that would help you in times like these. They announced at the Google I/O Developer’s Conference that Android Focus Mode will arrive in Android P and Android Q this fall.
From the name itself, you already know what Android Focus Mode supposed to do. Unlike the Do Not Disturb mode that is almost system-wide, this mode will let you choose which apps you want to pause for a certain period of time to help you focus on what needs to be done. It seems like it won’t just suspend notifications but will actually disable the apps you specified so you can’t even use them when you know you can’t afford to be distracted.
Just silencing notifications is not enough anymore as there are still times when you want to open the app even if you’re not seeing any notification. This goes for games, social media apps, reading apps, and others that you are addicted to or are just plain distracting. The fact that you cannot open or use it and that you will be able to choose which ones specifically to put in the focus mode will be an advantage over just turning off your phone or putting notifications on hold.
The specifics of how the Focus Mode will work wasn’t really detailed since the announcement was only an aside during the main Google presentation. But it should be interesting to see how they will implement it. Seeing how users are now more concerned with their digital well-being as well as with good productivity habits, it will probably be a hit with Android users as long as it’s convenient and not so complicated.
They did not give any specific date as to when Android Focus Mode will be available, although they did say this fall. We’ll probably hear more about it soon so we’ll let you know if anything comes up.
