Flow - Focus & Pomodoro Timer 4+

A Fantastic Little Pomodoro Timer

I am obsessed with productivity and as a PhD student, I am always trying to get a sense of how much time I spend on a variety of tasks. There are plenty of Pomodoro timers out there, they all have some positives and negatives, but this one is perhaps the most sleek one I have used on macOS. The features are fantastic on this app e.g. site blocking while you are in your flow and the notifications you receive from the app are so lovely. Yes, who would have thought notifications could be so kind and lovely to read!

While there are a number of features still being released, the app is fantastic in both the free and pro versions currently. Also, there is a full list of incoming features on their website and I would encourage you to take a look at the great plans they have inbound. I paid for the pro version because, quite frankly, this app is worth it and the support team are lovely and polite. It’s well worth your time to download this app and give it a go. If you feel the app is worth it then pay for the pro version and support the developer. In the world we live in right now we can all support each other a little more. I would recommend the lifetime tier as it’s the best value for money. Overall, it’s a great little product that shows great promise.

I now love to be interrupted

Does exactly what it says it does, and really nicely. I love that they call work periods 'Flow', the break reminders aren't overly invasive so you get the chance to finish up a sentence/task before starting the break, and the reminder noise is really pleasant too (it's the small things that make the difference).

The design is nice too, so the whole app is a pleasure to use. Exactly what I needed to give me gentle reminders to take breaks and not overwork.

I do think it would be even better if there was an option to amend how many flow cycles you had before starting a longer break, and even amending the length of each break and flow time individually.

Simple and works for me (with other apps)

I use OmniFocus as my task manager and Outlook and Spark for work and home email respectively.

While I’ve tried other (more feature rich) Pomodoro timers, the simplicity of Flow makes it the app I come back to.

I forward task based emails to my OmniFocus in box and send reminders (via Siri on an Apple Watch) to the same inbox.

My first Pom of the day (using Flow as my 25 minute timer) is to review this inbox, file the tasks appropriately and set priorities for the day with up to five flagged tasks.

I then make myself a quick drink (so away from screens) in my first break, then kick off my second Flow Pom of the day to knock off any quick tasks and respond to emails.

After another quick break (ok, a wee after that large glass of water earlier), I work through the rest of the priority tasks in OmniFocus. Knowing each Flow Pom is just 25mins means that I can happily ignore emails coming in.

I block out Poms in Outlook around other meetings/stand ups/client calls, other people know when I’m not available.

Why just 4 out of 5 stars? Really just minor things, feature requests.

I would like Flow to pick up tasks from either OmniFocus or Reminders, so I don’t have to change the Pom title each time.

I would also like to be able to finish, stop a Pom before the 25mins is up.

I would like the desktop widget to show the timer, not stats or quotes.

Developer Response ,

Hey! Thank you so much for your detailed review! We're thrilled to hear that you like Flow's. Your workflow sounds amazing!

We really appreciate your feedback! Integrating third-party productivity apps is on our list of future features.

You can finish a Pomodoro even before the 25 minutes are up by using the arrows next to the cycle indicator (or by resetting the entire cycle). The time you have worked until then will be saved in the statistics when you use these controls.

We'd love to display the timer in the widget, but unfortunately widgets are not designed to display real-time information. Widgets are intended for static information, i.e. the system limits when and how often the app can update the widget. A timer with auto-start options like Flow is not suitable here and would quickly lead to an outdated timer widget and confuse the user. However, we'd like to add this in the future and are keeping an eye on changes in Apple's SDK. With our last update we've added a mini mode for the Flow window. Maybe that's something you're looking for as well.

Thanks again for your review and feedback! If you need anything else, feel free to contact us at support@flow.app.

— Lea from the development team 💚