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Session — Pomodoro timer w/ distraction blocking, journal & analytics
Catalina and iOS 13.3++ only!
Start your momentum by focusing in 25-minutes session!
Session help you be more focused by blocking distracting website and more mindful by tracking your progress.
Your progress is shown in analytics for you to review!
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Replies
This is a great product and Philip is an awesome human. If you're looking for a focus timer to help you do calm, focused work, this is it! Nice work Philip!! 🚀🚀🚀
I was a beta tester for this product, I've not yet used in anger due to a lot of my work being on Windows at the moment but for a beta version of a product I was incredibly impressed with the quality!
@joelrunyon this is a good idea. I've talked to few users and can see that there are segments of people using calendar as a main tool to plan their day.
Would you say it's more beneficial to see your Calendar event on Session—or see your sessions in your calendar event?
@philipyoungg I want it written after-the-fact to gcal and then I can rate it using a tagging function that exists in something like Woven
@joelrunyon OK, so you want to see your Sessions on other calendar app right?
Session only works as logging mechanism for you to work.
Interesting. I'll think about it.
@philipyoungg No I mean - just log what the session was and create an event on gcal about it. The other apps will do the rest.
Hello Product Hunt!
I'm excited to release Session—a pomodoro timer app (work in 25-minutes chunk) with analytics.
Here's my thought process on why I made Session:
* I used pomodoro technique for over the past 5 years
* the offerings on the market are solid, but missing one thing: a way for me to reflect back and analyze where my time went by.
Based on that, I decided to made Session. Here are some "features" that I decided to implement:
* Every session has to have an intent. User have to write what they're working on before timer could start.
* Before timer starts, user will be prompted to breathe in and out once.
* Timer starts. Time to focus!
* Timer ends. Session will ask you what you have learned on this Session and whether you're distracted. It's optional. User can skip it.
* Later at the end of the day, you can analyze your progress.
Here's some benefit that I found while using Session:
* With providing intent, I worked with less distraction.
* If I ended up distracted, the reflection prompt at the end of Session gives me time to reflect. Instead of wasting hours meandering around, it'll be limited to 25 minutes max.
* I realize I didn't work as much as I expected to be. About 2-3 hours in, I'm exhausted. With that knowledge, I plan a long break after about 2 hours to re-energize my work Session later.
The app works fully on freemium. Pro features are sync between devices, dark mode, custom interval, and full analytics access.
It syncs between iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
Creating an account for now gives you 7 days free of Pro feature. Would love to know your honest thoughts!
Hey @philipyoungg ! Congrats on launching Session — one comment after downloading the Mac app:
Unfortunately, the interface is barely usable when using Dark Mode (both text and background are light gray / white. Is this something already on your radar?
@decu Thank you Teo!
1. Can you check on System Preferences > General > Appearance > Accent Color whether it's graphite (black)? If yes, change it to other color and see if the issue still exists. Or are you in BigSur? Both happens because of bug from macOS.
2. I would love to make it a one-time fee—but it's really proven unsustainable. Syncing need server—it needs to run 24/7 and not free. Ideally I want to make it one-time purchase with free update for a year. But that's not currently possible on Mac / iOS ecosystem.
I love Session. Logging activities and creating a visualisation of how a day has been spent is very natural. The overhead and admin required feels minimal, but at the end of the day I have a rich amount of data on what I've learnt and progressed on.
The integration between the mac app and the iPhone app works really well. I appreciate the visual and beautiful timer on the iPhone app - it disincentivizes me to pick up my phone when I'm reading a book or programming, and creates a visual cue on how much time left I've committed to concentrate for.
Finally, details matter - I love the little sounds this app makes, and the visual prompt to take a breath before starting on a new session. Highly recommend.
@nataliemarleny thank you Natalie 😭 you're one of the main reason that keep me going!
Hi Philip, I subscribed to the pro version, how do you activate dark mode on the iphone?
@lancescadden1 Thanks Lance! It's currently based on your phone system (dark mode / light mode). I'll put it on settings on next update (in few days!)
Let me know if you have any other questions.
@vlad_nekrutenko I've considered adding tagging & project, but afraid that I'll become a chore for user because it needs upkeep ("ah, I forgot to add tagging", "what was the tag for project X again?", etc).
I do want to add it in the future. Still researching a good UX that have minimal annoyances.
I'd consider buying this product only for a fixed price. I don't need sync or cloud features. I don't expect any support, unless it stops running (which I don't expect to happen often).
For this product and benefits it offers subscription is insanely expensive and completely unjustified. There are plenty of Pomodoro timers that offer 80% plus of what Session does, but for a fixed price and without claiming to be more what they actually are.
@new_user_0faf7c8f54 Hey, thank you for reaching back!
I did respond to negative and positive feedback—otherwise, I won't bother spending 30 minutes writing https://www.producthunt.com/post... to you—especially as your account looks like throwaway account (no identity, low activity). But I do believe you are genuinely a good person and you bother spending your time typing it, so I replied to you as best as I can.
Regarding how I deduce you didn't use the app:
> For this product and benefits it offers subscription is insanely expensive and completely unjustified. There are plenty of Pomodoro timers that offer 80% plus of what Session does, but for a fixed price and without claiming to be more what they actually are.
I assume you have only tried the free version and haven't tried the Pro one (because you said it's not worth it)? I feel that's not a fair assessment to give a review based on that.
Even if you tried the Pro—you might not be the target market and don't feel it ~brights~ bring (EDIT: typo) enough value to you. And that's okay.
Regarding the subscription business model. I've replied it so I don't feel I need to justify it further here.
Everyone has their unique needs. Session is a niche product. I'm not trying to please every potential target market and to be the solution for everyone.
Great to see Session on PH finally.
I have been an early user and it's been amazing to see Philip act on feedback and evolve the product so well. Would highly recommended Session :)
@asnim_p_ansari1 it's available on here https://www.stayinsession.com/pr...
Basically full analytics access, sync between devices, backup on cloud, dark mode, etc.
Otherwise, the Pomodoro timer part is free :)
Hey Philip, will be giving this one a shot. One thing though, it's really difficult to find it due to a generic name. I kept getting back to the Setapp website. Finally "session pomodoro timer with analytics" did it for me, but "session macOS", "session opmodoro timer" etc. didn't :)
@szymon_krzeminski Thank you Szymon! Yeah it's really hard to "win" in App Store Optimization. Lots of similar name. Having it generic is also not helpful.
Where are you located by the way?
@alexegiyan I agree. Just like you, I dislike subscription. But it's proven that one time purchase is not sustainable. I want to keep Session to be maintained. Not launch it and leave it. Without maintenance, app could break and crash on OS update. It's a bad experience to both developer and user.
I've addressed it on https://www.stayinsession.com/ FAQ if you want to read more.
@alexegiyan I fully agree. First, yeah, it's yet another subscription. Secondly, insanely expensive: a pomodoro timer for 30$/year or 48$/year if paying month-to-month.
@philipyoungg Philip, how about simply releasing a new major version every year and charging only for that.
The issue is simply that for 30$/year I would expect A LOT of development, regular new features, regular updates, bug fixes, implementation of user-requested features, etc. — which I'm pretty sure will not happen in this case. So I'm not sure why would anyone pay so much for such a limited functionality.
Again, no offence or anything. This is my view as a third-party/user.
@new_user_0faf7c8f54
Hey Anonymous—thanks for the feedback! I understand and will probably adjust the pricing depending situation. So far, about 25% of registered user happily paid monthly and yearly. So Session definitely deliver a value for those user. I'm not sure reducing price is the right strategy based on data. But again, price drop (or increase) are still possible in the future.
1. First of all, you don't need to pay anything to use the Pomodoro timer. It's free for everyone. While looks simple, I spent a lot of time making it with the best UX I could possibly made. And it's constantly improving as I listened to user feedback.
2. The paid version has Pro feature. And not everyone needs the pro feature. That's an important distinction.
3. As for development—there's a lot. I have not yet released public roadmap. But if timed, probably I will spend the next 2 years working on it full time and it's still not yet be "finished". Things like Calendar integration, tagging / project support, etc is in development.
$30/y is relative. Some perceive it expensive, other fair, and the other feels it's cheap. It depends whether it's useful or not for you.
One user use Session religiously and subscribe for a full year (after 14 days trial in the past) because it helps him to track how long he's working, document what he's working on, and review back those notes when he was in a meeting to remember what he has done. It also serve as a proof to his manager that he deserve a raise / promotion.
Session, for him, is valuable. It helps him avoid overworking, reflect back days when he got many distraction (and the "why" from notes), and giving him enough context on problem he worked on few days ago so he doesn't need to think about it from scratch.
If you're OK, I would love to chat with you and learn about your workflow more! Hit me up on t.me/stayinsession or philip@stayinsession.com
The fact that you "care" enough to send a message here makes me happy! It means you feel that it could potentially provide value for you but still not sure if it's worth it :)
Day One Journal