Focusmate has been great. A few suggestions for future features from what I see people need:
1. A way to let people easily see what you are currently working on would be very helpful in helping people doing similar tasks find each other. Some tasks, it matters quite a bit to some people that they have some similarities, such as in the rise and fall group, or maybe in exercising, or working on a long-term thesis, etc. In any case, it's nice to put it down and therefore the person themselves has clarity on what they are working on next.
2. More than one focusmate partner at a time. Therefore if one didn't show up (happened to me this morning and I waited 20 minutes) another one may be there. Additionally, there are popular days my partners would like to get together with me and I am only one person. Some activities can work really well with more than one.
3. Speaking of videos, I bought a small laptop to be able to have a device I could use the share screen feature on in Focusmate as it doesn't exist on the phone or tablet. I think it would be great to have that feature although of course now that I have my laptop it's no longer a top feature to have for me but I'm sure others would love it. ;>
4. Focusmate didn't really work for me until I found the right partners and now it's an invaluable tool to help me with the habit of getting up earlier and to wind down at night along with the usual to get tasks done during the day done although I use if for that the least due to shyness and cancellations.
I came very close to giving up on Focusmate because it felt strange to work with strangers and I would get rematched at the last minute or canceled after I had tken the time to read the person's profile to get familiar with them and was looking forward to working with them. I later found out the cancelling and rematching could have been because some favorite of theirs locked in the session at the last minute. But as a newbie that was very confusing and unhelpful to be canceled on last minute. But I digress.
My main ask is to think of how someone can find partners that are the right fit for them. Body doubling is very useful but it can be super powerful if the partner is a great match and meeting them is done on a regular basis. If Focusmate can have some kind of feature integrated to the app that helps people find others with similar needs it would really be helpful. I finally after being very close to giving up on Focusmate decided to post something on a facebook group for exactly what I needed and that made all the difference. It would be nice if that partner search could be incorporated as an integral part of Focusmate.
5. Lastly, can there be a blur feature? Where the person can see you are there but barely? There are people who like to go off screen for privacy and I'm thinking maybe a blur feature instead would be helpful? I'm thinking in the cases where they are eating something and don't want nosh in someone's face. Or other situations ...
Something your team can brainstorm? I am not sure how to deal with it (maybe show quarter screen? lol) but I know it's a need and something that would be helpful because some people would just go off camera and that's not super helpful to the partner.
Thanks!
I love the free 3 times a week that is great for people trying it out. Thank you for implementing this great application.
