Focus Friend alternative for your computer: an honest comparison

Below you’ll find a side-by-side table, the places where Focus Friend is clearly better, the places where we’re simply different, and a plain list of what DeskTails can’t do yet. If you’re still deciding whether a focus pet suits you at all, our overview of how focus pet apps work is a good first stop.

Which should you use: Focus Friend or DeskTails?

Stay with Focus Friend if your biggest distraction is your iPhone. Its Deep Focus Mode locks distracting apps, and in October 2026 it holds a 4.8 rating and an Editors’ Choice badge. Try DeskTails if you work at a laptop or desktop, want your real pet on screen, and prefer no penalty for stopping early.

• Focus Friend suits you if you study or work with your phone nearby, enjoy decorating, like a gentle nudge of guilt from a sad bean, and want the lower Pro price.
• DeskTails suits you if your work happens in a browser, you’d rather see your own cat or dog, you want to focus alongside friends, or the sad bean makes you feel worse instead of more motivated.

Plenty of people will happily use both. We cover that combination near the end.

How do Focus Friend and DeskTails compare?

The table compares the two apps on eight points, using Focus Friend’s US App Store listing and our own product as of October 2026. Prices are as listed on the US App Store at the time of writing (October 2026) and may change, so check the listing before you buy.

Where is Focus Friend the better choice?

Focus Friend is better on the phone, and the phone is where many people lose the most time. Listed on the App Store as “Focus Friend, by Hank Green”, it is polished, rated 4.8 from roughly 9,200 ratings, and carries Apple’s Editors’ Choice badge. Those are real strengths, and we don’t have answers to all of them.

It can lock your distracting apps

Deep Focus Mode locks distracting apps while you work. If your focus breaks every time you pick up your phone, that is a direct fix, and a browser app can’t lock your phone for you.

The timer follows you to the lock screen

A Live Activity puts the timer on your lock screen, so you can glance at it without opening anything. It also includes Pomodoro-style breaks, which you can read more about in our step-by-step Pomodoro guide.

A huge decoration catalogue, and a cheaper Pro

Finished sessions earn socks and scarves that you spend on decorations for the bean’s rooms, and the listing counts them in the hundreds. Our shop has 9 items. Focus Friend Pro is also cheaper: $19.99 a year against our $35.88, and it offers a $39.99 lifetime option that we don’t.

How is DeskTails different?

DeskTails was built for the desk rather than the pocket. As of October 2026 it runs in any desktop browser, puts a photo of your own pet in the room, removes nothing when you stop early, and lets up to 4 people focus together. It is a different take on the same idea, not a replacement for every Focus Friend feature.

It lives on the computer you work on

There’s nothing to install from a store. The timer keeps correct time if you switch tabs or reload, syncs across tabs, and has a small pop-out window you can keep beside your work. If you’ve been searching for “Focus Friend for PC” or for desktop, this is the gap we fill.

Your own pet, not a mascot

You upload a photo of your cat or dog, and the background is removed right in your browser. The original photo never leaves your device; only the cutout is stored, privately. You can see your pet in a focus room without making an account, and nothing is uploaded in the preview.

No penalty for stopping

Some people love the sad bean. Others feel it as one more thing they failed at. In DeskTails, ending a session early costs nothing, and streaks have a one-day grace, so a missed day rests your streak instead of resetting it.

Focus with friends

Co-focus rooms let up to 4 people share a timer, each with their own pet at the desk. Joining with a room code works on a free account; hosting a room is a Pro feature. Working alongside someone is often called body doubling, and Understood.org notes there isn’t much research yet on whether it works, though many people find it useful. Our guide to body doubling covers how to try it.

Where DeskTails falls short

We’d rather you hear this from us than find out after signing up. As of October 2026, DeskTails has four real gaps compared with Focus Friend, and if any of them is a dealbreaker, Focus Friend is probably the better pick for you right now.

• No phone app. DeskTails is a web app for computers. There’s no iPhone or Android app.
• No ambient sounds. You get a soft chime at the end of each phase, nothing more. Bring your own music.
• No distraction blocking yet. A companion blocker extension for Chrome and Edge is on the way, but it isn’t in the Chrome Web Store today.
• A small shop. The Desk Shop has 9 room items (plants, lamps, rugs, furniture). The free plan includes 3 starter items; the full shop is Pro.

How do you choose the right focus friend alternative?

Start with where you lose focus, not with features. If 2 or 3 phone pickups wreck each hour, choose something that locks your phone, such as Focus Friend. If your distractions live in browser tabs, a desktop timer you can see beside your work will help more.

1. Name your main device. Phone-first study suits Focus Friend. Laptop-first work suits a browser app.
2. Check how guilt lands for you. If a sad character makes you try again, that’s a feature. If it makes you avoid the app, look for one with no penalty.
3. Decide how much decorating matters. A big catalogue keeps some people coming back for months. Others never open the shop.
4. Think about company. If you focus better with a friend or classmate, look for shared rooms.
5. Compare the real price. Both have free options. Look at what you’d actually pay per year, using our pricing page and the App Store listing.

Try each for a week of normal work before paying. Your own sessions will tell you more than any comparison table.

Can you use Focus Friend and DeskTails together?

Yes, and it’s a sensible setup. Put your phone in Focus Friend’s Deep Focus Mode so the 25-minute block isn’t broken by apps, and run the session on your computer in DeskTails with your pet beside your work. One guards the phone, the other keeps the desk company.

Match the timers so both end together: 25 minutes of focus and a 5-minute break is the DeskTails default, and you can change each duration from 1 to 180 minutes. The DeskTails help page explains how sessions, breaks and Treats work. You can also read more about DeskTails and how the focus room works.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Apple App Store, Focus Friend, by Hank Green (2026)
• Understood.org, Body doubling for ADHD: What it is and how it works (2023)