A focus app for ADHD that starts the task for you
The hard part is not the work. It is opening a list of 40 things and picking one. Focus5 picks for you and starts the timer, so there is nothing to decide.
You know what you have to do. You have known all morning. The list is right there and you have read it four times, and you still have not opened any of it. That is task paralysis, and it is not laziness. It is a choice you are being asked to make before you have started anything, over and over, out of 40 options.
Most to-do apps make that moment worse, because holding more is what they are built for. The longer you use one, the longer the list, and the longer the list, the more expensive the choosing. Then they hand you projects, tags, filters and priority flags, and you can spend an entire morning tidying a system instead of doing a task in it. It looks like work. It even feels like work.
Focus5 is built the other way round. It holds everything you throw at it, and then it only ever shows you one thing.
How Focus5 works when you cannot start
Put everything in, without sorting it
Add as many tasks as you want. There is no limit and nothing to file. Brain Dump lets you talk instead of type, and it turns what you said into real tasks with dates on them, so the getting-it-out-of-your-head part does not need any energy either.
Open Focus instead of reading the list
This is the part that matters. You do not open a list and pick. Focus puts one task on screen with the timer already running, and it chose that task for you: today first, then anything still open from before, then what is coming up.
Work on the one thing in front of you
One task, one clock, nothing else on screen. The other 40 things still exist and you cannot see any of them, which is the whole point. Five stay in view at a time so you know the day has a shape, and the rest waits.
Not that one? Push it down and keep going
Later moves a task to the bottom of the queue and hands you the next one. Nothing nags you about it and skipping costs you nothing. The cost of not wanting to do something is one tap, not an argument with your own app.
Finish one and the next one arrives
Tick it off and the next task slides in with the timer running again. You never go back to a list, so there is never a second moment where you have to choose. Most days that is the difference between starting and not starting.
Why a normal to-do list app makes it harder
A list is a good way to remember things and a bad way to start them. Every open item on screen is a small unfinished argument, and reading all of them costs you something before you have done anything at all. On a bad day you read the list, feel worse, and close it.
The apps that try to fix this usually add another layer: a filtered view, a today list, a priority score. You still have to open it, read it and choose from it, so the expensive moment is still there. It is just better organised.
Focus5 does not give you a filtered list. It gives you the next task and a running clock, and it works out the order itself: today first, then whatever is still open from before, then what is coming. You are working inside two minutes and you have not decided anything.
What happens on a bad day
Later moves a task down and the next one arrives. There is no badge for skipping, no lecture, and nothing you have to explain to your own app.
There is a day streak, in Insights, and it is built to survive a bad day: one missed day is forgiven instead of resetting you to zero, and a day where you have not finished anything yet counts as neutral rather than broken. It is there to show you a habit, not to hold something over you.
Work you do not finish is not deleted, and it is not quietly re-dated to tomorrow either. It keeps the day it was due and shows up under Overdue, and Focus puts still-open overdue work right after today, so it comes back near the front of the queue instead of sinking. Overdue dates are shown in red, because a date that has passed is a fact worth seeing. Anything older than a week moves into Earlier so the top of your list stays readable.
I built it that way because I have quit enough apps that started scolding me in week two. A tool you avoid opening is worse than no tool.
An honest note about ADHD
I am not a doctor and Focus5 is not a treatment. It has not been tested by anyone and it does not diagnose anything. It is a task app I built for myself, out of a method I used in a paper diary for almost five years.
What it does is remove the choosing. If the choosing is your problem, this will probably help, and you can find that out in seven days without paying. If your problem is something else, an app is not the answer and I would rather say so. Here is the method behind it, which works on paper and costs nothing.
What it costs
Every feature is unlocked for the first 7 days, with no card. After that Today, Agenda, Calendar and 2 books stay free with no time limit, and nothing you wrote is deleted. Focus mode and its timer, Brain Dump and Insights are the paid part.
The paid version is $29 once. There is no monthly plan and there will not be one. Full pricing is here.
Questions about Focus5 and ADHD
Is Focus5 an ADHD app?
Focus5 is a task app. It is not a treatment, it is not medical, and I am not a doctor. What it does is remove the choosing: you open Focus and the next task is already on screen with the timer running. People who stall at the choosing tend to get on with a lot of it, which is why this page exists.
What is task paralysis?
It is when you have plenty to do, you know it matters, and you still cannot start. Usually there is a list involved and the list is long. The work is not the hard part. Picking which one to open is the hard part, and a longer list makes it worse.
Why does a normal to-do list app make it worse?
Because it shows you everything. A screen with 40 open items on it asks you to compare 40 things and choose one, first thing, before you have started anything. Most apps then add projects, labels, filters and priorities, so there is a whole second job available that looks like work and is not.
Does Focus5 limit how many tasks I can add?
No. Add as many as you like, and it never stops you. The 5 is how many Focus keeps in view at a time so you are not staring at all of them. Finish one and the next comes in from your backlog.
Is there a free ADHD task app version?
Every feature is unlocked for your first 7 days, with no card. After that Today, Agenda, Calendar and 2 books stay free with no time limit, and nothing you wrote is deleted. Focus mode, Brain Dump and Insights are the paid part.
What if I do not want to do the task it gives me?
Tap Later. It drops to the bottom of the queue and the next task comes up. No badge, no lecture, and nothing you have to justify. A day where you moved three things and finished two is a normal day.
Does Focus5 have streaks?
There is a day streak in Insights, and it is built to survive a bad day. One missed day is forgiven rather than resetting you to zero, and a day where you have not finished anything yet counts as neutral, not broken. It is there to show you a habit, not to hold something over you.
What happens to a task I do not finish?
It stays exactly where it is. Focus5 does not re-date it to tomorrow and does not delete it. It shows up under Overdue, grouped by the day it was actually due, and Focus puts still-open overdue work right after today, so it comes back near the front of the queue rather than sinking. Anything older than a week moves into Earlier so the top of your list stays readable.
Can I add tasks by talking instead of typing?
Yes. Brain Dump takes what you say, pulls the tasks out of it, dates them and files them into the right book. It is for the days when writing a list is itself the thing you cannot start.
Does it work on Android and on a laptop?
Both. Focus5 is on Google Play for Android and runs in any desktop browser at focus.shipkaro.dev/app. One account, same tasks, and they sync. iPhone is next.
Compare Focus5 with other apps
Focus5 vs Sunsama
Sunsama costs $204 a year and connects to 21 other tools. Focus5 costs $29 once and shows you 5 tasks at a time, one at a time, in the right order.
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Focus5 vs Todoist
Todoist organises your whole list from $5 a month. Focus5 costs $29 once and shows you 5 tasks at a time so you never decide what to do next.
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Focus5 vs TickTick
Both apps have a focus timer. TickTick costs $35.99 a year and leaves you to choose what to work on. Focus5 costs $29 once and chooses for you.
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Focus5 vs Motion
Motion uses AI to build your calendar, from $19 per person a month. Focus5 costs $29 once and just queues your tasks in order, 5 on screen at a time.
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Focus5 vs Things 3
Neither app charges a subscription. Things 3 is Apple only and costs up to $79.97 across devices. Focus5 is $29 once for every device, with a focus queue Things does not have.
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Focus5 vs Notion
Notion makes you build your own task system. Focus5 gives you one you cannot change, and a Focus mode that decides what you do next.
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Focus5 vs Microsoft To Do
Microsoft To Do is free and syncs with Outlook. Focus5 costs $29 once and adds a Focus mode that queues your tasks and times them.
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Focus5 vs Google Tasks
Google Tasks is free and sits inside Gmail. Focus5 costs $29 once and adds a Focus mode that picks your next task and times it.
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Focus5 vs Trello
Trello shows all your work on a board at once. Focus5 shows 5 at a time and one on screen, in an order it picks for you.
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Focus5 vs ClickUp
ClickUp runs a whole company’s work. Focus5 runs your next hour: it picks the next task and starts the timer.
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Focus5 vs Superlist
Both apps let you add tasks by talking. Superlist is $59 a year. Focus5 is $29 once and adds a Focus mode that queues them and times them.
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