Train yourself to not use your phone while driving. There is absolutely no excuse for looking at your phone screen while you’re behind the wheel of a car. Focus will keep you in check.
Focus automatically starts up when you’re driving your car. If you pick up your phone and look at the screen, you’ll be gently reminded to put it down and focus on the road. If you’re stubborn and keep using your phone, Focus might get angry.
And you don’t want to make Focus angry…
What the app does
• Discourages you from using your phone whilst you’re driving.
• Sends an email report card for each trip to anyone you choose. Parents: are you listening? You get an email report summarizing exactly when your kids were using their phone while driving, and for how long, and how fast they were going. Keep them safe out there.
• Sends you a summary notification when you stop letting you know how you did on that trip.
• Remains completely invisible. Install it on your phone, set it up, and let it do its thing. It will run silently in the background.
• Automatically detects when you start driving. No “Start trip” and “End trip” buttons here.
• Engages passenger mode. If you’re not driving and you start to hear Focus remind you to put your phone down, give your phone a good shake. This will make Focus be quiet and mark it as “I wasn’t driving” for that trip.
• City folk: Stop yourself from using your phone while you’re walking too. Keep you eyes up crossing the street.
What the app doesn’t do
• Doesn’t block any phone functionality. There are always ways around that. The goal isn’t to make it harder to use your phone while you’re driving; it’s to make you want to not use your phone at all.
What about phone calls?
Focus is designed to discourage you from looking at your screen while driving. Talking on a phone call isn’t great either, but calls don’t count against you inside the app. The time you spend on phone calls while driving is tracked too, in case you’re curious.
Does using my GPS app count?
If you’re looking at your phone screen with the map displayed, yes. It doesn’t matter if you’re texting or trying to decipher a map of where you’re going; your eyes are still on your phone instead of the road.
The best thing to do is set up your directions before you pull out of your driveway and listen to Siri’s voice instructions. They’ll get you to your destination safely and your eyes can remain on the road.
What about using my phone at a red light?
Being stopped in traffic or at a red light is no excuse to be on your phone. You’re still behind the wheel of your car and should be paying attention to your surroundings. If you’re stopped at a light, Focus will keep reminding you to put down your phone.
Besides, how often does answering a text fit perfectly into the 27 seconds you’re stopped at a light? Never. You always start typing, the light turns green, and you hit the gas pedal and hurtle through the intersection while you keep typing away.
Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Focus has been designed to use GPS sparingly.
Stay safe,
~Kevin Holesh
[email protected]
Note to iPhone 4s and iPhone 5 owners: Focus might take a mile or so of driving to detect that you’ve actually started driving. Every other iPhone takes about 50 feet.