Focusmate Arvostelua 291

I has made more more committed to my plans.
Totally changed my working style.

It's great having the accountability to keep on tasks and to speak your goals out aloud to your focus partner and then review your progress at the end. Highly recommend!

It's revolutionary, making focusing on tasks easier than ever.

This is an amazing platform and I have had great experiences with it. I hope the community stays the way it does because it has really helped me to focus and stay on track. The customer service has also been amazing - fast responses and really helpful. They even offer scholarships to students.

Perfectly simple interface! This peer accountability to my own goals/tasks is incredibly helpful. I'm now aware of the need to develop my own discipline :-)

I really appreciate the accountability of focusmate, that I start out stating my goal for the session and then have to report in at the end of what I actually accomplished. It helps me to understand realistically how long things take me and also gives me just enough time and competition to push myself to get things done. I use it for when I really don’t have motivation to get grading done.

It is an amazing platform; It has totally changed my way of working. I've been working remotely for a while and it has helped me a lot to concentrate, also to pursue short goals.
I have also met people doing very interesting things, or with interests similar to mine, such as writing. The premium version is totally worth it.

Totally legitimate and well-run business.

Love the product, really helpful to get things done.

I love Focusmate. I struggle really hard with monotonous tasks which is really inconvenient if you’re a PhD and need to analyse data. Focusmate has helped me stay on task and gotten me way more consistent progress than I’ve had in a long while.

Miracle for the adhd

This system is really helpful, whether it is to get started on a procrastinated task, or to keep focused. Total game changer for me. I have Focusmate plus, totally worth it. (I am on my 102th session).
The users are nice and positive.
Thanks a lot to everyone who made this happen!

After completing over 10,000 sessions on Focusmate and being a long-standing, highly engaged member of the community, I was permanently banned in a way that raises serious concerns about fairness, transparency, and proportionality.

Personal context:
I'm from Ukraine, living 40km away from the frontline.
Throughout 2024-2025, Focusmate was not just a productivity tool for me - it was a lifeline.

Even during air rail alarms, missile attacks, and frequent blackouts, I kept working, stayed connected to the community, and completed sessions.

Being permanently removed from the platform without a proper conversation feels not only disproportionate, but deeply dehumanizing.

The ban appears to have originated from a report by a user named K******a, who believed that something I said at the end of our session was “sexual in nature.” In reality, all I said was:

“Thank you for the session, K********a (name is hidden for privacy reasons). Good luck, and see you again.”

She showed visible frustration, and later I found out she had blocked me. I was never informed of what exactly caused concern. There was no further communication or clarification, and no complaint came from the user whose profile I briefly viewed afterward — no interaction occurred at all.

Shortly after, I was judged not for direct harm, but based on behavioral assumptions.
The decision was made based on perceived “patterns of behavior” — not on actual damage to other users.
It was rooted in internal bias, personal interpretation, and the subjective judgment of a very small support team — reportedly just two people — responsible for reviewing all cases on the platform. This means that case review depends entirely on the worldview, assumptions, and predispositions of a tiny moderation staff.
This is a dangerous precedent.

Roughly a month later, I created a new account for five minutes, solely to check a profile, then logged out. No session, no messaging, no harm. I acknowledged that this was a violation and expressed willingness to continue in full compliance with the rules.

Still, I was permanently banned — despite:

No active violation ongoing at the time of enforcement. The alternate account had already been deleted. There was no concurrent or disruptive use.

Sanction imposed was not clearly defined. While the creation of multiple accounts was noted as a violation in a prior message from support, permanent bans for such cases are not listed in the Terms of Use or community guidelines.
(Archived rules reference - web.archive.org/ web/20250423004430/https://www. focusmate. com/community/ )

The rule was applied in the context of a misinterpreted situation. The prior incident (which involved no contact, no harm, no report from the person I viewed) appears to have influenced the decision — even though it was based on subjective perception.

The enforcement feels situational and tendentious. The policy was applied in a way that suggests personal interpretation, not a universal moderation standard.
No appeal mechanism or real opportunity to clarify.
The ban was final and absolute.
A single vague message beforehand offered no meaningful path to dialogue, defense, or reconsideration.

Disproportional response to an acknowledged mistake. No user was harmed, no message was sent, no misconduct was proven.

No evidence of damage was ever provided. Everything the platform can point to is a technical violation — not a harm-based moderation issue.

Responsibility cannot be shifted to “policy” when consequences like this aren’t publicly outlined.

Neglecting resource limitations does not justify injustice. Even if internal resources are limited, the burden of unjustified enforcement does not shift to the user. Responsibility for weak moderation procedures rests solely with the platform. Insufficient capacity is no excuse for issuing irreversible and ungrounded sanctions.

Focusmate promotes values like accountability, consistency, and community. But in my case, those values were not reflected in how the situation was handled.

That said — I still believe the platform has value. I genuinely liked using Focusmate. It helped me structure my time and improve my focus.
But these moderation gaps are serious, and they undermine everything that makes the platform worth using.
I still hope to be unbanned — and to return, under fair terms, with full respect for the rules.

UPD: 26.04.2025. Comment on a message from Focusmate team on 24.04.2025. Link to post on Medium (can't post here, limit for symbols (remove spaces in the link)): https: //tinyurl. com/ jxrf43m9

UPD: 30.04.2025. Comment on an official Focusmate reply: https :// tinyurl.com/ 4m4rtyaa

Focusmate really helps me to focus on the important things when it's difficult. I sometimes get distracted by less important tasks, but when I'm on a Focusmate session, the accountability of another person keeps me focused on the task I said I would at the beginning of the call. It's a lifesaver!

This app was the best thing that happened to my executive functioning, can totally recommend it to whomever wants to work on their goals and make their experience have a smoother start ^^

Focusmate has really helped me stay focused and stop procrastinating. Just having someone else there makes a huge difference. It’s easy to use, the community is friendly, and it’s become a key part of my daily routine. Highly recommend if you struggle with motivation or working alone.

This is a lifesaver. I consider myself having strong willpower, but, man this is the extra mile. You need to COMMIT to try it, don't waste your life. You can choose a short 25 min option, and it changes your life. I was doing the 50 min option for some time, and then discovered this option, and there really IS such as thing as buddy-backed mental power.

The body doubling that this service offers paired with a proper scheduling practice is the absolute best! My accountability has improved 100%. Thank you.