Freedom
Cross-device sessions, scheduling, locked mode, and a premium/lifetime ladder. Lesson: breadth sells, but it is expensive to build first.
competitor study
Successful blockers prove one thing: strength matters.
Freedom wins on cross-device breadth. Cold Turkey wins on strictness. SelfControl proves the hard Mac timer. Opal and ScreenZen prove habit polish. FocusLatch starts where those lessons overlap: a Mac-first lock you voluntarily start and cannot casually undo.
market pattern
The winners are not just prettier timers.
Cold Turkey
Desktop-first, tough-to-bypass, one-time Pro, allowances and lock types. Lesson: strictness is a buyer feature, not a bug.
SelfControl
Free Mac timer that keeps blocking even after restart or app deletion. Lesson: the hard timer is the beachhead.
Opal
Polished consumer brand, score, rewards, ratings, high subscription/lifetime pricing. Lesson: habit feedback improves retention.
ScreenZen
Delay, limited unlocks, schedules, donation-supported growth. Lesson: friction beats brute force for daily use.
one sec
Science-backed interruption and habit change. Lesson: explain the psychology, not just the blocklist.
focuslatch wedge
Do less than the giants, but make the lock feel inevitable.
FocusLatch should not start as a generic wellbeing app or cross-platform dashboard. It should first prove the one pain people pay for: when they decide to block a site, their distracted self cannot instantly reverse it.
Build order
- Hard Mac sessionSurvives app quit and browser switch.
- Preset UXOne tap for repeated blocks.
- Budget frictionLimited unlocks and delays for controlled access.
- Recovery-safe supportStrong without being reckless.
founding direction
Mac-first. Strong lock. Honest alpha.
No fake cross-platform claims. No “unbreakable” claim until the helper proves it.