A simple extension to keep you focused online
V2 updates!
- Custom time interval for distraction free mode
- Ability to turn off 'always on' mode
- Improved UI
-- Self Control --
A simple app to keep you focused online by blocking sites that you spend way too much time on.
Note that the app works by blocking patterns within the full url.
For example if you were to block the pattern "book"
the sites www.facebook.com and books.google.com would both be blocked.
Distraction free mode prevents you from removing block patterns from the app for a fixed amount of time. By default this is one hour, but it can be changed in settings. Note that you cannot set a time shorter than 20 min :p
By default the extension is always running. To change this so that the extension only runs when distraction free mode is enabled, toggle 'Always on' in settings to Off.
Latest reviews
- (2023-09-26) Daniel Lemon: Broken and out of date. The UI doesn't even fit in the little pop up window.
- (2023-09-25) Ashraful Rahman Sakil: It would be good if there was a crawling option, there are many problems if there is not. if it is static, if you input more sites, you will not be able to go down in any way. So the extension is Jose
- (2023-09-19) Emily: Seems like it hasn't been updated in a while, so there's some bugs. I can't change the hours slot, and the list of sites you've blocked doesn't let you scroll down to turn on self control, so you have to delete them, turn on self control, then manually add the sites back. It's a life saver for studying, so I put up with these buggy aspects but if I found a similar extension that works better I would go to that.
- (2023-07-28) Sara Wendelken: I love it. Just the tool i needed!
- (2023-06-02) no name: very good, but please allow to add more time in "Distraction free mode". like 7 days or month... at least more than one days...
- (2023-04-09) Ethan-Scott Hin: The "wildcard" blocking is absolutely fantastic - stopping me from even searching for distracting websites!
- (2023-04-07) BEAN!: I have been looking for a simple website blocker to stay focused on my tasks and this one definitely takes the cake. Great work.
- (2023-03-31) Divakar Ghosh: Extension works great, and serves the purpose. Everything comes down to some will power at the end, but this does a good job. There is one glaring UI flaw - if you add too many websites so that the restricted pattern list exceeds the size of the extension box, you cannot access the button to start the focus period, as there is no scroll functionality to scroll below. Secondly, some flexibility in adjusting the focus period, or patters similar to a Pomodoro timer would be nice.
- (2023-03-18) Jasper Fadden: Lifechanging extension. I've previously been using stayfocusd for the past 2 years to stay off distracting websites, but I quickly found a flaw in that extension that allows meesing around with inactive tabs by dragging another one into focus (allows full scrolling of sites like reddit and watching sites like youtube). I tried to shift to freedom, but they don't allow any wildcards or anything. This extension both blocks inactive tabs (making it pretty much impossible to get around), AND allows "wildcard" bloccking of specific prases in urls. I can block specific channels in youtube but not others (ex, allow a youtube playlist but nothing else), ealsily block all reddit mirrors, and all of this pushes me to avoid them cold turkey. It's wonderful, and it's really forced me to actually improve my life over the past week. Tip for people who try disabling or uninstalling the protection: You can make it impossible to install by messing with the registry to think its installed by an administrator (here's a website displaying an example: https://www.alphr.com/prevent-chrome-extensions-removed/). Do the process, restart your computer, and as long as you can't download any browsers (easily done by blocking their download urls!), you are pretty much completely stuck with this extension. The only issue I have is that the "Distraction Free Mode" (which just so you know, can be accessed with a large bock list by typing in random junk in the text field and not getting any results), only can last for a maximum of 24 hours. I'd really like to just prevent changes for more like 50 days, but putting the reset time in the night I don't tend to exploit it. Overall an absolutely amazing extension. With some slightly weird stuff happening to stayfocusd right now, I can't recommend it enough. It lacks a lot of fancy functionality (which I hope might be added in later updates), but it does what it needs to very well.
- (2022-10-07) Reece Harding: GREAT - at times it is not possible to start session if too many apps are added to ban list (MacBook Air)
- (2022-08-03) David Becerra: I love this extension to block my websites for as long as I want. I'll give it 5 stars if it had some scroll bar to put more than 6 websites there. If you put that many websites, you can't press the button to begin.
- (2022-06-19) Adil Mohammed: I cant change the hours slot but apart from that this is exactly what i was searching for
- (2022-04-18) ほしこ: its really nice but then could you change the quotes to custom ones that we can make ourself or choices to choose? aaaaaaand also make it work in the igconto mode please
- (2022-02-24) OgSwisszyed: The UI is really bad like really bad, once i put in few website that i don't want to get distracted it can't be scroll down to change or activate the damn thing, so i don't recomend it at all
- (2022-02-03) A D: This is just amazing and funny, every time I click on YouTube that banner pops up and makes me laugh like hell and encourages me to focus on my work, Thank you so so much , a life or should I say GRADE saver. 🙂🥳🥳🎓
- (2022-01-14) Edwin C: Useless. Once you add more than a few sites/words to block the 'active' button is no longer accessible. People have been asking for a scrollbar to be added for over a year. Clearly the developers have left the room. Don't bother.
- (2021-12-02) Mintoo: op!!!
- (2021-11-07) Ondrej Tepala: I really like this extension as it helped me multiple times during my study sessions, but I don't know how to scroll through all blocked sites when I open it in the right corner. Like I have blocked about 8 sites and every time I want to renew the blocking process I have to delete few of them, click the block button and then add them back... it's a waste of time ngl. Did anyone experience the same issues or is it just me? And any chance that some of you know how to solve this problem?
- (2021-10-21) Etta G: This extension has gotten me through so many semesters in school but now there's a glitch where the only the minutes, not the hours can be edited :(( Please fix this!! I love this extension but I can't use it anymore! I also would really appreciate a scroll bar, as everyone else has said.
- (2021-08-18) Cam Joyce: overall good extension, but you should be able to stop distraction-free mode short.
- (2021-07-09) João Vitor C.R.: pretty effective but a little cluncky
- (2021-07-03) Martin T: Interferes with google docs, says "Some fonts cannot be loaded." Otherwise Self Control has no timers for websites.
- (2021-06-30) Christopher Sandoval: i like it because it allows me to stay focused when working
- (2021-05-25) Anuradha Katyal: Does the job Unlike its contemporaries simple and easy to use..does the job well..
- (2021-05-14) Someone On The Internet: Was pretty hopeful that this would be my solution. I'm working on courses in Udemy and I get distracted by Facebook, YouTube and Reddit. I blocked those three and thought I was good until Udemy wouldn't load my videos. After I uninstalled the extension Udemy worked again. Not sure how it got included in the blocked sites but unless there is a way for me to flag it as okay then I guess this extension isn't for me.
- (2021-04-30) Rabigh Kamal: This extension is F-ing great. It really has helped me stop, or at least control, my procrastination to a reasonable level. Things I would add would be an option to block "From xx am to xx pm" rather than "block for xx hours xx min," if that makes sense. But other than that, I love this extension very much!
- (2021-04-22) Hugo Cheyne: To the developer - I love this extension and use this every day. You currently have a bug which no longer allows me to change the amount of time that I want to focus - the hours and minutes fields are visible, but stacked far too closely together (css problem?) and no longer editable.
- (2021-04-19) Offended Misandrist: I don't know if there's something wrong with this when using on Microsoft Edge but I can't scroll down to the settings if I have more than 6 patterns blocked. Maybe add a scroll feature or move the settings button towards the top? Other than that, I love the extension!
- (2021-04-01) Shark Aod: Extremely simple and effective. Does it job pretty well with no unnecessary steps. I liked it a lot.
- (2021-03-21) Alex Lim: This extension is great for controlling your digital work environment. I recommend, as one of the comments mentioned, allowing this extension to be used on incognito.
- (2021-03-09) Cindy Shi: Very useful, but I can't scroll up and down the list of blocked sites page which means after adding >5 sites to block I can't get to the distraction free mode at the bottom of the page. It would be better if the button was on top of something.
- (2021-03-08) Riya Juvatkar: good app but extend the time to days for distraction free mode
- (2021-02-24) Tony Yang: I can't stop watching anime and can never get my work done, but now I'm actually getting stuff done. Thanks.
- (2021-01-18) Derek Josh Reyes: The only feature that is missing and one of the most important feature is the uninstall protection, how can i even control myself if i have the power to uninstall this extension and do whatever i can do. pls add a feature like this.
- (2021-01-06) Alejandro Findikli: helpful for dealing with bad habits, I wish there was an option to make certain sites permanent and others on timed, but great app none the less.
- (2020-12-10) Jibran Ortega Alvarez: Es muy buena extension si se trata de quitar habitos aunque sea como del monton con el mismo nombre esta bien diseña XD
- (2020-12-01) Eshika Arya: Í like this app, however certain issues need to be worked upon: 1) If I add youtube as a block pattern, and if I'm using another website that uses youtube as an interface for its videos, the videos don't load. 2) I can only add a limited number of block patterns, if I add more than that, the "Distraction Free Mode" and "Settings" buttons aren't accessible.
- (2020-11-25) Mapping the Agora: It kind of works but poorly. You can only enter a max of 6 websites, otherwise the settings to turn it on and off are blocked. It's because the list gets longer but you can't scroll down on the screen to get to the settings. The settings are half cut off at 6 so if you want to see it fully you can only do 5. This means when I want to turn on the app, it sometimes turns it on only for an hour instead of indefinitely because I can only see half of the buttons. I had to remember what buttons are where to do it right, and it still means not all of my sites can be blocked. When you do more than 6, the ONLY way to turn on or off the app at that point is to delete some of your sites. This app needs to fix this problem or it's half useless.
- (2020-11-18) Genaro Rodriguez: me ha funcionado bien, pero no puedo activarlo después de agregar mas de 6 sitios, si pudiera le daría 5 estrellas
- (2020-11-14) Jhonny Barrios Sandrea: Esta extension me ha ayudado muchisimo a detener mi procrastinacion compulsiva y a poder enforcamre mas en mi trabajo, super recomendada
- (2020-09-17) Michael Robinson: Excellent!
- (2020-09-16) Souksan Nammachack: Set this to 10000 Hours and add all the sites you find yourself habitually typing into that search bar. Then go and achieve all those things you've been putting on "hold"...
- (2020-09-10) L: I cannot scroll down to activate it if I add too many things to the block list - if there were a work-around for this it would be great.
- (2020-08-25) Ț. Petrișor-Alexandru: The extension is very good, it helps me to avoid procrastination, avoiding social networks and others, exactly what I needed, now I can practice deep work and complete my requirements.
- (2020-08-06) Bleeker TV: Works great! However, there are a few drawbacks: 1) When the blocking is active and you shut down your computer, when you log back in, it will still be active. This is regardless of if the time has elapsed or not. Quite frustrating and has forced me to uninstall + reinstall it a couple of times. 2) I find that if I got to add any more than 5 block patterns, I can't access the block button. This means that you can only really have 5 block patterns at any given time.
- (2020-07-28) André-Philippe Chenail: Without a Scrollbar this is useless. Will change my review once this is added.
- (2020-07-21) Daniel Blais: Really useful! Only issue is that its lacking a 'scroll' mechanism for when the list grows too long, so it's difficult to press the 'start' button or see the settings.
- (2020-04-13) Diệu Hòa: it's good ^^
- (2020-03-13) J T: Great, clean, simple design. Love how distraction-free mode doesn't have an exit option--one click and you're committed.
- (2019-12-04) Figaro Monkey: I think it's better to use whitelist instead of block list.
Statistics
Installs
30,000
history
Category
Rating
4.0304 (230 votes)
Last update / version
2017-05-16 / 2.1.2
Listing languages
en