FocusOrElse

Preliminary Dashboard Page
AI Predictions for Productivity
Settings Page
Preferences Page

Inspiration

As computer science students, we've become experts in one thing: procrastination. Between assignments, side projects, and deadlines that always seem closer than they should be, we found ourselves cycling between intense productivity bursts and last-minute all-nighters. We wanted to turn that shared struggle into something useful (and a bit judgmental in a motivating way). That's how FocusOrElse was born, a productivity app that lightly pressures you into getting your life together and staying on task, before it's too late.

What it does

FocusOrElse helps users stay on task by combining timers, structured work sessions, and gentile accountability nudges. If you don't... the app gets progressively more passive-aggressive until you return to focusing on your task. It also includes check-ins, break reminders, and focus sessions designed to reduce doom-scrolling and task switching.

How we built it

We built FocusOrElse using a techstack of React, Typescript, TailwindCSS, and Figma.

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud that we built a system that reacts to user behavior in real time and feels interactive instead of static. Most of all, we like how the combination of personality, effectiveness, and ease of use meshed together.

What we learned

What's next for FocusOrElse

Next, we would want to personalize the accountability system further using user patters and adding deeper analytics, gamification elements, and potentially social accountability features so friends can witness your questionable time management in real time.