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YouTuber Hank Green’s new app Focus Friend has surged to No. 1 on Apple’s free app chart this week, surpassing AI titan ChatGPT, as well as Google and Threads.
“This doesn’t seem possible,” the 45-year-old longtime content creator, famous for his educational videos and Vlogbrothers channel, captioned a TikTok featuring a screenshot of the accomplishment on Wednesday.
With over 100,000 downloads on Google Play, the ADHD-friendly focus timer app is designed to help users reclaim their attention in a playful, guilt-free way. The app blocks distractions and gamifies productivity through a customizable, smiley “bean” character that knits rewards when tasks are completed.
When users stay focused for the full timer, their bean, which can have personalized monikers, completes its knitting project. But if users check their phone midway, the bean loses focus and drops its needles. The longer users concentrate, the more socks or scarves their bean produces, which can then be traded for decorations to customize the bean’s room.
Amid a surge of AI-generated content and endless doomscrolling, Green’s app encourages healthier screen time with a Tamagotchi-style bean companion. The project began as a passion idea and was developed with Bria Sullivan, creator of Boba Story, a shop simulation game where players make strawberry bubble tea and help a forest spirit named Joji rebuild their shop.
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Hank Green’s app Focus Friend topped app stores this week after its July launch (TikTok/@ hankgreen1/Focus Friend)
Focus Friend launched in July, but exploded in popularity this week when Green and his brother, popular young adult author John Green, ramped up social media posts about it to their millions of followers.
“It’s about letting people be in control of their attention, not selling their attention to someone else,” Hank Green said in a TikTok on Monday, while John Green appeared in a Vlogbrothers video titled “The Problem with My Brother’s Hit New App” on Tuesday.
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The app features a bean character that knits socks and scarves, but halts its progress if users get back on their phones (TikTok/@hankgreen1)
The brothers started making YouTube videos in 2007. In 2012, they launched the educational Crash Course channel on the platform, now with over 16 million subscribers, and co-founded VidCon in 2010, the annual creator and fan convention in Anaheim.
Hank Green also has over 2.47 million subscribers on his solo YouTube Channel.