Forest: the focus app that grows virtual trees (and real ones too)

I opened my phone telling myself it would be quick.

“Just five minutes,” I said.

But like most days, five turned into fifteen. Slack needed a reply. Instagram had a few updates. My calendar reminded me of a meeting I almost forgot. By the time I looked back at the timer I had set inside the Forest app, it was already too late. The tree I had planted to represent my focus session had dried up. It wasn’t green or healthy. It was brown. Shrinking. Dead.

It was just a digital image, but it felt real.

Something about that withered little tree made me stop. I hadn’t missed a deadline or made a big mistake. I had simply lost the moment. And yet, it hit me in a way no productivity app ever had before. I didn’t fail at completing a to-do list that day. I failed to protect my own time. That felt worse.

Forest is different from all the other focus apps I’ve tried.

Yes, it helps you stay off your phone while working. But it doesn’t do it by nagging you or flooding you with graphs. Instead, it gives you something to care about: a tiny virtual tree.

• You plant it when you want to focus.

• Then you just leave your phone alone and do your task.

• As time passes, your tree starts to grow.

• If you get distracted and leave the app to check messages or scroll, the tree dies.

• No pop-ups. No alarms. Just the quiet disappointment of seeing something you could’ve nurtured go to waste.

But when you stay focused, really focused, something cool happens. Your tree grows. It becomes part of a little forest on your screen. Session by session, this forest becomes a visual record of your efforts. Not what you completed. But how present you stayed.

And that’s not even the best part.

Every time you complete a session, you earn something called leaf coins. A 10-minute session might give you 3 coins. A 25-minute session gives 9. The longer your focus, the bigger your reward. 

And when you save up 2,500 coins, you can use them to plant a real tree. Not just in the app. In the real world. Somewhere on this planet, your focused work ends with roots going into the ground.

By focusing on your own life, you contribute to the future of someone else’s environment. That’s not just rewarding. That’s powerful.

Forest doesn’t try to guilt you with charts or shouts. It uses quiet, simple visuals to reflect your effort back at you. Your attention becomes something living. That’s what makes it different. It makes you care.

And we need more of that. Our phones are loaded with distractions. Social media. Shopping alerts. News that never stops. It’s harder than ever to stay still and think, to let one task have your full attention. Forest doesn’t just help you get things done. It reminds you that your time is alive and when you focus, good things can grow.

The best part?

These tiny digital trees slowly turn into something real. A child might one day find shade under the tree you helped plant. A farmer might rely on its fruit. The world doesn’t just need more focus. It needs more trees too.

And all you need to do is stay in the moment and focus.