A Focus Friend alternative? Lampi doesn’t need a timer.
Focus Friend, by Hank Green, is a focus timer with an adorable bean that knits while you stay off your phone. Lampi is a pet too, but she keeps you company all day, not just during a session. Here are both, pros and cons.
Lampi and Focus Friend at a glance
| Lampi | Focus Friend | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A light pet that keeps you company all day and shines brighter the less you use your thief apps. | A focus timer with a companion, a Bean that knits while you focus. |
| How it works | You pick the apps and a gentle daily limit. No sessions to start: Lampi follows along on her own with Apple’s Screen Time. | You start the timer; finishing a session earns prizes to decorate the Bean’s house. It has Pomodoro-style breaks and a mode that blocks apps during the session. |
| If you slip | She takes a nap. If you open an app past your limit, she asks if you really want to go in; you can stop, breathe with her for 20 seconds or ask for 5 more minutes. She never gets sick or dies, and tomorrow starts fresh. | If you turn off the timer, the Bean will be “really really sad” (in the listing’s words) and drops the knitting. |
| What’s free | The important stuff: Lampi and her shield, the daily limit, expeditions and postcards, breathing with her and night mode. | Sessions with the Bean. The listing doesn’t say what Pro adds. |
| Paid | Lampi Plus, optional: $6.99/month or $49.99/year, with a 7-day trial on the yearly plan. | Pro: $3.99/month, $19.99/year or $39.99 lifetime. Individual beans from $2.99 to $5.99. |
| Where | iPhone. Android in private beta. | iPhone and Android. |
What Focus Friend does better
- Made for study and work sessions. The timer, Pomodoro breaks and the lock-screen Live Activity are built for focusing in blocks.
- A much-loved character. It won a 2025 App Store Award (Cultural Impact) and was Google Play’s best app of 2025. It has hundreds of decorations.
- Cheap Pro, with a lifetime option. $19.99 a year, or $39.99 once. Lampi has no one-time purchase.
What Lampi does differently
- All day, no buttons. Focus Friend works while its timer runs. Lampi follows your limit all day, even if you never open the app.
- It counts what steals your time. It only looks at the apps you pick, together, and lets you know halfway. It doesn’t measure whether you’re studying, but how much you scroll.
- No guilt. If you overdo it, Lampi doesn’t get sad: she takes a nap and wakes up tomorrow with all her light. Streaks have rest days.
- Her world grows every night. While she has light left, she goes on an expedition and comes back with a postcard, things and sometimes a creature friend: twenty places to discover.
Which one is right for you?
If timed study sessions are your thing, Focus Friend is wonderful. If the problem isn’t focusing for a while but the scrolling that slips through your day, that’s what Lampi is for. And you can use both.
Give Lampi a day
Pick your thief apps and a gentle limit. Tonight she might bring you her first postcard.
Download on the App Store Android: ask for the beta
Free on iPhone. On Android, Lampi is in private beta: write to us and we’ll invite you.
Sources
- Focus Friend on the App Store (US)
- Focus Friend on Google Play
- TechCrunch: Google Play’s best app of 2025
- Lampi on the App Store
Prices and features from the store listings, checked on October 18, 2026 (dollar prices are from the US store). They may change: if you spot something outdated or unfair, write to [email protected] and we’ll fix it. Focus Friend is a trademark of its owners; Lampi is not affiliated with them.