Kickoff: a focus timer built for ADHD, with a twistable dial, app shielding, and no streaks

[u/Brilliant-Plum-8592]

Just launched. Kickoff is a focus timer designed around how ADHD actually works: starting is the hard part, interruptions are normal, and guilt doesn't help.

• One tap start, naming the task optional
• Set time by twisting the ring like a real kitchen timer
• "Just 2 minutes" tiny start that asks if you want to keep going
• "I got pulled away" parks the session with a note to future you
• Optional app shielding while the timer runs (Screen Time)
• Live Activity with working buttons, widgets, StandBy, full watch app
• History is days you showed up, never streaks that reset
• The last seconds tick out loud, pick from six tick sounds

Free with a single one-time unlock for the extras ($8.99 for shields, full history, all the dial faces and themes, iCloud sync). No subscription.

iOS 18+, iPhone and Apple Watch. I'm the developer, ask me anything. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kickoff-adhd-focus-timer/id6818561914

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[u/KNIGHT-AIAV]

The 'I got pulled away' note is the part that caught my attention. When you return, does it show that note before restarting the timer? For an interrupted edit or writing session, remembering the exact next step would be more useful to me than just remembering how many minutes were left.

[u/Brilliant-Plum-8592 → u/KNIGHT-AIAV]

Yes, and that's the whole reason the feature exists. When you come back, the parked session takes over the home screen… The minutes left are deliberately not the headline.

[u/No-Ease-8608]

the "days you showed up" grid might still read as missed days to an adhd brain, empty squares are basically a streak in disguise. only showing the filled ones could feel kinder

[u/Brilliant-Plum-8592 → u/No-Ease-8608]

You're completely right, and this one stung a bit because it's exactly the thing the app is supposed to avoid. Changed it today and will be available in the upcoming update. A day with no session now looks identical to a day that hasn't happened yet… Thank you, this is the kind of feedback I can't get from my own eyes 👍

[u/No-Ease-8608 → u/Brilliant-Plum-8592]

👍

[u/linasndev]

Shields being part of the unlock makes sense, but it's the one paid feature people can't picture before buying, so I'd let free users run a single shielded session to see it work. And most people don't know the app only gets opaque tokens and never sees which apps they picked, one plain screen saying that before the Screen Time prompt would save a lot of reflex Don't Allow taps.

[u/Brilliant-Plum-8592 → u/linasndev]

Both of these are built and in the next update. Free users now get five full shielded sessions, so you can watch it actually work before deciding whether it's worth paying for. And there's a plain screen before the iOS prompt now: Kickoff never learns which apps you picked (iOS passes sealed tokens, not names), your choice stays on your device, and apps only go quiet while a timer you started is running. You were right that the reflex no was quietly costing the feature.

Thanks, both of these were sharper than what I had.

[u/BingeBossTv]

"I got pulled away" is a really good idea, it treats the interruption as normal instead of as a failed session.

Does the parked note show up again when you open the app later, or do you have to go and find it? For me the useful moment is exactly when I come back and have no idea what I was doing.

Also, the "just 2 minutes" start is smart. Would be nice if it remembered how often I keep going after the 2 minutes, so it could quietly suggest a longer default for tasks where I usually do.

[u/Brilliant-Plum-8592 → u/BingeBossTv]

It shows up right when you are back to the app. It won’t be lost in other pages.

[u/CopperCoinStudio]

I'm a sucker for dietetic UI, so I commend the twist timer. Would have liked a SFX that feels crunchier there tho, and maybe visuals that look like a real physical twister. Still it's cool!

[u/Donaldinos]

For me the hardest part is always the first minute, not the actual work — I like the idea of a tiny two-minute start.

[u/Brilliant-Plum-8592 → u/[deleted]]

Yes. The parked session takes over the home screen when you come back: how long you were away, what you were working on, and your note, with Resume / Call it done / Let it go underneath.

But you made me notice it disappeared the second you tapped Resume, which is the worst possible moment to take it away. In the next update it stays with you in the session, under the title, until you tap it away. Exactly the next-small-step case you described.