I’ve always found beans fascinating. Hank Green is leveraging that fascination to encourage me to reduce my screen time.

Green, recognized for managing various projects, recently introduced Focus Friend. It has quickly risen to be the leading free app on the App Store, outpacing ChatGPT, and has accumulated over 100,000 downloads on the Google Play Store. The idea is straightforward: avoid your phone, and the bean creates a sock, which you can use to embellish the bean’s residence. It’s akin to cozy gaming yet demands minimal gaming time.

“It’s an app that places a bean in your phone. And the bean genuinely wants to dedicate more time to knitting,” he shared in a TikTok clip on Monday. “You can concentrate for a specific duration, which allows the bean to produce socks or scarves, and you can exchange those socks or scarves for additional furnishings in the bean’s space.”

While the game is complimentary, there are optional in-app purchases. For a minor cost, your bean can transform into a cat bean or a coffee bean instead of the standard pinto bean, or it can knit scarves rather than socks, which hold a greater worth. Users have asked for more free characters, but Green defends the in-app purchases as the app remains ad-free, and these purchases do not improve the app’s functionality; they merely provide more customization options. He noted that he and the developer, an indie app maker named Bria, had discussed potentially including ads, as it might be very lucrative and expedite app enhancement.

“The app aims to reclaim people’s time. It’s about empowering individuals to manage their focus, not trading their attention to others,” he mentioned in a separate TikTok video. “So we resolved to create a no-cost app without ads, which necessitates in-app purchases. And that doesn’t compromise the app.”

In general, users appear pleased with this methodology.

“I adore the app!!! This is persuading me to opt for the paid version. Thank you for bringing it to life!” one user remarked.

“The absence of ads is what motivated me to download it. Thank you!” another user noted.

Of course, not every user is entirely content with every feature of the app. For instance, @lucieeatsatl has a concern regarding the currencies. “The standard currencies are socks and the premium currencies are scarves,” she stated in a TikTok video that garnered over 66,000 views. “However, as a knitter, it seems apparent that they should be reversed. Socks are typically regarded as a more challenging project than scarves.”

Lightheartedly, this app is quite fun. I cherish my bean and want to give him a cozy abode.