Flip Your Phone to Start the Timer

Starting is the hardest part of focused work. You open the timer app, and before you press start you notice a notification, check it, and ten minutes later you are still not working. The tool meant to start your focus became the first distraction.

Flip Focus removes that step. You flip your phone to start the timer: choose a session, place the phone face down on your desk, and the countdown begins on its own. There is no start button to press, and the screen you would have been tempted by is now facing the table.

How flip to start works

1. Choose a session. Pick a ready-made session, such as Pomodoro or Deep Work, or one you made yourself.
2. Turn the phone over. Place it face down on a desk, table or any flat surface.
3. The timer starts. Once the phone has settled face down, the session begins. Nothing else to tap.
4. Leave it there. The session counts only while the phone stays face down.

The same movement that starts the session also hides the screen. You can’t scroll a phone that is lying on its face, and you don’t see the notifications that would pull you back in.

Why a physical ritual helps you start

Many people who do deep work use a small, repeated action to mark the start: making a coffee, putting on headphones, closing the door. The action itself is not important. What matters is that it is the same every time, so it becomes a clear line between “about to work” and “working”.

Flipping the phone is that kind of line. It is quick, physical and visible. You can see the phone lying face down on the desk, and you know what it means. Pressing a button on a screen is easy to do while half your attention is still on something else. Turning the whole phone over is a deliberate act.

It also puts the phone in the right place. A phone face down on the desk is out of the way but still there if someone calls. You don’t need another drawer, box or room to make the session work.

How the phone knows it is face down

Flip Focus uses the phone’s accelerometer, the sensor that knows which way is down. When the screen faces the surface and the phone stops moving, the app counts it as face down. It waits for the phone to be still for about half a second before the session counts, so the moment you put it down isn’t mistaken for anything else. Because it needs the phone still, a knock on the desk or the phone vibrating can pause the timer for a moment. It resumes on its own once the phone settles, and silencing the phone keeps vibrations from interrupting.

Flip Focus does not use the proximity sensor, the one that turns the screen off during a call. That sensor is built to detect skin close to the screen, and it is unreliable on a desk. The accelerometer works on wood, glass, a notebook or a table at a café.

What happens when you pick it up

Flip to start has a partner feature, auto-pause. If you lift the phone during a session, the timer pauses and asks you to put it back. Time only counts while the phone is face down, so the minutes in your history are real minutes away from the screen. Put it back down and the session continues.

You can also turn on app blocking, so the phone blocks every app except the ones you allow while the session runs.

What flip to start does not do

• It needs a surface. The phone has to lie face down and still, so it is not designed for focusing with the phone in a pocket or bag.
• It only works on your phone. Flip Focus does not block your computer, browser or websites.
• It doesn’t lock you in. You can end a session early, but it takes a deliberate moment: copy a short passage, then hold a button.

Questions about setup? See Help & support, or get Flip Focus for iPhone or Android.

Frequently asked questions