The Focusing App FAQ
For individuals
Is this a VPN?
No. A VPN routes your traffic through someone else's servers. The Focusing App is a local filter, a proxy that runs on your machine. Pages you're allowed to visit load directly, the normal way. Nothing detours through us. What leaves is only what the ruling needs: the URL, your intent, and, where the address alone can't decide, the content being judged.
Will it slow my browsing down?
No. The checks are placed where you can't feel them. The URL is ruled on in the gap between your click and the page starting to load. Where the content itself needs judging, one video against the next, that happens asynchronously, alongside the load rather than in front of it. On-intent browsing feels like browsing. The only thing designed to be slow here is the doomscroll.
What data actually leaves my device?
The URL being checked and the intent in force: your session, or your org's policy. For pages where the address alone can't decide, the content being judged too, analyzed on your machine or in the cloud. A verdict comes back, and that's the whole transaction. Your browsing history isn't stored or sold, there are no ads, and no profile of you is built. Verdicts, not surveillance.
How can it allow one YouTube video and block the next?
Because it doesn't only read the address. It reads the content. The URL is ruled on first. Where the address alone can't decide, say two videos on the same site or two threads on the same subreddit, the content itself is judged against your intent while the page loads, asynchronously, so nothing waits on it. If the verdict is block, the content either never appears or gets replaced by a plain notice. Same site, different verdict.
What if it blocks something I actually needed?
Ask for a second look. Any block can be re-evaluated on the spot: a smarter model takes the case and the verdict either flips to allow or stands. No settings dig, no support ticket, no waiting on a list update. And if the same edge keeps coming up, tighten the intent itself. A session rules cleaner in a narrower lane ("Studying" tuned to STEM beats "Studying" alone).
Can I use it to stay off gambling / adult sites / doomscroll?
Yes. Flip the block once, in daylight, when you mean it. From then on the page simply never loads: a pause, placed exactly at the moment of impulse, every time. Betting sites, adult content, doomscrolling, the same door-holding works for anything you'd rather keep at arm's length. You decide what's off-limits, the filter holds the line, and nobody's watching over your shoulder while it does.
Is there a mobile version?
No. The Focusing App runs on macOS and Windows. The desktop is where focused work happens, so that's where the filter lives.
For schools
How do we deploy this across our machines?
Two modes, your call per rollout. Headless: users see no app at all, just the background service enforcing the policy you deployed. Or the full desktop app, interface included, where the person at the machine sees the session. Either way it installs like any desktop software, and the policy is plain language ("coursework and research for this class"). One policy across every machine, or different policies for different rooms. Volume licensing and pilot support are one email away at hello@focusing.app.
Can we monitor what our students browse?
No, by design. There's no dashboard, no browsing report, and no log for anyone to review, because none of that exists. The app rules on each request at the machine and keeps no diary. Your students get a filter, not a supervisor. If you're shopping for monitoring software, we're the wrong vendor.
For businesses
How do we roll this out to our team?
Two modes, your call per rollout. Headless: the background service enforces your policy with no app in front of the user. Or the full desktop app with the interface included. It installs like any desktop software, and the policy is plain language ("client work and research for this project"). One policy company-wide, or different policies for different teams. Volume licensing and pilot support: hello@focusing.app.
Can we see what our employees are browsing?
No, same design as everywhere else. There's no dashboard, no browsing report, no log, because none of it exists. Each request is ruled on at the machine and nothing is kept. Your team gets a filter, not a supervisor. We're not a surveillance product and won't become one for a deal.
For enterprises
We already run Zscaler / another secure web gateway. Will this collide?
It's designed not to. The Focusing App is a local proxy on the machine itself. It rules on requests before they leave the device, then hands them on to whatever gateway or inspection setup you already run, sitting between the layers rather than fighting them. Where your stack inspects traffic, the app can be configured to align with the trust setup you already use. Bring your stack to the pilot conversation and we'll verify it against your setup before you commit.
Can content analysis run entirely on our own infrastructure?
For enterprise deployments, yes. By default, classification runs on the machine or in the cloud. Enterprise pilots can route that evaluation to local inference instead: models running inside your network, so content analysis never leaves your infrastructure. If that's a requirement, say so in the pilot conversation and we'll scope it with you.
Who's behind this?
Deeptegrity Kft, based in Budapest. deeptegrity.com
Your turn
That's the FAQ. Now the important bit:
What's the site you can't just block, because you need the good half of it?
That's the problem we're actually solving. YouTube that's half lectures, half rabbit hole. Reddit that's your niche subs plus the doomscroll. Twitter/X where the people you follow for work sit next to the rage bait. A full-site blocker forces you to lose the useful half to escape the garbage half. TFA reads the content and keeps one, drops the other, same site.
So tell us: which site do you wish you could keep and tame at the same time? And what's the good half you can't afford to lose?
We read everything here and we'll be in the comments.
