FOR SCHOOLS · UNIVERSITIES · LIBRARIES · STUDY CENTERS
Keep the library open. Close the arcade. (blocked)
Lab machines, library desktops, seminar-room laptops, each with a policy written in plain language: “coursework and research for this class.” Students keep the real internet (the documentation, the archives, the recorded lectures) and lose the infinite scroll that lives on the same domains.
macOS & Windows · policies fleet-wide or per machine
The problems a domain list can’t solve.
Every school filter fails the same two ways: it blocks the coursework, or the students walk around it. A per-request ruling fails neither.
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“Block YouTube” blocks the lecture too.
Half the curriculum lives on the same domains as the distractions: the recorded lecture on YouTube, the primary source thread on Reddit, the archive on Wikipedia. A domain switch forces a bad trade: lose the coursework or keep the arcade. A per-request ruling doesn’t: the lecture loads, Shorts never does, and nobody files a ticket to unblock the homework.
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Students out-click blocklists between two bells.
Browser extensions die in an incognito window; DNS tricks die in a settings pane. This filter sits at the network level, across every browser and every app on the machine, so getting around it takes more than a proxy site and thirty seconds. The distance is the point: by the time a workaround pays off, the class has moved on.
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Monitoring students creates more problems than it solves.
Parents ask what you’re collecting. The DPO asks where it’s stored. Our answer is unusually short: there is no browsing log and no dashboard, because none exists. The app rules on each request at the machine and keeps no diary. Your students get a filter, not a file. And EU jurisdiction means GDPR applies to us by law.
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IT can’t win the blocklist arms race.
A new mirror appears faster than any list can be updated, and every update is your team’s time. A policy isn’t a list. It’s one sentence per room, and every URL, ancient or minted this morning, is ruled against it.
One sentence per machine. One ruling per request.
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DECLARE
Write the machine’s policy in plain language: “coursework and research for this class.” No categories, no regex, no list to maintain.
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INTERCEPT
The filter runs locally, at the network level. It sees every request from every browser and app on the machine, before the page loads.
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CLASSIFY
Each request is judged against the policy: the URL first and, where the address alone can’t decide, the content itself, as the page loads. No browsing history stored, no student profile built.
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RULE
On-intent requests load directly, the normal way. Off-intent content never appears, or a plain blocked notice stands in its place. Same domain, different verdict.
The boring part, on purpose.
Install the app the same way you deploy any desktop software (lab, library, seminar room) and set the intent policy. Policies are yours to shape: enforce one across every machine, or give different rooms policies of their own. It runs headless too: students see no app, just the filtering. macOS & Windows, and the download is identical for every machine.
Even the good sites have a rabbit hole. The policy knows the difference.
Start with one lab. Or one machine.
Pilots are shaped with you, not sold to you: pick a lab or a reading room, set the policies, and let a term of real coursework be the evaluation. Volume licensing is a conversation, not a portal, and questions a DPO or an IT review would ask get answered by a human at hello@focusing.app.
Enforced everywhere. Surveilled nowhere.
Prefer hands-on first? Download it on one lab machine today. The free tier is 2 h/day forever with a free account, no card, and it’s the identical binary every seat gets.
Asked by IT directors and DPOs.
We’re a school. How do we actually deploy this?
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 or employees browse?
No, by design. There is 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 and your team get a filter, not a supervisor. If you’re shopping for monitoring software, we’re the wrong vendor.
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), and an organization policy rules cleaner as a sharper sentence (“writing my thesis, Fourier analysis, lectures allowed” beats “thesis”).
Who’s behind this, and whose laws apply?
Deeptegrity Kft, based in Budapest. The address matters: we’re under EU jurisdiction, so GDPR applies to us by law. Questions a DPO would ask get answered by a human, at hello@focusing.app.
Full FAQ → including uninstalling, speed, and pricing (all tiers).
Download today. Start on the always-free tier.
Desktop only: macOS & Windows. That’s where the distractions live.
On your phone? Send the link to your desktop.
This runs on your Mac or PC, not your phone.