Hard Graft

Hard Graft is a flowtime (count-up) focus and study timer for Android. There are no pomodoro rounds, no break bells and no pause button. You clock on, work for as long as you like, and clock off when you need a break. The app records each shift and adds it to a rolling seven-day total of focused hours. That total decides your rank on a 24-step ladder. You start as DEAD WEIGHT. Put the hours in and you climb. Ease off and you drop. The Regulator hands out the promotions and demotions. It's a machine that only counts hours and has no interest in excuses. The demotions sound punishing but there are no streaks to maintain and no demotion is permanent. It's easy to recover and there are no permanent records of it.

You can tag each 'shift' (session) to a 'job' (task): work, study, gym, anything you want. The record shows hours by day and by job so the app also works as a simple time tracker. There are 40 achievements that stay classified until they are collected. The 'quiet mode' setting switches off the ranks, the achievements and The Regulator and the app then functions as a plain stopwatch and record.

Everything stays on the phone. There's no account, no sign-in, no analytics, no ads and no tracking. The app makes no network calls of its own and the only things that use the internet are Google Play's billing and its in-app review prompt. You can export the whole record as a file and import it on another phone. The clock keeps counting with the screen off. The app sends no reminders. The only notifications are the running clock and a rank change, if one happens after you clock off.

The free version includes the timer, the record, jobs, statistics, quiet mode, backup and the ladder up to rank 13 of 23. A one-time purchase unlocks the remaining ten ranks, shows the requirement for each achievement, and adds two colour schemes. There are no ads or subscriptions and there never will be.

The app is dark-themed, works with TalkBack, and plays a different sound for clocking on and for clocking off. It's for people who need a push and for whom the pomodoro technique doesn't work. It's also for people who value their privacy and want none of the ads, subscriptions and tracking that come with most apps. I've got ADHD and use it every day.