App review: Tide

I've had a lot of trouble concentrating, unwinding, and sleeping as of late. Especially after work when I'm supposed to find time to study or be creative (or send out applications to get a job in my field). Last weekend, I decided to check out what free apps I could get on my phone to help me relax or concentrate and I stumbled upon a little gem.

Tide: Stay focused, be peaceful
It's such a simple app and I found it very user friendly. Tide incorporates calming background tracks such as rain or peaceful music with the Pomodoro technique to encourage focus, productivity, and relaxation. The description only talks about it being supported on iPhones, but I have a Samsung and can confirm it works just fine.

The Pomodoro technique (which I had not heard of before downloading this app) was created in the 1980s and was traditionally used to break work into 25 minute intervals with short breaks in between (thanks for your help, Wikipedia). Of course, people like to have options and something I think other users might find appealing about this app is the ability to alter the length of focus intervals and breaks to suit your needs. Tide also lets you set a daily 'Focus Goal' and track your daily focus achievements. Want to study for an hour? Two hours? Eight hours?? Set your goal and the app will add up your focus sessions as you go.

Look at that pretty logo!

I think the visual design of Tide is gorgeous. When you open the app, you'll be greeted by a description of the time of day (e.g. afternoon, dusk, evening) overlaying a simple but peaceful background image. The little 'Start' button sits there, ready to begin timing the first focus session whenever you are. And you get a nice little quote each day, too.

Once you press 'Start'? Choose your background sounds. Tide automatically begins to play the sound of the ocean gently lapping the shore, but swipe across to the next panel for some gentle rain, forest sounds, a soft and slow piano track (called 'Muse'), or some cafe background noise. I'm personally not a fan of the cafe track, but I guess some people are into that. 'Rain' and 'Muse' are my favourites. But as I mentioned earlier, people like to have options, and in case these five weren't enough, you can opt to turn off the white noise tracks and do your focus sessions in silence.

I've been using this app predominantly for unwinding before bed and rocking myself to sleep, which is probably why I favour the 'Rain' and 'Muse' tracks. I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately and my GP suggested trying to incorporate some meditation and other relaxation techniques into my 'getting ready for bed' ritual. I did complete a few focus sessions earlier in the week with 'Ocean' and 'Forest' too, while I was updating my LinkedIn profile and putting together job applications. I left the focus sessions on 25 minute intervals with 5 minute breaks and I think it's the perfect amount of time. Each time I started the timer and got to work, I told myself I wasn't allowed to look at my phone for a while--and when I did go to pick it up, it was within seconds of the focus session ending.

Tide gets a five star rating from me and I'm glad I discovered it this week.

Do you have any little gem apps you'd like to share?