Pray Focus: I built an app that locks distracting apps until you finish praying

I’m a software engineer and built Pray Focus as a small bootstrapped side project.

The project started from thinking about how smartphones are designed around constant distraction. Many people want to spend time on activities that require focus, but the phone environment is usually optimized for the opposite.

I became interested in whether a phone could instead introduce a small interruption before opening distracting apps, specifically to help Christians who want to build a consistent prayer habit.

Pray Focus takes a simple approach: at a chosen time each day, selected apps stay locked until a short prayer session is completed. Instead of immediately opening social media or other distracting apps, the user pauses for a few minutes of prayer or reflection.

The app currently includes: • Guided prayers organized by themes • A free prayer mode with a timer for personal prayer • A prayer journal with a simple mood tracker • Streaks and reminders to support consistency

The project is fully bootstrapped and built by a single developer.

I’d appreciate any feedback on the idea, the approach, or the app itself.