Question 1

How do I install FocusTube?

Accepted Answer

FocusTube is distributed as source — download or clone the repository, open chrome://extensions/, enable Developer mode, click “Load unpacked” and select the FocusTube folder (the one containing manifest.json). Pin the extension; the first open walks you through the setup assistant. There is no store listing to wait for and nothing auto-updates behind your back.

Question 2

Which browsers are supported?

Accepted Answer

FocusTube is built for Chrome on Manifest V3. Chromium-based browsers work where they support the APIs FocusTube uses — for example, Brave users may need to enable the File System Access API in brave://flags for direct file sync (the extension detects this and explains it). Firefox import/export fallbacks exist for sync, but the primary target is Chrome.

Question 3

What data does FocusTube collect?

Accepted Answer

None. Blocking, scoring, analytics and rings all compute on-device. There is no account, no cloud, no telemetry pipeline. Your history lives in chrome.storage.local, and optional sync writes plain JSON files to a folder you choose. API keys, passwords, emails and browser state are explicitly excluded from the portable file.

Question 4

Why does the extension request access to all sites?

Accepted Answer

Site blocking runs on every website — that's the point. The host permission is what lets the universal site blocker, the floating companion and time tracking work on any page you choose to protect. On YouTube, FocusTube reads only the public page DOM; it never touches your private account data and requests no Google scopes.

Question 5

What are Focus Rings?

Accepted Answer

An Apple-Fitness-style triple ring, purpose-built for attention: Deflected (ads, Shorts and urges skipped), Focused (Pomodoro focus minutes) and Saved (minutes returned by blockers). Goals are editable in Settings, rings celebrate when all three close, and weekly badges plus a Monthly Review keep longer arcs visible.

Question 6

How does the Focus Score avoid gaming?

Accepted Answer

The score applies diminishing returns, daily caps and diversity weighting to ring activity. Pressing “Block 30 minutes” a hundred times cannot buy a 100 score — rings display behavior, but the score underneath rewards balanced, varied focus actions.

Question 7

Do AI summaries need an account?

Accepted Answer

No. AI summaries are bring-your-own-key: add a key from Gemini, OpenAI, Mistral, DeepSeek or xAI in settings, and requests go from your browser to your provider. FocusTube stores nothing in between, and AI output is HTML-escaped before rendering.

Question 8

Can I still watch something when a block is active?

Accepted Answer

Unblocking is deliberately graduated. Instead of one click, you state a reason (at least 12 characters), wait a 10–30 second pause that grows with each unblock that day, and — on Strict mode or after 3+ unblocks — answer a quiz. Off / Standard / Strict is your choice in Settings.

Question 9

Where does my data live, and how do I back it up?

Accepted Answer

In chrome.storage.local on your machine, with 120 days of local history. For backup or cross-browser sharing, pick a folder you own: FocusTube writes one small file per month (focustube--.json), rotated automatically, and imports the months already in the folder. The files are plain JSON you can read.

Question 10

What happens when I uninstall?

Accepted Answer

Chrome removes extension storage with the extension. If you want to keep your history, sync or export your data to a folder first — the monthly archive files are fully portable and readable.

Question 11

What are Mika and Haru?

Accepted Answer

Your anime focus buddies — Mika (warm and cheery) and Haru (calm and steady). They guide onboarding, float on any site with a live site clock, and react with 8 emotion faces driven by the site's score. They're hand-authored parametric SVG (~16 KB, no model downloads), drag-anywhere, hideable per site, and fully respect reduced-motion settings.

Question 12

Can I use FocusTube without the companions?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The companion is optional at every step — choose neither during onboarding, hide it per site, or hide it everywhere from settings. Every other feature works independently of it.

Asked, answered, sourced.

Installation

Privacy

Features

Blocking

Data

Companion

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