Be More Productive With Windows 11’s Focus Sessions

PCMag has long reviewed and recommended third-party productivity apps that help you focus on your work, and now Windows 11’s new Alarms & Clock app provides some of the same key functions in its Focus Sessions feature. Focus Sessions encourages you to set aside time for work that requires uninterrupted, deep focus. It’s excellent to see this type of feature included with an operating system, and this feature is off to a good start. As you’ll see, however, there are some capabilities we’d like to see added.

Here’s an overview of the new Alarms & Clock app and instructions for how to get going with Focus Sessions.

Introducing the All-New Alarms & Clock App

Microsoft put a surprising amount of effort into something as seemingly mundane as a clock app. Clock apps have been around forever on both mobile and desktop operating systems and are usually no more than a clock face, alarm, timer, and stopwatch. Being a productivity and workplace vendor as well as just an OS vendor, Microsoft decided to include more than those basic functions.

The company was so pleased with the results that they made Focus Sessions the very top choice in the new app.

Before we dive in to Focus Sessions, here’s how the other four components of the app—Timer, Alarm, Stopwatch, and World Clock—look:

With that out of the way, let’s move on to the real value-add of the app, Focus Sessions.

How to Use Windows 11 Focus Sessions

What’s Missing from Focus Sessions?

For a completely free included perk, the Focus Sessions feature is a welcome addition to Windows. Still, there are some improvements I’d like to see. I wish it had the option to automatically prevent notifications during Focus Sessions. It should turn on Windows’ Focus Assist mode directly, rather than make you go into the Settings. A setting to disable all but specified apps and websites would be helpful, too. A bonus would be the ability for it to enforce Microsoft Word’s Focus view, which removes all distractions from the desktop. Finally, integration with the Microsoft To Do app could be strengthened with automatic task completion prompts, and integration with third party task apps like Todoist would be even better.

For more coverage of features and news about Microsoft’s new operating system, head to PCMag’s Windows 11 page.