Hank Green’s Focus Friend Is Google Play’s App Of The Year

Focus Friend, nan surface clip adjunct from YouTuber and entrepreneur Hank Green, is Google Play’s app of nan year.

Launched successful August, nan productivity instrumentality lets you artifact yourself from distracting telephone apps while encouraging you pinch nan assistance of a virtual friend — a small animation legume that likes to knit socks and scarves, which tin later beryllium exchanged for décor for nan small bean’s room.

The premise down nan app is that users mightiness beryllium encouraged to negociate their surface clip amended if they cognize their actions would effect others, moreover if it’s conscionable a small legume who would beryllium sad if you interrupted their knitting project.

The app was a deed astatine launch, reaching No. 1 connected Apple’s App Store aft rapidly climbing nan charts. On Android, Focus Friend has northbound of 1 cardinal installs, according to its Play Store listing.

Google calls Focus Friend a adjuvant and tiny app and an effective instrumentality for helping users disconnect.

In a twelvemonth that again saw AI assistants and devices climb nan app shop charts complete and complete again, it’s absorbing to spot a timer that helps you disconnect from your tech winning Google’s highest app award. On Google Play, for instance, nan apical apps presently see some of OpenAI’s consumer-facing tools: ChatGPT (at No. 1), and video app Sora. Other apical apps attraction connected societal media, intermezo aliases shopping, for illustration TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, Temu and GoWish.

Clearly, consumers are rewarding apps that prosecute and addict, not those that promote you to log off.

Google besides announced respective different app winners crossed categories for illustration games, watches, XR headsets and more. Trading paper game, Pokémon TCG Pocket won nan champion crippled award, nan champion multi-device app was photograph editor Luminar, and nan champion multi-device crippled was racing crippled Disney Speedstorm.

Other winners for 2025 include:

Best Apps

• Best for Fun: Edits, an Instagram app
• Best for Personal Growth: Focus Friend by Hank Green
• Best Everyday Essential: Wiser – 15 Minute Audio Books
• Best Hidden Gem: Pingo AI Language Learning
• Best for Families: ABCmouse 2: Kids Learning Game
• Best for Watches: SleepisolBio: sleep, alarm
• Best for Large Screens: Goodnotes: Notes, docs, PDF
• Best for Cars: SoundCloud: The Music You Love
• Best for XR Headsets: Calm – Sleep, Meditate, Relax

Best Games

• Best Multiplayer: Dunk City Dynasty
• Best Pick Up & Play: Candy Crush Solitaire
• Best Indie: Chants of Sennaar
• Best Story: Disco Elysium
• Best Ongoing: Wuthering Waves
• Best connected Play Pass: DREDGE
• Best for Google Play Games connected PC: Odin: Valhalla Rising