Focus Key

A local-first focus workspace with YouTube and Instagram distraction controls, study tools, site blocking, and private insights.

Focus Key transforms your new-tab page into a focused, local-first productivity workspace designed to reduce distracting browsing and support intentional study. Instead of opening a blank or distracting new tab, Focus Key gives you quick access to study tools, planning features, configurable distraction controls, and private activity insights—all from one workspace. Focused YouTube experience: Focus Key provides a more intentional way to use YouTube: Replaces distracting YouTube entry points with a focused video workspace. Lets you create and rank a list of priority channels. Builds a small recommendation set using recent channel and search-result metadata. Helps avoid recently watched videos when selecting recommendations. Removes selected distractions from watch pages, including recommendations, comments, navigation elements, and other attention-grabbing sections. Adds a convenient control for saving selected videos locally. Measures watch-time thresholds and applies configurable cooldown periods after watching. Stores recommendation, saved-video, watch-history, and cooldown state locally in the browser. After onboarding acceptance, these features may read supported YouTube channel and watch-page metadata or request YouTube channel and search-result pages. This can include video IDs, titles, channel names, thumbnails, durations, view counts, publication information, playback state, and elapsed watch time. This information is used only to provide Focus Key’s video recommendations and distraction controls. Website distraction controls: Create custom domain block lists for websites you want to avoid during focused work. Focus mode can also simplify Instagram into a direct-message-oriented interface by hiding distracting navigation, stories, reels, discovery areas, and other attention-heavy elements. Instagram changes are applied only when you enable this feature. Site blocking and Instagram focus mode can be turned on or off independently from general browsing insights. Study and productivity tools Focus Key includes several tools for planning and focused work: Customizable Pomodoro focus and break sessions. Optional fullscreen mode during active focus sessions. Configurable study subjects. Access to study materials from a user-selected local folder. Calendar and event reminders. Kanban-style task organization. Drink scheduling and reminder tools. A customizable feature library. Shortcuts to user-selected AI tools. Saved preferences through local browser storage or Chrome Sync. Private browsing insights Focus Key offers an optional local usage dashboard that helps you understand where your browsing time goes. General browsing insights are disabled by default. If you enable them, Chrome requests optional tab and idle permissions. Focus Key then records only: The active website’s domain name. The local date and start time. A short, bounded activity duration. This feature does not save full URLs, page titles, page content, search terms, form entries, or messages. It stops counting when Chrome is not focused or your device is idle. Browsing-insight entries remain on your device, are retained for no more than 90 days, and can be deleted from the Usage Data page at any time. Local-first privacy Focus Key does not include: Developer-controlled analytics or telemetry. Advertising SDKs. Personalized advertising. Remote executable code. A developer-controlled user-data server. Sale of browsing or workspace data. Most workspace information remains in local browser storage. Eligible preferences may be synchronized through Chrome Sync when synchronization is enabled in your browser. External requests occur only where needed for disclosed functionality, including YouTube focus features, searches submitted through Chrome’s configured default search provider, links you choose to open, and Chrome Sync. Focus Key is built for people who want a calmer browser, more deliberate video consumption, and a practical workspace for focused study.