Do you want parental control over your child’s Internet use? Need a friend to help you stop wasting time on your Mac? Focus can lock the user out, thanks to Password Mode.

Password Mode

If you’re a parent who is concerned about their child’s Internet use, you probably want to use a program that easily lets you have control over what they consume. You also want that same program to set limits on how much time they spend on the Internet.

If you do most of your work online, you may have trouble defeating Internet distractions. In fact, you may no longer trust yourself to probably use Focus for blocking certain websites and apps. You may need help from a friend who can prevent you from changing the settings.

While Hardcore Mode was specifically built to prevent the user from changing the settings in Focus while a session is running, sometimes you need an extra push from somebody else.

Enter Password Mode: A feature in Focus that allows you to completely prevent any changes to its settings unless you have the right password.

Parents want to have a special password that prevents their children from tampering with the settings in Focus.

Likewise, people who get easily distracted need their friends to set up a password so that the settings can’t be changed, no matter how badly they want to surf YouTube or Facebook.

How To Set Up Password Mode In Focus

To access this feature, click the Focus menubar icon, click Preferences and then click on the General tab:

accessing preferences tab to get to password mode

To enable Password Mode, check off the checkbox beside “Lock preferences with a password”.

You will then see the following screen appear:

lockdown focus preferences

If you are a parent entering a password on your child’s computer, make sure your child is not around to see you typing the password.

Likewise, if you are having a friend use their own password to stop you from changing any of the settings in Preferences, make sure you are not around when they are typing the password.

Either way, Focus hides the password as it is being typed.

Press the Return (⏎) key on your keyboard when you are finished, or click on “Lockdown Focus”.

You will then be asked to re-enter the same password a second time:

confirm lockdown focus preferences

Please note that passwords are cAsE sEnSiTiVe, so you will need to enter it in correctly twice in a row.

Once you have entered the password again, press Return (⏎) key on your keyboard, or click on “Lockdown Focus”.

Congrats! Password Mode is now enabled in Focus.

How Password Mode Works In Focus

After Password Mode is enabled, you will see the following screen whenever you try to access Preferences (via clicking on the Focus menubar icon):

focus preferences are locked

You will need to type in the correct password if you want to change any of the parameters you have set up in Preferences.

Friendly reminder: If you are a parent setting this program up for your child, or someone who is helping a friend defeat Internet distractions, write the password down in a safe place that you can easily access!

How To Disable Password Mode In Focus

NOTE: This assumes that you have already entered the correct password needed to unlock access to Preferences, otherwise you will not be able to do this!

With Preferences open, make sure you are viewing the General tab.

To disable Password Mode, click on the checkbox beside “Lock preferences with a password” to remove the checkmark.

The next time you attempt to enable Password Mode, you will have to repeat the instructions as stated in “How To Set Up Password Mode In Focus”.

In other words, as the parent of a child, or the friend of someone who’s trying to limit time spent on the Internet, you will have to manually re-enter your old (or new) password twice!



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