“Forest: Stay Focused” is a phone app available for both iPhone and Android devices that helps you stay focused on tasks rather than on your phone screen.

Start planting trees by opening the app and setting a timer for how long you want to work. Leave your phone alone for this amount of time and the tree will grow in your forest. When you leave the app, the tree dies. You also earn the in-app currency of “seeds,” which can be used to buy different styles of trees.

The app is simple and well designed, though it does take some poking around to figure out where everything is because the main menu is not labeled. A $0.99 purchase removes ads and allows you to either access your forest through the Cloud (on your computer) or tag your trees with different projects you’ve been working on. Neither of these features are necessary, and since most of your time in the app should be spent not looking at your phone, the ads aren’t too much of a bother.

The app’s tagline is “Stay focused, be present.” It’s marketed not just as a tool to keep you working, but also to keep you focused on your friends when you’re, say, out to dinner. A word that often appears in the app is “phubbing,” which is slang for snubbing a person by being on your phone.

Your success with this app really depends on yourself. You’re not actually locked out of your phone in any way – instead, there’s just the possible consequence of a dead virtual tree if you happen to get antsy while writing an essay. This app can help motivate you to stay focused and get your work done. When you feel like reaching for your phone to distract you from your task, the app will remind you about the tree you had planted, which will give you the motivation to get back to work.

It’s like a friend who will look at you disapprovingly when you do the thing you said you wouldn’t five minutes ago. There also is a surprising amount of satisfaction that comes from seeing all your hours of work lined up in an illustrated forest.

The app also comes with a whitelist feature. You can mark certain apps that you can use without killing your tree, so you can answer phone calls or listen to music.

There are other apps out there that will totally lock down your phone and give you no choice but to work, but “Forest” certainly isn’t one of them. There’s something about knowing I have the choice to get out of it if I really want to that makes me feel less resentful and more likely to actually use the app.

“Forest: Stay Focused” is definitely an app that isn’t going to work for everyone. If you like cute things and have some self-control and you just need a push in the right direction, give it a try. If the threat of pictures of dead trees means nothing to you now, it certainly won’t do you any good in-app.