Sailyn vs Forest
Forest is a focus timer: a tree grows while you stay on task and dies if you leave. Sailyn is a planner that also runs focus sessions: it decides which task comes next and plans your week, then holds distractions shut while you work.
What Forest does is described from its own public pages, checked on 19 September 2026. If something here has changed, write to us and it will be corrected.
Sailyn is our product; Forest is not.
Side by side
| Question | Sailyn | Forest |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A planner that picks the next task and runs the focus session | A focus timer |
| Chooses what to work on | Yes, one task at a time, with the reason shown | No |
| Plans the week around fixed commitments | Yes, and it says plainly when the work does not fit | No |
| Reward | Coins when you press Start; stopping early keeps what was earned | A tree grows while you focus; leaving the session kills it |
| What a missed day costs | Nothing, and coming back after two or more days pays more | Nothing for a day off; an abandoned session kills that tree |
| Blocks apps on Android | Yes | Yes, with Deep Focus |
| Blocks apps on iPhone | No; Focus mode, a lock screen card and reminders instead | Yes, with Deep Focus |
| Blocks sites on a computer | Yes, with a browser extension | Yes, with a Chrome and Firefox extension |
| With other people | A session on one shared clock with a friend; nobody ranked, nothing lost if one stops | Plant Together: the whole group's tree dies if anyone gives up; friends on a leaderboard |
From each product's own pages, checked on 28 September 2026. Nothing here is scored.
Free while in beta. It runs in a browser, so there is nothing to install to try it.
What Forest says it does
- A tree grows for every minute of concentration, and dies if you leave the session.
- Deep Focus blocks switching to other apps during a session, and Time Guard schedules blocks through the day.
- Plant Together runs a group session in which the whole group's tree dies if anyone gives up, and friends appear on a leaderboard.
- Coins earned from focus can pay for real trees to be planted.
- It runs on iPhone, Android and as a Chrome and Firefox extension.
What Sailyn does
- Decides what to work on: one task at a time, chosen from your deadlines and what is fixed in your week, with the reason shown.
- Pays for starting: coins arrive when you press Start, and stopping a session early costs nothing already earned.
- Holds chosen apps shut on Android and chosen sites in a desktop browser. It cannot block apps on an iPhone.
- Focuses with a friend on one shared clock, with nobody ranked and nothing taken away if one of you stops.
Questions people ask
Does Sailyn block apps like Forest does?
On Android, yes: Sailyn holds the apps you choose shut for the length of a session and switches Do Not Disturb on. On a computer, a browser extension holds the sites you choose shut. On an iPhone it cannot, because Apple allows app blocking only to a native app with a permission Apple grants on request, so Sailyn uses Focus mode, a lock screen card and reminders there. If blocking apps on an iPhone is what you need most, Forest's Deep Focus does it and Sailyn does not yet.
Can I use both?
Yes. Forest can be the timer and Sailyn the planner that says which task to time. Two timers running around one piece of work is usually one too many, so if you use both, let one of them run the session.
What does switching from Forest look like?
There is nothing to move across. Sailyn starts from what you tell it is coming up, in your own words, such as an essay due Friday and classes on Monday and Wednesday, and plans the days from that. What you grew in Forest stays in Forest.
Which one fits
If you already know what to work on and want a timer with a stake in staying, Forest describes itself as exactly that. If the hard part is deciding what to do and starting it, that is the part Sailyn is built around.
This page describes both products and ranks neither. Prices and plans change often, so they are not here.
Know what you need to do, but can't get started? Sailyn gives you one next step, a plan that adapts, and no penalty for difficult days.