Forest App Review Welcome to the Forest App:-
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After downloading Forest, all first-time users are welcomed with a simple set of instructions. The app explains that it will encourage users to stay focused and be more present in their daily lives by planting virtual trees. The trees planted in the app take a certain amount of time to grow — which you can customize depending on how long you want to abstain from your device — but because the trees can only grow if the app remains open, people have to put down their phones if they want to add to their virtual forests.
To plant a virtual tree, set a timer by dragging the green button around the circular photo of a plant on the app's homepage. The app allows you to set the timer for a minimum of 10 minutes, a maximum of 120 minutes, or any 5-minute increments in between. During the set time, your virtual tree will grow provided you keep the app open, and it will die if you exit the app or attempt to use any outside feature on your phone for longer than a few seconds.
While the death of a digital tree is obviously very low-stakes, and there are no real consequences if you let it bite the dust, over the course of a week using the app I learned that just knowing a few measly minutes away from your phone is all it takes to save a life — even that of a fake tree — is a surprisingly successful motivational tactic.
Forest can be purchased on iOS devices for $1.99, and though there are several in-app purchases that help you receive more coins per virtual tree planted— $0.99 for a bottle of Sunshine Elixir, or $1.99 for a box of Sunshine Elixir — you can definitely enjoy the app without them.
With a simple mission to help users "stay focused" and "be present," Forest trains people to manage their time and become less dependent on their phones in a fun, purposeful way. By spending time away from their phones, users grow virtual trees and earn coins, which can then be saved up and used to help plant real trees in five countries in Africa — Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, and Tanzania.
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Forest App:- Planting a virtual tree
When it came time to plant the first virtual tree I wanted to get the feel of the app, so I only set the timer for 10 minutes.
Once you hit the "plant" button, Forest graciously gives you 10 seconds to cancel your impending phone-free commitment, just in case you want to send an important text first, or realize you've made a horrible mistake and aren't ready to unplug, but don't want to put a virtual tree's life at risk.
After embarking on my first Forest experience, I noticed that after the 10-second grace period expires, the cancel countdown is replaced with a button that straight-up says, "Give Up." You can press this at any time during the run of your timer to abandon your mindfulness mission, but just know that doing so will prompt the guilt-ridden question: "Are you sure you want to give up? Your cute little tree will die." 💔
If you're not the type to admit defeat via Give Up button, you always have the option of leaving the app of your own free will — which I will admit I did several times accidentally, simply because I'm so addicted to using my phone. But before killing your tree, Forest gives you a chance to redeem yourself.
The app will send a push notification seconds after you leave, which reads, "Go back to Forest immediately to prevent the tree from dying!" You have less than a minute to return to the app and save your tree, and if you fail to do so, the next time you open Forest, an image of your sad-looking husk of a tree will appear alongside the words: "Oops! you can do better next time!"
Should you fail to wait out your full-timer, a dead tree will show up in your virtual forest to serve as a reminder that you gave up. You won't receive any coins for the minutes you remained in the app before abandoning it, but they will be counted towards your total daily focus time, which is nice.
Planting my first tree was a wonderful experience, I received THREE COINS as a reward! After playing around with the app, it appears the maximum reward users can receive for a single plant (without the help of in-app purchases) is 43 coins from a 120-minute timer, which wouldn't be so disheartening if a real-life tree didn't cost a whopping 2,500 coins to plant.
If you're downloading the app with the goal of planting real trees, it can definitely be done, but it's going to take a bit of time (or additional money invested in the app) to save up the necessary coins.
The way the system works is that each time a user spends 2,500 virtual coins on a real tree, Forest donates real money to Trees for the Future, which uses that money to plant a tree in Africa.
Unfortunately, due to "budget constraint," the number of real trees each user can currently plant using the app is limited to five. Forest assures users that there will be "limited time events that will allow users to plant more real trees" in the future, though, and planting five trees is still far more productive than not planting any. (The creators of Forest have another app called SleepTown that was specifically created to help build more healthy sleep patterns.)
Forest App The Good
- It helps users stay focused and unplug from their phones.
- The app offers a bunch of customization opportunities.
- along with group settings.
- It's fun
- easy to use
Forest App The Good
- It helps users stay focused and unplug from their phones.
- The app offers a bunch of customization opportunities.
- along with group settings.
- It's fun
- easy to use
- and can help the environment
Forest App The Bad
- The virtual coin rewards aren't very large unless you pay for in-app extras.
- The app isn't visible on a phone's lock screen when it's running
Forest App The Bottom Line
- Forest offers users a delightful escape from their phones and significantly helps with time management and focus.
- Overall, it's a wonderful investment I wish I'd learned about sooner.
- and can help the environment
Forest App The Bad
- The virtual coin rewards aren't very large unless you pay for in-app extras.
- The app isn't visible on a phone's lock screen when it's running
Forest App The Bottom Line
- Forest offers users a delightful escape from their phones and significantly helps with time management and focus.
- Overall, it's a wonderful investment I wish I'd learned about sooner.
Forest App USERS REVIEW
Ferran Johnson- This app is awesome. I have a hard time focusing on my phone instead of homework, wasting hours and hours every day. When I use this app, though, I can make myself put down my phone and concentrate on what I need to be doing. Every time I lose focus and pick up my phone, I see the tree growing on the screen and it reminds me to put it down.