How to Block a Game or Any Application with FocusMe

Aside from websites, you can use FocusMe to block applications. Here’s how.

The first thing you do is enable the Helper feature by right-clicking on the FocusMe icon in the System Tray. Note: If you don’t see the FocusMe icon right away, click the arrow to show the hidden icons.

The Helper is a very useful tool. It displays information about the active website/application you can use to block it.

Notice that the game Minecraft is opened and is currently the active window. The Helper window shows you some information about it such as the Application name, Process path, Title, etc. you can use to block it. You can use Helper anytime you need to get information about the website or application currently active.

The next thing we do is go back to FocusMe and create a new Focus plan. Click the “add plan” button on the upper right.

Type the name of the Focus plan.

You can skip the Websites page this time since we will be blocking applications instead of websites. Hit “Next” until you go to the Application Page (3/6).

The process of blocking application/s is pretty similar to blocking websites. There are some minor differences, though. Click “Add App”.

Notice that there are more tabs here than when choosing websites.

1. Processes – Lists the processes that are running in the background.
2. Installed – Shows all the programs installed in the system.
3. Windows – Gives you all the applications that are currently running.
4. Custom – Lets you manually input the application.

Tip: An easy way to block a program is to first launch it, go to the Windows tab, and then select it from that list. Please note that you can block an application via different types.

In case you can’t find the application in any of the tabs, You can manually type it in the Custom tab. This is where the Helper feature shines.

In the example above, you can use any of the highlighted information in Helper to block Minecraft. Just make sure you set the type correctly or it may not work.

Based on the example, it would be best to block Minecraft by title. In the Custom tab, type in “Minecraft 1.14.4” (without the quotes). Make sure you set the type to “Window Title”. Click on “Done” when finished.

Once you are good with your list, click “Next” and go through the rest of the wizard, following your preferences.

Now Run the Focus plan with the “Start” icon. Then try to launch the blocked application (in this case, it’s the game Minecraft). FocusMe will automatically block it.

Note: You can control how FocusMe blocks websites and applications in the System tab of the settings page.

Note: By default, if a plan is set to block all applications, FocusMe will minimize the apps regardless if it is set to close them in the Settings tab. Although you can change this via the “How All Apps are blocked (Expert users only)” option, we would not recommend this unless you know your way around FocusMe and your operating system very well.