Guide: Use Distraction Blocker for Mac to Increase Productivity

This article talks about how to use the best distraction blocker for Mac to reduce distractions and increase your productivity.

As coronavirus spreads, more and more people are working remotely from home. When you use your Mac for work or school, it will help improve productivity if you use a distraction-blocking app to block access to distracting websites and apps.

How to use a distraction blocker for Mac to minimize distractions

Step 1. Download Cisdem AppCrypt and install it. When you open the app for the first time, it will require you to set up a password.

Note: AppCrypt is a website blocker and app locker. It can be used for productivity purpose or for privacy protection purpose. If you aim to limit distractions, you can let some else set the password without you knowing the password. It will require the password if you want to:

• open a locked app.
• visit a blocked website.
• remove password blocking from a website or app.
• change settings.
• quit this distraction blocker.

Step 2. Once you open the app, its icon will appear in the menu bar on your Mac. Click the icon and select Open Main Window.

Click the Add App icon in the top left corner of the main window, which will bring up a Finder Window. From the Applications folder, select one or multiple apps you need to block access to. Click Add. On the left panel, you will find the list of blocked apps.

To use this distraction blocker for Mac to block distracting websites, click the WebBlock icon, which will bring up the Preferences window.

Under the WebBlock tab, click the add icon, enter a domain name and hit the Return/Enter key. For example, if you want to prevent yourself from visiting YouTube while working or studying, just add youtube.com.

You can also switch from the Blacklist mode (the default mode) to the Whitelist mode. When Whitelist is enabled, it will block all websites except the whitelisted ones.

When you are trying to open a blocked app on your Mac, the app won’t be successfully launched. And this distraction blocker will ask for password.

If you attempt to access a blocked website, it won’t open. Instead, you will be presented with the image below.

How to remove the blocking from a website or app

You can use this Mac distraction blocker to easily restrict access to any distracting website or app. What do you do if you want to stop the blocking?

In the main window, from the panel on the left side, select the app that you want to access without limit and click the Remove App icon.

To stop blocking a website, click WebBlock, select the domain name and click the minus icon.

If you want this distraction website blocker to temporarily disable the WebBlock feature, click the AppCrypt icon in the menu bar and select Disable WebBlock.

Change settings in Preferences

In this Mac OS X distraction blocker, click the Menu icon and select Preferences. Under General, you can set the app to launch at system startup. You can easily personalize settings based on your preferences. To set a new password, go to the Password tab.

This distraction blocker app is easy to use. It supports macOS 10.10 Yosemite or later, including macOS 10.15 Catalina.

• Block any apps on Mac, built-in or third-party ones
• Let you block apps during certain times
• Provide a report of failed attempts to open blocked apps
• Block any websites on Mac on Safari, Google Chrome, etc.
• Block or allow website by blacklisting or whitelisting
• Help you reduce distractions and stay focused
• Help protect privacy