FAQ
Short answers to what people ask most. If yours isn't here, write to me — the address is at the bottom.
What is Conberate, exactly?
A tool for the working day. You open the day with a short planning ritual, work it as a chain of focus blocks, and close it with a shutdown ritual. It isn't a task manager, a calendar, or a coach.
Who is it for?
People who do deep work on a Mac and want a calm, opinionated frame for the day rather than another inbox of tasks.
What platforms does it run on?
macOS 14 and later, native. Windows and iOS aren't on the near roadmap — we'd rather do one platform well.
Why can't I configure more of it?
Because the constraints are the product. Block minimums, the enforced break, and the warning thresholds aren't adjustable — a rule you can move in the moment isn't a rule. Everything that is a preference lives in Settings.
What actually happens when a block starts?
The main window steps aside and the block lives in your menu bar: time remaining, and whether the work is deep or shallow. If the block has a focus profile attached, the blocklisted apps and browser tabs get closed for you, with a notification saying why.
Does it lock my screen?
Between blocks, if you turn it on. After a block ends, Conberate can hold a short enforced break before the next one — 20% of the deep time you just worked, 15% for shallow. You can't shorten it in the moment. That's the point of it.
Can I pause a block?
No. A break is a decision, not a suspension: you end the block through the transition ritual and start a new one. Time runs on the wall clock, so quitting the app isn't a pause button either.
What if a task runs long?
At 125% of your estimate Conberate asks once whether to extend or finish. Extending raises the estimate and moves on — there's no cap and no penalty. Running over is information, not a failure.
How short can a block be?
Deep blocks start at 45 minutes, shallow at 30. Settling into real concentration costs roughly 15–25 minutes, so a shorter "deep" block is mostly ramp-up — which is also why deep blocks under 45 minutes earn no depth credit in the focus score.
A thought hits me mid-block. Now what?
Press ⌥Space and write it down. It lands in your notes without touching the running block, and you deal with it at shutdown. ⌥⇧Space reads the notes back. Those are the only two global shortcuts in the app.
Are there streaks or rewards?
No. No streaks, badges, or confetti. The value is in the repeated ritual, not in a score to protect. A streak is a debt; a closed day is a receipt.
You measure my day. Isn't that coaching?
Measurement isn't instruction. Conberate shows you numbers and never tells you what to do about them. Every warning ends, in effect, with "if this works for you, ignore it."
What is the focus score?
A 0–100 quality score for one day: completion (45%), how you rated the work (25%), the share of finished work that was genuinely deep (15%), and how close your estimates ran (15%). Components with no data drop out and the rest are renormalised, so days stay comparable. The formula is printed inside the app next to the number.
Why publish the formula?
A score you can't understand is one you either distrust or quietly game. Publishing the arithmetic is the only honest option — and it's why sub-45-minute "deep" blocks earn nothing: otherwise the score would teach you to fragment your day.
What is focus capacity?
An estimate of how many deep hours a day you can sustain, learned from your own history rather than assumed. It starts from what you tell us at onboarding, then moves with the evidence, and it's reported with a confidence band — "3.1h ± 24m, refined from 18 days" — because a single number would pretend to a precision it doesn't have.
Why does the app suggest different estimates than I give?
Because people under-estimate systematically, and the useful signal is your own bias, not an absolute standard. Once you've timed enough blocks, the task form will note that your work typically runs, say, 1.5× its estimate. It's a hint. It never edits the number for you.
Why don't I see any insights yet?
They're gated behind enough data to mean something: at least 10 days, at least 3 samples on each side of any comparison, and a gap big enough not to be noise. Three days of data can't tell you that Tuesdays are your best day. Every insight states how many days it stands on.
Do I need an account?
Yes. Conberate signs you in with email or Google, and your plans, notes, and reviews sync across your devices and are backed up off the machine.
Does the app work offline?
Yes. Conberate is offline-first: everything is written to your Mac immediately and works with no network. Sync catches up in the background when you reconnect.
Do you track how I work?
No analytics on your activity, no advertising, no profiling, and nothing sold or shared. Your plans sync so that they're yours on every device — not so that we can look at them. Read the privacy policy.
What stays only on my Mac?
Timeline separators and your closed-day snapshots are local by design and never leave the machine.
Can I get my data out?
Not from inside the app yet — a proper export is on the roadmap and it isn't shipped. Until it is, email us and we'll send you your data or delete your account and everything in it.
Is it free?
Yes. The whole tool, every feature, no card. There is no subscription and no trial to expire. Supporters cover the running costs, which are printed on the pricing page.
Will it stay free?
The beta is free and nothing will be taken away from you retroactively. If a price arrives after the beta it will be announced on this site first. See the numbers.
Why does macOS warn me about the app?
Because it isn't notarized yet. Apple charges $99 a year for the certificate that removes that dialog, and it isn't paid for. The download page shows exactly which three clicks open the app in the meantime.
I answer email like a human, usually within a day.