A focus app for remote workers and founders

Updated September 13, 2026 · By the Stint team

Short answer

Remote work removes the two things an office gave you for free: a start time and someone nearby. A focus app for remote workers has to replace both. Stint does it with sessions and pools. A session is a defined block where your distracting apps are shielded and only time in your work apps counts. A pool is a small group, colleagues or strangers, committing to the same daily deep-work goal with an entry fee each; everyone who keeps it up splits the prize pool. It is the office's structure and accountability, minus the commute.

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Stint gives a remote day a start line, a shield and a group that notices, with a prize pool for the ones who finish.

The remote work problem is structure, not discipline

Most people who struggle at home were fine in an office. Nothing about them changed; the scaffolding did. The fix is to rebuild scaffolding, not to try harder. A fixed daily focus block, with a clear rule for what counts, is the smallest piece of scaffolding that works.

Sessions: a start time you cannot drift past

Start a Stint session and the next block is deep work by definition. Slack, email and social apps you chose to block are shielded; your IDE, docs or design tool count as focus. The countdown lives on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island. When the session ends, it ends, and you take the break.

Founders tend to use two sessions a day: one for the hard thing before the inbox opens, one in the afternoon for building. Remote employees often align a session with their team's quiet hours.

Pools: the colleague who notices

Join a public pool or create a private one for your team or founder group. Everyone pays an entry fee, commits to the same daily goal for the challenge, and the group chat keeps score. Meet the goal every day and you qualify; qualifiers split the prize pool. Miss and you forfeit your share, with nothing further charged. Small teams use it as a standing ritual: a two-week pool, then the next.

A remote day that works

Decide tonight what tomorrow's first session is for. One sentence.
Session one before messages. Ninety minutes is plenty.
Inbox and calls in the middle of the day.
Session two in the afternoon for building or writing.
End the day by noting what shipped. The pool chat is a fine place for it.

Questions people ask

Can I keep Slack available during a session?

Yes, if you do not add it to your block list. Many people block social and news but keep team chat allowed, or mark it as an emergency app with a small daily allowance.

Can a team run a private pool?

Yes. Private pools are invite-only and shared by code or link. Whoever creates the pool sets the entry fee, the goal and the length.

Focus with money on the line.