I put three timer widgets on my home screen for a week: TickTick's, Forest's, and the countdown widget in Session. The goal wasn't to review them properly, it was to figure out what I'm actually copying and what I'm skipping before I build Taskaro's own. Here's the honest comparison, including where each one is still better than anything I'm about to ship.
TickTick: Best for Seeing the Whole List
TickTick's widget is closer to a mini app than a timer: it shows your task list for the day, lets you check items off directly from the home screen, and has a separate Pomodoro widget if you want just the countdown. It's the most information-dense option here, which is exactly right if what you want from a widget is a status check, not a single action.
The catch: because it's showing so much, starting an actual focus session still takes you into the app. The widget is a window into your list, not a one-tap way to start working.
Pick TickTick's widget if you want to glance at today's tasks without unlocking into the app, and you don't mind opening the app itself to start a timer.
Forest: Best for a Single Glanceable State
Forest's widget shows one thing: whether a tree is currently growing. Tap it and a session starts immediately with your last settings, no menu in between. It's the fastest single-tap start of the three, precisely because it refuses to show you anything else.
The catch: that simplicity is also a ceiling. There's no task label visible, no way to pick a different length from the widget, and nothing that connects it to a real task list, because Forest doesn't have one.
Pick Forest's widget if you want the absolute fastest way to start a generic session and don't need it tied to anything specific you're working on.
Android's Built-In Focus Mode: Not Actually a Timer
Worth naming because people confuse it with a timer widget: Android's native Focus Mode silences distracting apps but doesn't run a countdown, track a task, or show progress anywhere on the home screen. It's a system-level toggle, not a productivity widget, and it solves a different problem entirely (see soft locks vs hard blocks for where that distinction actually matters).
What I Want Taskaro's Widget to Actually Do
Based on that week, the widget I'm building is trying to land between TickTick's context and Forest's speed:
- Show the next due or overdue task by name, not just a blank "start session" button. The same task Focus Mode would already suggest if you opened the app.
- One tap to start, using your last session length, with a long-press to change it before starting.
- A live countdown on the widget itself, not just a static "session running" label, so you can check progress without unlocking your phone.
That's the target. I'm building it for Android first, since that's where Taskaro actually runs today (there's no iOS app yet, so no iOS widget either).
What I'm Not Trying to Match
I'm not chasing TickTick's full task-list-in-a-widget density or Forest's tree animation. Both are good at what they do, but a home screen widget is small real estate, and trying to cram a whole app into it usually means none of it renders well at that size. One task, one countdown, one tap. If that's not enough for someone, the full app is one more tap away, same as it always was.
Where This Actually Stands
To be direct about it: this widget doesn't exist yet. What's above is the plan, shaped by putting three existing ones on my home screen and noticing what I kept using versus what I opened once and ignored. If you've used a focus widget that got something right that isn't on this list, that's exactly the kind of feedback that changes what ships.