Top 5 Productivity Chrome extensions
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5 min read
Table of Contents
People are more distracted now than ever before. With all the gadgets and social media platforms, maintaining focus has become increasingly rare. There are softwares and tools that help you be productive. In this post, let's explore the top 5 Chrome extensions that can boost your productivity.
Block Site
Block Site helps you become more productive by allowing you to block websites.
You can block any website. You can also add websites that you want to block when you are using the Focus feature in the extension. This will block the website when your focus session is active and gets unblocked once the session is over.
You can also block by words. Keyword Blocker that allows you to define a list of forbidden words that, when used, will block the content (discussion, comment, poll, etc.) This extension will soon be able to be used for blocking triggers or avoiding spoilers.
If you’ve blocked an app or a website you can unlock it with a passcode of your choosing, making it that bit harder to procrastinate. You can also password protect the options page to keep you from easily removing sites from your list.
The extension is completely FREE.
StayFocusd
StayFocusd helps you stay focused by restricting the time you spend on distracting websites. It provides analytics to help you understand and control your internet usage, ensuring you remain productive throughout the day.
Features
- Website usage history
- Configurable blocking: Block entire sites, specific subdomains, specific paths, specific pages, or even in-page content (videos, images, forms, etc).
- The Nuclear Option: This powerful feature allows you to block access to websites for the number of hours you specify on the days you choose. Once activated, it cannot be canceled, ensuring you remain focused and productive.
- Require Challenge: To change any settings, you must complete a challenging task. This reduces the temptation to alter settings, helping you stick to your productivity goals.
- Active Days/Hours: Customize the days and hours during which StayFocusd will restrict your access to distracting websites. This ensures that your productivity is maintained during critical work periods.
- In App Blocking for YouTube: Block all distracting components on YouTube. Hide shorts, comments, recommended videos, etc.
- Does not collect any personal data.
The extension is completely FREE.
Unhook
Unhook helps you remove distractions on YouTube. It can remove the recommended sidebar, shorts, endscreen video suggestions, user comments, homepage related videos feed, trending tab, turn off autoplay or annotations, and more.
Features
- Hide Homepage Feed
- Hide Video Sidebar
- Hide Recommended (Related Videos)
- Hide Live Chat
- Hide Playlist
- Hide YouTube Shorts
- Hide End Screen Videowall
- Hide End Screen Cards
- Hide Comments
- Hide Mix Radio Playlists
- Hide Merch, Tickets, Offers
- Hide Video Info
- Hide Video Buttons Bar (share, likes, dislikes)
- Hide Channel (profile + subscribe button)
- Hide Video Description
- Hide Top Header
- Hide Notification Bell
- Hide Irrelevant Search Results ("Related to your search", "Latest from", "Searches related to", "People also search for", etc.)
- Hide Explore and Trending
- Hide More from YouTube
- Hide and Redirect Subscriptions
- Disable Autoplay
- Disable Annotations
The extension is completely FREE.
Todoist
Todoist is a popular ToDo app. It is used by 25 million people. They have a Chrome extension to help you do a few things faster and easier.
Features
- Add websites as tasks: Add a blog post to your reading list. Save an item to your wishlist. Add work tasks to follow up on.
- Plan your day: Quickly organize your tasks for the day right from the extension.
- Complete tasks from the browser: Once your tasks are done, check them off without switching context.
FocusGuard
FocusGuard is a FREE site blocker to enhance productivity.
Set a time limit for distracting sites. When you reach the limit, a block goes into place. That means you still get to check your feed now and then, just not for too long or too often.
Site blocker is designed to help you stay focused on studying, learning, and working. Blocks all time-westing websites to keep you productive and away from all the distractions the internet offers.
To use a site blocker, set a password, decide which websites you want access to, and let the site blocker block the rest. If you want to visit a site you have blocked, enter your password, and decide how long you want to be on the blocked site.
If you’re a parent, you can set the password for your child. Or, if you’d like to use it yourself, have a friend or partner put it for you to help you concentrate.
And voila! You now have a set of internet guardrails that help to help you stay productive and on task whether you’re studying, remote learning, or need an extra boost of self-control to finish a project.
Features
- Block sites, including its subdomains Remove all distracting and harmful websites from your life by blocking them for you while you need to stay focused and productive
- Allowlist Add exceptions to the blocked websites list. Sites from this list avoid all blocking settings.
- Focus mode The focus mode timer lets you control your schedule via the Pomodoro technique. Break down your tasks into intervals followed by a short break. With ‘Focus Mode,’ you can set times to disable websites and browse freely.
- Time management Show how many work cycles you completed during a session. So you’ll be able to get all your tasks done and still have time to browse your favourite sites and apps in between.
- Password protection If you start focus mode, you can stop it with a passcode of your choosing, making it harder to procrastinate. You can also password-protect the options page to keep you from efficiently removing sites from your list.
- Unstoppable focus mode Select the option to hide the pause and stop buttons in the extension settings. And you won't be able to stop blocking sites until the block time expires.
- Funny blocked page You will now see funny images if you are trying to enter a blocked site. To do this, you need to enable this option in the site blocking settings. You will still not be able to enter the blocked site, but perhaps a funny picture will make you smile :))
Summary
In our digital world, maintaining productivity often means managing online distractions, staying organized, and taking mindful breaks. Each of these Chrome extensions—Block Site, StayFocusd, Unhook, Todoist, and FocusGuard—offers unique ways to enhance your workflow, whether by blocking unproductive sites, limiting time on distractions, organizing tasks, or reminding you to take breaks. By incorporating these tools into your daily routine, you can take control of your focus, boost your efficiency, and make each day more productive. Try them out to see which combination works best for you!