Croissant
Focus with a calmer companion.
Croissant is a focus timer for iPhone and iPad. A sleepy dachshund keeps you company while you work, wakes up when it is time to move, and never turns a missed timer into a failure. The timer is free to use. Key lock, which keeps your chosen apps asleep until you walk over and show Croissant something you own, is an optional purchase.
A Timer That Lets You Keep Going
Most focus timers treat the clock as a command. When time runs out, they tell you to stop, even when you have finally found your rhythm. Croissant treats the timer as a suggestion. The milestone arrives, the dog stirs, and you decide whether to take a break or keep working.
The result is a focus tool that gives your day some shape without making every minute feel supervised.
What Croissant does
- Flexible focus and break milestones. Start with a useful rhythm, then continue, pause, or switch modes when it makes sense for you.
- A quiet companion. Croissant sleeps, stretches, and wakes as your session changes. The animation makes time visible without filling the screen with numbers.
- Optional Focus Shield. Choose distracting apps to cover during focus. They return when your break begins. Nothing is deleted, and the feature is always optional.
- Key lock, an optional purchase. Turn a favorite book, a fridge magnet, or a bakery ticket you design and print into the key for your phone. Your chosen apps stay asleep until you get up, walk over, and show it to Croissant. No gadget to buy.
- A simple view of today. See the time you spent focusing and resting as a daily rhythm, balance, or session list. You can turn history off at any time.
- Your own setup. Pick a backdrop, rename Focus and Break, choose when the dog sleeps, and place Croissant where you want.
- Useful beyond the app. Widgets and Live Activities keep the current session visible from the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Dynamic Island.
What is free, and what is not
The focus timer, the companion, Focus Shield, backdrops, Today history, widgets, and Live Activities are free to use, with no ads.
Key lock is optional and paid. Turn it on with the Bakery Pass, a one-time purchase, or with a monthly subscription that starts with a 14-day free trial and renews automatically until you cancel it in your Apple Account settings. If your key is out of reach, a croissant wakes your apps from wherever you are. The Bakery Pass includes five croissants, the subscription tops you up to three each month, and extra bags of croissants are sold in the app. Walking over to your key is always free. Prices are shown in the App Store before you buy, and Apple handles every purchase.
If a subscription ends, Key lock turns off and any apps it was holding wake up. The timer stays free.
Private
Croissant has no account, no ads, and no analytics. Your settings, optional history, Focus Shield choices, and your key stay on your device. The app has no server and does not send the developer your data.
The Book Behind the App
Built by Chris Weiss, who is also writing The Last Bites.
The real Croissant is Das, a dachshund who sleeps beside Chris while he writes. Das curls into a near-perfect circle for most of the day. When he finally gets up to stretch, it is a good reminder that the person at the keyboard should probably do the same.
The app borrows that rhythm. Work while the dog sleeps. Move when he moves. Then settle in again.
Want to meet the story written beside him? Read the first three chapters.
Support
Questions, feedback, or something not working? Email chris@insearchofacity.com.