Productivity Owl

Want to be productive? Let the Productivity Owl guide you to accomplishment.
What is Productivity Owl?
'Productivity Owl' is a Chrome extension meant to act as an aid for personal productivity. It features an owl which constantly navigates through your browser, providing guidance and criticism. The owl sets work structures, enforces task completion, and conducts psychological exercises. It has three types of website categorization, a task manager, and access to browsing statistics. It is 100% open source and does not use data collectors or trackers.

Extension stats

Users: 7,000+
Version: 2.0.3 (Last updated: 2021-03-16)
Creation date: 2017-08-30
Risk impact: High risk impact
Risk likelihood: Very low risk likelihood
Manifest version: 2
Permissions:
  • http://fonts.googleapis.com/
  • https://fonts.googleapis.com/
  • tabs
  • history
  • unlimitedStorage
  • alarms
Size: 4.90M

Other platforms

Not available on Firefox
Productivity Owl (v2.0.2)
3.50 (2) 211
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Extension summary

*** WARNING: This extension is very annoying. The owl is flying across your pages, annoying you, criticizing you, giving you psychological exercises, and closing your tabs. If you are not serious about being productive, this extension may not be for you.***

Do you need a new boss when working from home? Meet the Productivity Owl.

The owl is very strict. He will berate and mock you. You'll be forced to complete tasks to earn break time. If you do consistent work, use the timeboxing scheduler for work/vacation, and complete the owl's psychological exercises then you might be able to earn the owl's respect.

Just like the first version, the owl has 3 types of websites: Allowed, Blocked and Countdown. If a website is not on the allowed/blocked lists, you'll get a certain amount of time to get the information you need before the owl closes the tab. You can still use the scheduler to schedule free-time, and now you can also schedule work time. Version 2.0 introduced a task manager, and you get rewarded break minutes for each task you complete. There are also psychological interventions and browsing statistics in this version.

Although it is technically possible to earn the owl's respect - it's highly unlikely. The owl is very judgmental. It may take years before anyone earns the owl's "ultimate respect." Of course if you uninstall the extension or disable it, all respect is lost.

*************** APACHE 2.0 LICENSE OPEN SOURCE *************** Since this extension is on every webpage you visit, I wanted to let everyone know there are NO TRACKERS or DATA COLLECTORS in the owl. The owl is 100% open source. You can view the source code on Github: https://github.com/mrieck/productivityowl

*Thanks to everyone who has been using the Productivity Owl over the years. He's been helping me be productive for the last 8 years. Hope he can help you too.

User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.
Pros
  • Helps improve productivity
  • Easy to use
  • Effective at blocking distractions
  • Gamification elements like the task manager are appreciated
  • Provides browsing statistics
Cons
  • Invasive behavior that can lead to loss of data
  • Limited exceptions for whitelisted sites
  • 3-minute timer for unlisted sites is frustrating
  • Requires the use of built-in task creator for rewards
  • Lack of personalization options
Most mentioned
  • Problems with the 3-minute timer
  • Invasiveness and data loss
  • Need for more customization options
  • Difficulty managing whitelisted and blacklisted sites
  • Gamification not meeting user needs
User reviews
VERY IMPORTANT!!! PLEASE READ The main complaint I saw in the reviews was that there was no way to automatically whitelist all websites, making it hard to research and use your computer normally. In reality, all you have to do is enter this into the list of whitelisted websites: .com .org .edu and so on and so forth. every single website ending in any of those three letters will automatically be whitelisted. Hope this helps!!!
by Lucia Liu, 2024-11-14

muito bom

I cant even say how its helped me!! Thank you!! How can i donate for this!!
by Hozifa Hmd, 2024-10-02
View all user reviews

Extension safety

Risk impact

Productivity Owl requires some sensitive permissions that could impact your browser and data security. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk likelihood

Productivity Owl has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

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Promo images

Productivity Owl small promo image
Small promo image

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