Webcam Focus Detection: The Pomodoro Timer That Knows When You Drift

LiquidFocus looks for a face in the camera frame on the computer at your desk but does not follow eye direction toward the screen. A running work timer records an interruption and pauses for a face outside the frame through the 5 second default you chose. The pause from that missing face resumes when the face returns to the same frame on the same work timer. A pause you started with the pause button stays in place on your return to the chair.

The switch, the trial, and the frames

The camera check stays off on a fresh install until you enable the switch in settings. The homepage calls the check a Pro feature inside the 14 days of Pro bundled with the download. Each frame is examined on the computer, then thrown away, with no video file left behind and no video leaving the machine. Windows 10 and Windows 11 light the camera lamp, plus a taskbar glyph, during any use of the camera.

Timer lengths and the site list

The usual timer is 25 minutes of work beside 5 minutes of break, then a 15 minute longer break following 4 work sessions. Breaks sit still unless you enable automatic breaks in the timer settings. In a live work session, a helper on 127.0.0.1 tells the PeakFlow browser extension the sites to refuse. The usual names are YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Netflix, Twitter, plus X. Refusal ends with that work session rather than covering every program on the PC. A Todoist task can ride along on the session. The site list never looks for a face. A missing face does not extend the refusal past the session.

A face still in the picture

A face kept inside the frame leaves the work timer running, second monitor, paper notebook, or phone included. The wait begins at the moment the face exits the frame, a sharp head turn or an empty chair. Past that wait, the live work timer records the interruption and pauses. The halt lifts once the face occupies the frame again.

From the installer to the first session

Get the PeakFlow installer, open LiquidFocus from the tray icon, and enable the switch named Webcam Focus Detection. Say yes to the camera when Windows requests permission for it. Begin the work session only with that switch already enabled. Remain outside the frame past the wait, 5 seconds unless you stored another number, to see the pause and the interruption. Come back into the frame to lift that same pause. Leave the switch disabled to keep the 25 minute session, the 5 minute break, and the longer break following 4 sessions, camera unused.