A focus timer with rain, café, fireplace, and more.
StudySalary pairs a gamified focus timer with five built-in ambient sound loops. Pick your environment, start your session, earn virtual salary when you finish, then invest it to grow a cozy Study City — and study like the world outside doesn't exist.
Free · No sign-up required · 5 ambient loops + Spotify
— Market
Five ambient loops built in — plus your Spotify
Rain
Steady rainfall. Softens distractions, easy to tune out.
Café
Low hum of a coffee shop. Familiar background noise without the conversation.
Birds
Morning birdsong. Calm, natural, and unobtrusive.
Fireplace
Crackling fire. Warm and grounding for long study sessions.
Ocean
Rolling waves. Slow rhythm that's easy to work alongside.
Your Spotify
Prefer your own lo-fi? Embed Spotify directly on the focus page alongside the timer — layered with ambient sounds or solo.
Not a YouTube playlist.
Lo-fi YouTube streams are great until an ad plays, an algorithm recommendation pulls you in, or the stream ends mid-session. StudySalary's ambient loops are purpose-built for the focus session: no ads, no rabbit holes, no interruptions. The sound runs exactly as long as your session — and the room window visualizes it.
Oh — and you get paid. Every completed session earns virtual salary at your chosen rate, which you can invest in a simulated portfolio of real stock tickers.
The bigger picture
Your study economy.
Your focus becomes income.
Your income becomes investments.
Your investments become a city.
Your city becomes a reason to come back.
Study with your cat
Earn salary
Invest earnings
Grow your city
Decorate & repeat
Who it's for
Anyone who studies better with background sound.
Silence is too loud. Lyrics are too distracting. These loops hit the middle — purposeful background noise that disappears once you're in flow.
Questions about the ambient sounds
- Are the ambient sounds free?
- Yes. All five loops — rain, café, birds, fireplace, and ocean — are bundled with the app at no cost. No subscription, no account required. They stream directly from the app with no ads or interruptions.
- What ambient sound is best for studying?
- It depends on your task and environment. Rain and ocean work well for deep reading or writing — steady, maskable noise. Café works for tasks that benefit from mild stimulation (practice problems, flashcards). Fireplace is grounding for long sessions. Birds are light and unobtrusive for early mornings. The best approach is to try each one for a session and see what your brain adapts to.
- Why do ambient sounds help with focus?
- Research on noise and cognition suggests that moderate ambient noise (~70 dB, roughly a café) can enhance creative and abstract thinking by slightly increasing mental arousal without becoming distracting. The effect varies by person and task type, but steady, non-speech backgrounds tend to mask sudden distracting sounds better than silence does.
- Can I use Spotify instead?
- Yes. StudySalary includes a Spotify embed card on the focus page so you can play your own playlists alongside the timer. The ambient sounds and Spotify player are independent — you can use one or the other, or mix both.
- Do sounds keep playing during breaks?
- Yes. The ambient sound player is independent of the timer phase, so it continues through breaks and between sessions unless you pause it manually. The room window scene changes to match the sound you're playing.
- Does the Focus Room scene change with the sound I pick?
- Yes. The window backdrop in the Focus Room is synchronized to your ambient choice: grey sky and raindrops for rain, warm café glow for café, bright morning sun for birds, amber warmth for fireplace, and a blue-green sky for ocean. The visuals and audio reinforce the same mood.
- Can I play ambient sounds and Spotify at the same time?
- Yes — the ambient player and Spotify embed are separate controls, so you can layer them. Some people like rain + a lo-fi playlist for texture; others prefer one or the other. Both run in the background while the timer counts down.
Your Salary Cat is waiting to clock in.
No sign-up. No credit card. Start studying — and earning — in under a minute.
Simulated salary & investments — no real cash value. Market data delayed. Not financial advice.