LONDON: Getting distracted by your smartphone? An app called Offtime helps you get rid of apps and notifications at a time when you need to focus on important work.

The app also prevents people from contacting you unless in an emergency.

Offtime was developed by a Berlin-based psychologist Alexander Steinhart, who recently commissioned a study on smartphone usage at the Humboldt University' Institute of Psychology.

The app "helps you to focus and to unplug when work is over - thanks to smart app blocking, communications filter and insights into your smartphone usage," said the website of the app.

When you are with your near and dear ones, who need your particular attention, Offtime helps you get rid of apps or notifications, added the website.

"In addition, it appears that conscious 'Offtime' positively affects work, since motivation rises. Consequently, this usually leads to higher productivity," Daily Mail quoted professor Annekatrin Hoppe of the Humbolt University as saying.