How does Focusmate match me with a partner?
When you book a session at a given time, we match you with another person who has also booked a session at that time. While doing this, we keep track of everyone’s matching preferences: avoiding people they have snoozed or blocked, and those that don’t match their gender preference, if any. At the same time, we prioritize matching people who are: doing the same task, share a group, and are Favorites. As people are constantly booking (and canceling) sessions it’s possible that we’ll have to find you a new match if your previous partner had to cancel or got another match (see below).
I saw person X on the calendar at the 4pm 25-minute slot and when I booked that session I was matched with person Y instead. Why?
For any given time there's several people that have requested a partner. For example, if you see Rachel on the 4pm 25-minute slot, it means that she is available and could be your session partner. After you've booked the session, it is possible that she is still available and will be matched with you. However, it is also possible that we will match you with another community member. There’s a few reasons why this happens: someone Rachel shares a group with might have requested a session just then or someone who has Favorited Rachel might have done a locked-in booking with her. In both cases, Rachel will become unavailable and we will find you another partner.
What is the Partner panel?
The Partner panel is a panel showing information about your potential partners for a given session time. You can access the Partner panel by hovering over or selecting a slot on the calendar and then pressing the ‘More’ button (or the three-dot icon on smaller screens).
The panel will look different based on who’s available at that particular time:
One person: If you see one person, they are your most likely match. If the person is one of your Favorites but you don't see a lock icon on the Book button, this means that this person has not shared their Availability and you're not able to do a locked-in booking with them. You can still book the session and we'll try to match you with them.
Community icon: If you only see the Community icon, it means that we haven't determined who your most likely partner will be—just book the session and we'll match you with the next available Focusmate member.
One or more of your Favorites: Whenever you see one of your Favorites along with the Community icon, it means that you can do a locked-in booking with that person. If there's multiple Favorites available, you can choose who you want to book with, just select them and press the Book button.
What does the lock icon on the Book button represent?
When you see a lock on the Book button in the Partner panel, it means that you can book a locked-in session with the selected person. You can book locked-in sessions with people you’ve Favorited if their Availability setting allows. If you don’t see the lock icon when you select a Favorite partner, it means that they haven’t shared their availability.
