Many applications available for Linux only focus on just one or at most a limited number of related simple tasks. Although simple and functionally sometimes limited, these applications can still be powerful and important to your productivity workflow. In the past, I paid little attention to these kinds of single-task applications from a blogger’s perspective because there is relatively little to write about. However, I realized I was not giving these small but often powerful tools the attention they deserve. So with this article about the Blanket app, I am continuing my Mini Review series. Blanket is a simple but powerful ambient noise app for Linux that can help maintain focus while being productive.
Content of this article
- What is Blanket
- How does Blanket work
- How to download and install Blanket
- Final words
What is Blanket
Every person is different in many ways, but various studies have shown that many people respond the same to certain types of sound, while performing knowledge work or tasks that require focus. For example, during my work or writing, I cannot listen to new unknown songs with artists singing, because the unknown lyrics distract me and force me to listen to the lyrics proportionately more than to continue to focus on the work that needs to be done, or the attention required to come up with new ideas. I can do better knowledge work if I play music with lyrics that I have known for years, as it doesn’t pull my attention. Instrumental music without lyrics works even better. However, I have learned that using ambient sounds, such as the presence of the sounds of rain, wind, and water, allows me to focus even better and maximize my productivity due to the absence of distracting sounds. These same ambient sounds also help me in the meditative or simply restful moments that I try to incorporate into my life.
Blanket is a simple application developed for Linux by Rafael Mardojai CM, that helps you gain and maintain focus during, for example, thinking, but also in situations where you just want to relax and do not want to be disturbed by unwanted ambient noise, or do not want absolute silence. Blanket offers options to play various ambient sounds, such as Birds, Boat, City, Coffee Shop, Fireplace, and Storm, separately or combined as background noise over your speakers or headphones, without the need to be online.
How does Blanket work
Let’s take a look at how the Blanket app works in practice.
Screen layout
When we start Blanket the first time, we see the following simple screen:
Here we see several options that can be activated, such as Summer Night, Boat, Fireplace, and Coffee Shop. You can simply activate one or more options by clicking on them one by one. You can then increase or decrease the volume of the activated options via the sliders visible below the sound icons, giving you full control over the mix of ambient sounds and the intensity per sound.
At the bottom of the screen, you have the option to adjust the mix of the sounds to your liking and adjust the overall sound level.
Further, you can pause the current ambient sound mix, hide inactive sounds, and save your ambient sound mix as a new preset, so you can play exactly the same mix next time. Via the main menu, you can select the option to keep playing while closed, so you can close the app and control the volume via the system tray sound icon.
When you have created one or more presets, you can select them at the left top of your screen.
Further, you have the option to add some extra sounds, which you can find abundantly on the internet, for example via Pixabay.
And it is nice that you can use Blanket without an internet connection, for absolute focus and distraction-free working.
How to download and install Blanket
You can download and install Blanket as a Flatpak-based app. There is also the option to install Blanket via an officially supported PPA (Personal Package Archive).
Flatpak
If you use a Linux distribution like Pop!_OS, Linux Mint, or Zorin OS, Flatpak support is offered out-of-the-box, so it is integrated into the system and in the Software application. Just go to the Software Center and search for Blanket to install it.
If your Linux distro doesn’t have Flatpak support yet, you can find out more about how to set up Flatpak support via the below button:
Read more about Flatpak support
When Flatpak support is set up correctly, next download Blanket from Flathub.
Now click on Install to download the .flatpakref file and double-click the downloaded file to install Blanket.
If you want to read more about managing your Flatpak-based apps, read my article “How to use Flatseal to modify and review Flatpak permissions in Linux“.
PPA
You can also install Blanket via the officially supported PPA.
1) Open the Terminal with the keyboard command Ctrl + Alt + T.
2) Type the below command followed by Enter:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/blanket3) Type the below command followed by Enter:
sudo apt-get update4) Type the below command followed by Enter:
sudo apt install blanket5) Now search Blanket via your application menu to start the application.
Note: According to the maintainer of this PPA, Blanket depends on recent versions of libadwaita, which can be an issue to run the newest version of Blanket in all versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distros. To run the latest version of Blanket the advice is to use Flatpak.
Final Words
I really appreciate these simple but powerful mini-apps for Linux. The purpose of such a small app is clear. It does exactly what it says it does and no more. They are fast, easy to understand, and if designed well, they’re easy to integrate into your Linux productivity workflow. And Blanket is one of these apps that ticks all the boxes of a simple, web-independent, distraction-solving productivity app for me.
If you have tips for other great single-task applications for which a mini-review is of value to other readers, please share your thoughts via the RealLinuxUser Contact page.
If you like to read my other Mini Reviews, use the below links:
- Mini review – Distraction-free writing with Blanket for Linux
- Mini review – Drop content anywhere with Collector
- Mini Review – Flatsweep cleaning app for Flatpak files
- Mini Review – Bavarder is a simple ChatGPT-based AI App for Linux
- Mini review – Metadata Cleaner is a simple but powerful metadata cleaner app for Linux
- Mini review – Frog is a simple but powerful text extraction tool for Linux
- Mini review – Annotator is a simple but powerful annotation tool for Linux
- Mini review – TextShine is a simple but powerful text modification tool for Linux
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