Focus that rewards you.
A historical figure joins your collection. A quote enters your library. Coins added, XP added, streak extended. Finish the session and you end it richer.
A Pomodoro app, reimagined for the modern attention economy
The Pomodoro timer that catches ghosts.
Every 25-minute session reveals a mind that changed history, pixel by pixel. An innovative Pomodoro timer that rewires your brain for deep work. Built for ADHD brains that rigid timers fail.
Why Catch the Ghost
Stakes without shame.
Brains rewire through feeling. A focus loop without consequences is a loop without teeth. Catch a ghost and you end the session richer. Bail early and you lose a sliver of your coins. Miss a day and your streak resets. These consequences are deliberate, small, and quickly recoverable. The feelings are real. The stakes are virtual. The pressure nudges. It never scolds.
A Pomodoro timer that adapts to your brain.
25 minutes is a suggestion, not a law. Switch between Deep Focus and Shallow Focus. Choose from 13 moods. Build the loop that fits your day.
Replace scrolling with collecting.
Your phone is engineered to hold your attention. We engineer it back. 600+ ghosts to catch and counting, from Seneca to Ada Lovelace.
The digital hourglass
Time, without the ticking clock.
A Pomodoro doesn't have to feel like a countdown. In Catch the Ghost, time reveals itself as an image. One pixel appears, then another, then another. No seconds blinking in your face, no dread as the number shrinks. By the end of 25 minutes, a ghost has arrived in your library.
Calmer for any focused mind. A quiet relief for ADHD ones.
Why it works
Anti-scroll, by design
We make staying off your phone rewarding.
Your phone is a slot machine of dopamine hits. Catch the Ghost is the counter-offer: a focus loop that actually competes. Pixel by pixel, apparition by apparition, a historical figure reveals themselves while you work.
Meet the ghosts · 600+ and counting
Every focus session, meet a mind that changed history.
600+ historical figures to catch across Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary eras, with new ones arriving every week. Seneca. Ada Lovelace. Frederick Douglass. Queen Elizabeth I. Each one arrives as an apparition, pixel by pixel, over the length of a focus session.
Explore the libraryTwo modes. 13 moods.
Pick the mode and the mood that fits your day.
Not every task needs 25 uninterrupted minutes, and not every Monday morning feels the same. Catch the Ghost gives you two focus modes and 13 moods, so the timer bends to your brain instead of the other way around.
Shallow Focus
Inbox, errands, admin. Short bursts that still earn coins and keep your streak alive. No ghosts in Shallow — ghosts are reserved for Deep Focus — but Shallow saves the working minutes you'd otherwise lose entirely.
Deep Focus
Writing, coding, studying, strategy. Long uninterrupted intervals. Ghosts are only caught in Deep Focus. Pro unlocks Sleep Timer so a full night counts toward your library.
- Lucky
- Happy
- Sad
- Musical
- Artistic
- Spiritual
- Comedic
- In Love Pro
- Poetic Pro
- Anxious Pro
- Courageous Pro
- Ambitious Pro
- Curious Pro
Antidote pairs
- Sad Happy
- Anxious Courageous
13 moods
Before a session, pick the mood that fits. The apparition you catch is shaped by it. Two of the thirteen run as emotional antidotes so the app can meet you where you are.
Earn your way into the Store
Focus earns coins. Coins unlock packs.
Every focus session earns coins. Spend them in the in-app Store on themed ghost packs: Great Strategists, Actors, Famous Japanese, Great Authors, and more arriving every month. Keep your streak and you earn more coins per session, so the Store is earnable, not just purchasable. The premium tier is for convenience, not for access.
See how pricing works
Common questions
Answers, up front.
Everything we get asked most often, answered without marketing throat-clearing. For the full list, the FAQ page has more.
Does the Pomodoro technique work for ADHD?
Yes, when the timer is flexible. Traditional 25-minute-only Pomodoro fails many ADHD brains because rigid intervals ignore energy state and task type. Catch the Ghost lets you switch between Deep Focus and Shallow Focus and choose from 13 moods, so the timer adapts to you instead of the other way around. See the ADHD page for details.
How is Catch the Ghost different from Forest?
Forest grows a tree that dies if you leave the app. Catch the Ghost rewards you with a historical figure, a quote, coins, and XP every time you finish a focus session. No dying tree, no blame, no onboarding that tells you you have wasted your life. If you leave mid-session the ghost escapes and a small coin cost applies, but a 60-second grace window gives you time to come back first. Our pricing is transparent: monthly, annual, or a $99.99 founding-member lifetime. See the Forest comparison for a full breakdown.
Is Catch the Ghost free?
Yes. The Free tier includes the Pomodoro timer, the ghost-catching loop, free moods, and the leaderboard. Every focus session also earns you coins you can spend in the in-app Store on themed ghost packs. Keep your streak and you earn more coins per session, so even the Store is reachable without paying. Subscribing is for convenience, not for access.
Can a focus app really help with phone addiction?
Not by blocking. Blocking apps fail because you can always uninstall them. Catch the Ghost works by giving your focus a reward loop that competes with the dopamine your phone already offers. When putting the phone down earns you something you actually want, picking it back up starts to feel like a worse trade.
What is the difference between Deep Focus and Shallow Focus?
Deep Focus is for heavy cognitive work: writing, coding, studying, any task that benefits from uninterrupted time. Shallow Focus is for admin and low-stakes work: inbox, errands, quick chores. Both modes catch ghosts and earn coins. Choosing the right mode for the task is part of the product.
Does Catch the Ghost block other apps?
No. We do not block, lock, or restrict anything on your phone. Our thesis is that reward works better than restriction. You can always put the phone down; we just give you a reason to.
Pricing, in plain English
Three ways in. Zero dark patterns.
Use the app for free forever, subscribe for convenience, or lock in the founding-member lifetime price before it goes public. Apple handles the billing, we never do.
Free
$0
Pomodoro timer, ghost-catching, free moods, leaderboard, the full coin economy. Earn your way into premium content by focusing.
Most popular
Pro
$2.92/mo
7-day free trial (3 days monthly). Then $34.99/yr, or $4.99/mo monthly.
Legendary Ghosts, Premium Moods, Sleep Timer (10x coins), Ghost Universe, Full History. Cancel anytime in one tap.
Founding member price
Lifetime
$99.99
Pay once. Yours forever.
Everything in Pro, for people who are tired of subscriptions. Launching soon at the founding-member price.
From the App Store
Reviewed by the focused.
Amazing App!
Pokémon for adults in the best way possible. Enjoy the design aesthetic of the pixelation, quotes, and simple and effective UI.
I get more work done!
This app has improved my productivity by at least x2. I now get more work done and use less time on my phone scrolling through social media endlessly when I should be working.
Ingenious idea!
Makes me excited to stay off my phone, to see what ghost I'll be catching next, and to read what that ghost has to say!
Fantastic utility
The only app I've found that FORCES you to lock in, by tracking when you leave the app, which can't be circumvented. Very clever idea! I also like that you can customize which ghosts you meet.
Best Focus Timer
I've been using focus timers for a while and stumbled across this on Reddit. I've never come across a focus timer that was this much fun to use and made me feel this good getting work done.
A great tool for productivity!
The focus timer in the app has helped me stay on track to complete my tasks, and the design of the timer and the corresponding catching apparitions concept with artworks is unique and well done.
The mission
We give your focus a reason to stay.
We don't block your phone. We don't shame you for picking it up. We give your focus a reason to stay, and we make the reward worth the wait. Every 25 minutes of deep work, a mind that changed history joins your collection. Catch enough ghosts, and you stop noticing the scroll.