PausePet vs Focus Cat
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PausePet
This app uses a virtual pet simulation to encourage reduced screen time. Your pet's well-being is tied to your daily device usage, with specific periods of the day impacting its mood and growth. Care for your pet, manage its environment, and earn rewards for achieving screen time goals.
- Virtual pet simulation
- Screen time tracking
- Pet care and growth mechanics
- Focus point collection
- In-app garden for progression
- Privacy-focused data handling
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PausePet is a pet simulator built to help you stay away from distracting apps on your phone. Your pet's mood and growth are dependent on the amount of screen time you have. PausePet is not a simple timer, but an ongoing simulation; if you scroll too much, your pet will get sad! HOW IT WORKS: PausePet reads device usage data on your phone and scores your screen time across three 8-hour periods each day: • Solar: 8:00am – 4:00pm • Ember: 4:00pm – 12:00am • Stillness: 12:00am – 8:00am Each period gets a score from 0 to 5. Those scores feed into your pet’s hunger, experience, leveling, and mood. Your pet is especially sensitive to phone use during Stillness hours. CARE FOR YOUR PET: Start with an egg. Warm it and tap it regularly until it hatches. After hatching, feed and pet your pet to keep it healthy and happy. Check in to collect focus points when you earn them. Going too long without care puts your pet at risk. Your pet’s emotions reflect a mix of recent usage scores and how well you’ve been caring for it. Level up by feeding, petting, and checking in over time. THE GARDEN: Scoring particularly well will give you the chance to collect seeds. Plant seeds in one of six garden plots. Active plants provide benefits until they reach the end of their lifespan, then you can harvest them. The garden will help you progress further in the world of PausePet, and give you even more reason to stay true to your screen time goals. PRIVACY: Your device usage data from other apps never leaves your device. PausePet uses it locally to calculate scores. Optional cloud backup saves pet progress if you create an account. REQUIREMENTS: PausePet needs Screen Time / Device Activity permission to track usage. On first launch you’ll choose which apps to monitor.
Focus Cat
This app helps you build healthier phone habits by rewarding focused sessions with in-app currency. Use earned coins to temporarily unlock distracting apps, while maintaining streaks and keeping a virtual cat happy.
- Guard distracting apps
- Earn coins for focus sessions
- Unlock apps with earned coins
- Track daily streaks
- View bypass history
- Daily goals and achievements
- Collectible cat companions
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Focus Cat helps you build better phone habits with a simple loop: focus first, earn screen time, and keep your cat happy. Choose the apps you want to guard, start a focus session, and earn coins when you complete it. Use those coins to unlock guarded apps for a limited time when you actually need them. If you bypass your guard, your streak resets and your cat gets sad. If you stay consistent, your streak grows and your cat thrives. Features: - Guard distracting apps with Screen Time - Complete focus sessions to earn coins - Spend coins to temporarily unlock guarded apps - Track your daily streak and weekly progress - View bypass history so you can see what pulled you away - Daily goals and achievements for extra motivation - Cute collectible cat companions Focus Cat is built for people who want a gentler, more playful way to reduce mindless scrolling and protect their attention.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: PausePet at 5.0 against Focus Cat's 4.0. PausePet also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Focus Cat's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 8 days). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Focus Cat sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. PausePet asks for nothing beyond the download.
PausePet holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 3 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
PausePet ships an update every 8 days, Focus Cat every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PausePet | Focus Cat |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better | 4.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 47 MB | 96 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Joshua Desmond | Jedidiah Kyle Julian |
Customer experience
PausePet
Focus Cat
In-app purchases
PausePet
No in-app purchases
Focus Cat
- Lifetime Access$2.99









