FocusCat vs Jeolmi
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
FocusCat
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You want to focus, but the phone keeps pulling you back. FocusCat is simple. Choose a length, start, put the phone down. Your cat stalks a butterfly on the screen while you work. Your cat hunts while you focus As the timer runs, your cat closes in on a butterfly. At first it just sits and watches, tail swishing. Then its eyes go wide as it takes aim, and it starts creeping closer. When time is up it snatches the butterfly with one paw. You can tell how far along you are from the cat's posture alone, without checking the clock. Your cat calls you when time is up When the session ends your cat meows until you tap the screen. Leave the phone face down and you still won't miss it. Leave the app and your focus breaks Switch to another app and the session is recorded as failed. There is a 25 second grace period for a mistapped notification or a short call, but stay away longer and your cat gives up waiting. That one rule is the whole app. Lofi plays while you focus A quiet loop runs in the background. One tap mutes it when you're somewhere you can't make noise. You decide the length Pick 15, 25, 45 or 60 minutes, or set your own from 1 minute up to 3 hours. A cat that grows with you Successful focus time adds up and your cat grows. No ads while you focus Ads appear only after a session ends. Nothing covers the screen while you're focusing. No account, no sign-in, no purchases. Free.
Jeolmi
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Jeolmi is a focus timer and to-do list with a small paper seal that copies whatever you write. Type "read chapter 4" and the seal picks up a book. Type "pay rent" and it brings a wallet (empty, it apologizes). Tap start, lock your phone, and the seal is on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, holding the prop next to your task while the timer runs. Every real 25 minutes of focus inks one grape on today's bunch. Checked-off tasks add grapes too, drawn dotted so you can tell them apart. Fill the day's grape slots and the seal sits up and claps. Once a day. What the seal does Ā· Copies your task with a paper prop, live as you type. There are 32 props to find, and the ones you find stay on your prop shelf. Ā· Stays on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island while you focus. Done, Pause and +5 work without opening the app. Ā· Says one dry line per state. It never coaches and never guilts. Ā· Wears what you give it: outfits, body colors, a four-slot desk. Outfits, desk items and two of the body colors cost Jelly, which you earn by focusing and finishing tasks. Nothing is random. Ā· Goes for a swim once today's grapes are filled and comes back with one line. If you take a few days off, it folds you a paper crane. It never counts the days you missed. Everything below is free Ā· Timer: count up with no cap, a 25-minute countdown, or any length from 5 to 240 minutes. Keeps running if the app is closed Ā· Tasks: tap to check one off, or make it timed and see today's minutes on it. Today, tomorrow, weekday routines, subjects with colors Ā· D-day: finals, SAT, ACT, custom dates, D+ after the day Ā· Widgets: Home Screen and Lock Screen, with today's tasks, grapes and your D-day. Check tasks off right on the widget Ā· Live Activity with the seal and your task, also in the Dynamic Island on iPhones that have one Ā· Stats: a month of grapes, hours per subject, days showed up, lifetime hours Share, if you want A card of today's grapes, a mirror card with your task and the prop, a transparent sticker of your seal for notes apps and Stories, and a three-second clip of the flop or the clap. Nothing is posted anywhere by itself. Quiet by design One note a day at most, in the seal's voice, at a time you pick (8 p.m. unless you change it). A heads-up when a countdown ends. Quiet Mode is one tap. Days showed up are counted, never used against you: two freezes refill on their own, and no message ever says something is at risk. Stays on your phone Everything stays on your phone. There is no sign-up and no email, and your tasks and records never leave the device unless you share a card yourself. The app sends only anonymous usage statistics, never what you write, to help improve it. Your records are part of your iPhone's own backup (iCloud Backup or a computer backup), so restoring or moving to a new iPhone brings them along. In English, Korean and Japanese: it follows your iPhone, and you can switch any time in Settings ā Language. Jeolmi is a spotted seal pup named after injeolmi, the Korean rice cake it resembles. It insists it is a seal, not a sea lion. This matters to it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Jeolmi at none against FocusCat's shown. FocusCat's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
FocusCat ships an update every 9 days, Jeolmi every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FocusCat | Jeolmi |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 6 days ā better |
| Ads | Yes | No ā better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod ā better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 ā better | 26.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hyeok Kwon | Jaewook Jung |
In-app purchases
FocusCat
No in-app purchases
Jeolmi
No in-app purchases






