Task Cat vs What Now
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Task Cat
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Make room for a little focus, with cats for company. Task Cat is a cozy focus timer for study, work, and reading. Choose one thing to work on, set your time, and settle into a hand-drawn cat café. A small session is a good place to start. FOCUS AT YOUR PACE • Set a session from 5 to 90 minutes, with pause and resume. • Take a 5-minute break after a completed session, then start another when you are ready. • Choose Study, Work, Reading, or another activity and set a daily time goal. SEE YOUR SMALL STEPS ADD UP • Look back at daily records, weekly and monthly charts, and time by activity. • Follow your progress on a paw-print calendar and see your completed-session streak. • Keep the time you worked, even when you finish a session early. YOUR QUIET CAT COMPANY • Meet three café cats and occasional visitors. • Watch them stretch, groom, play, and find a cozy place to nap. • Get closer with the in-app camera, save favorite moments to your journal, and share a café photo. • Bring cat widgets to your Home Screen. A CAFÉ WITH YOUR OWN LITTLE TOUCHES Use coins for toys, food, treats, beds, and cushions. Shop items are consumable: each play or feeding uses one item. Placing a bed or cushion uses one from your inventory; it stays until you remove or replace it. Moving it costs nothing extra. Removed or replaced furniture does not return to your inventory. You can try furniture before buying it for free. The basic timer, café, and progress tracking are free. Every 240 minutes of completed focus sessions earns 1 coin, with time carried over between sessions. Breaks, paused time, and sessions ended early do not earn coins. Optional in-app purchases add 1, 3, or 8 coins. These are consumable purchases, not subscriptions. Coins do not expire. No account registration or ads. Records, photos, coins, and items are stored on your device. There is no account sync or purchase-history restoration of your coin balance after reinstalling the app or changing devices. Start with one small session. Your café companions are waiting. Privacy Policy: https://taskcat.site/en/privacy Terms of Use: https://taskcat.site/en/terms Contact: info@lumo.tokyo Support: https://taskcat.site/en/support Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
What Now
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What Now puts your day on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. While an event is on, it shows what it is and how long is left. When it ends, it counts down the free time until the next one. You don't have to keep the app open. It reads the calendars already on your iPhone, including iCloud, Google, Exchange, and Outlook accounts you've added in Settings. There's nothing to sign up for and nothing to set up beyond choosing a calendar. YOUR DAY, AT A GLANCE • Now: the current event, its location, and a progress bar for the time left • Free time: a countdown to your next event, or just when it starts • Next and After: what's coming up, so you're never caught off guard • A small pixel critter walks the progress bar, and naps when nothing's on KEEPS UP WITH A REAL CALENDAR • Back-to-back events go straight from one to the next • Overlapping events are handled: a meeting inside a focus block takes over while it runs, and the others show as "Also now" • All-day events and invitations you haven't accepted stay out of the way • Hide any single event with one tap in the agenda • Long days and tomorrow morning are scheduled ahead, so the Live Activity starts on its own an hour before your first event EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK • Lock Screen and StandBy • Dynamic Island, on iPhone models that have it • Apple Watch Smart Stack and CarPlay, where your iPhone shows Live Activities • An agenda in the app for today and the next two days NO NEED TO OPEN THE APP • Tap the critter on the Lock Screen to check the calendar again • "Check the Calendar" is a Shortcuts action, and a built-in guide sets up an automation that keeps the Live Activity current every day WHAT NOW PRO What Now is free to use with one calendar. What Now Pro is a one-time in-app purchase, not a subscription, and adds: • Join: one tap from the Lock Screen or Dynamic Island into a Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, or FaceTime call, and more • Follow every calendar at once: work, personal, and shared • Choose when the Live Activity appears, from 15 minutes to 2 hours before your first event • Hide events by keyword, like "Lunch" or "Focus" • Include "Maybe" events and unanswered invitations • The Bubbly theme, in light and dark, and options for what the Live Activity shows PRIVACY What Now only reads your calendar, on your iPhone. It never adds, changes, or deletes events, and your calendar data stays on your device. It has no account. Anonymous usage counts, such as which settings are used, help improve the app. They never include calendar data, and you can turn them off in Settings. Questions or ideas? Use Contact Support in Settings → About. Help explains each feature with short animations. Privacy Policy: https://emadrahman.github.io/whatnow-site/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support: https://emadrahman.github.io/whatnow-site/support.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: What Now at none against Task Cat's 3. Task Cat's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 27.0). On price, ads and device support 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. Task Cat sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. What Now asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Task Cat | What Now |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 27.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Taro Ueno | Emadur Rahman |
In-app purchases
Task Cat
- 1 Coin$1.99
- 3 Coins$5.99
- 8 Coins$14.99
What Now
No in-app purchases









