Catena FAQ

Download Catena on the App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android.

No. Friends can invite you to a study room and you can use Catena on the web without one. You'll need an account only to save your progress.

Yes. Core features, including the focus timer and the Cat Café, are free. Optional in-app purchases and a Catena Pro subscription, which adds data analytics, are also available.

A time-management method: 25 minutes of focused work followed by a 5-minute break, created by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. Research on it specifically for ADHD is limited, but some studies suggest adapted versions can improve focus, with one finding up to a 27% improvement, largely because the timer acts as an external cue for time blindness.

That said, many ADHD adults actually focus better in longer 45-60 minute blocks, since it can take 20-40 minutes to reach real focus. Effectiveness varies by person.

Yes. Both the focus length and break length are customizable, with focus sessions up to 120 minutes.

You get a "failed dish." The recipe or food inventory you were cooking during that session is lost.

Stopwatch Mode is an alternative to the fixed timer where you focus for as long as you want. You need at least 5 minutes of focus to earn a dish, and a single stopwatch session can't run longer than 2 hours.

Choose to block all apps, except essentials like Messages and Phone, or select specific apps like Instagram, TikTok, or other social media to block during your focus session.

Each focus session earns you a random batch of ingredients. Buy recipes from the store, then combine your ingredients to bake them. You can feed the finished dishes to the cats.

Tap the Decorate button in the café.

Coins are earned proportional to your focus time. Studying with friends in multiplayer adds a 1.5x coin multiplier to encourage social studying.

Yes. Only the person creating the study session needs the app. Friends they invite can join and study on the web without downloading it.

Cats visit at different frequencies depending on their personality and sensitivity level. Feeding them the right dishes, and enough of them, keeps them coming back. Your café's deco score, based on how much you've decorated, also increases visit frequency. Each cat has its own personality and favorite dishes.

Sync your contacts, share your invite link, or search for friends by their unique ID (UID).

Yes. You can spectate friends' cafés and see how they've decorated them.

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