CATCH THE GHOST®

Focus sessions

The digital hourglass

The digital hourglass is the face of a Deep Focus session. The apparition's picture is drawn as a grid of dots that fills in as time passes, and tapping it lets you peek at the time left.

  • Available on iPhone and Android

What is the digital hourglass?

The digital hourglass is how Catch the Ghost shows time passing during a Deep Focus session. Instead of a number draining away, the picture of the apparition you are catching is drawn across the whole screen as a grid of round dots. The grid fills in as the session runs, so a glance tells you how far through you are, and when the timer ends the full picture is revealed.

A session begins with the plain countdown for a few seconds. Then the countdown fades and the hourglass takes over. The dots appear in no fixed order, which is why the picture emerges in scattered patches rather than top to bottom.

What does it look like as a session goes on?

Early on the screen is mostly black with a scattering of dim dots, and only color and shape appear as the dots accumulate. By the halfway point the apparition is recognizable in patches, and near the end only a few black gaps remain. The shots below follow one painting at five points through a session. In a 25 minute session these are roughly one and a quarter minutes in, then six, twelve and a half, nineteen and nearly twenty-four minutes.

A full-screen grid of dots on black with only a scattering of dim brown, red and cream dots filled in.
At 5 percent only a few dots have filled in.
A dot grid on black with clusters of dots forming, crimson areas on the left and pale skin tones at the upper right beginning to suggest a painting.
At 25 percent color patches begin to appear.
A dot grid about half filled in, with a pale face at the upper right, crimson velvet on the left and a golden lute shape at the lower left between black gaps.
At 50 percent the apparition is taking shape.
A dot grid mostly filled in, with a young musician's face, a crimson robe and a gold lute clear and only scattered black gaps left.
At 75 percent the picture is clear and gaps remain.
A dot grid almost complete, showing a young musician in a crimson robe with a golden lute and a few black cells still unfilled.
At 95 percent almost every dot is in place.

How do I peek at the time left?

Tap anywhere on the hourglass. The countdown fades in over a blurred, darkened version of the picture, together with your remaining one minute exits, the Set a Tag button and the control for ending the session. About five seconds later the hourglass comes back on its own.

The first tap only peeks, and a second tap is needed to reach a control. If you want to set a tag, tap the hourglass and then tap the control while the countdown is still showing. For the first 10 seconds of a session the button at the bottom reads Cancel and ends the session at no cost. After that it ends the session for real, and the apparition you were catching gets away, as described in Deep Focus, start to finish.

A countdown reading 12:30 over a heavily blurred, darkened dot picture, with pin, mode and headphones buttons at the top, an exits badge reading 3 x 1 min, a Set a Tag button and an outlined end-session button.
Tap the hourglass to peek at the time left; it returns on its own.

What happens when the hourglass is full?

When the countdown reaches zero the picture sharpens into the whole apparition and the chapter appears over it. The chapter is a Quote, a Story or an Image, and it is yours to keep. The dots on the hourglass are only the way the picture is revealed; what you catch is the chapter itself.

If you leave the app while the hourglass is running, your grace period starts counting down, and returning in time lets the session carry on. Stakes and grace periods explains how many exits you have and what happens when they run out.