For students

The study timer that pays in history.

Put your phone down and start a Deep Focus session. While you study, a chapter of history paints itself in, dot by dot. Finish and the chapter is yours, plus coins and XP. Quit early and it gets away.

A Story chapter in the Catch the Ghost app: a color photograph of Alexander Fleming at his laboratory bench, the label Alexander Fleming and 1943, a passage beginning By the spring of 1944, vials of a strange amber liquid are crossing the Channel by the crate, a More link, and a Continue button.

Three deadlines. One timer.

Set a Deep Focus length, put the phone down, and catch a chapter when the timer ends. Start with 25 minutes. Go longer when the work needs it.

High school

Test tomorrow.

Chem notes open, 10:40 at night. Lock in for 25 minutes, phone down, and work the flashcards while Nefertari’s next chapter paints itself in. Four sessions, four chapters.

College

Essay due at nine.

Sunday, 11 pm, 2,000 words to go. Set 45 minutes, start a room with your roommate, and write. Finish together and you both earn double coins; Ada Lovelace ends up one chapter closer to done.

Grad school and research

Chapter due Friday.

You’re writing chapters. Catch one every sprint. Block 90 minutes for the lit review, tag it, and let Marie Curie’s next chapter fill in while you write.

Focus Together

Start a study room. Finishers earn double.

Focus Together is a shared Deep Focus session for up to 8 people. One of you creates a room and shares a code, a link or a QR code, and every timer starts on the same second. When two or more of you finish, everyone who finished earns 2x coins and XP.

It takes two to double it. Each of you catches your own chapter on your own phone, and the room shows who is still going: 2 of 2 focusing. Rooms run from 25 minutes to 2 hours, and they are free. How Focus Together works.

Invites pay too: when a friend you invite finishes their first 25-minute session, you get 3,000 coins and they get 1,000. How Share & Earn works.

The Focus Together lobby, headed Waiting for your group: a room code, a QR code, an Invite friends button, the two people in the room and a Start Session button.

The rewards screen after a Focus Together session: +26 XP and +80 coins, with a breakdown that ends in a green Focus Together x2 row below a 744-day streak x3.0 row.

Pick your subject.

Before each Deep Focus session the app asks who you're catching. Pick one of nine categories, from Science to Music to Philosophy, or leave it on Lucky and let the app pick who walks out of the dots. Science puts Marie Curie and Ada Lovelace in play.

Or choose a ghost you've started and spend the session on their next chapter.

The Who are you catching sheet in the Catch the Ghost app, with Surprise me selected above a row of category pills starting with Lucky, Art and Entertainment, and the Duration stepper below.

The Deep Focus setup sheet in the Catch the Ghost app: Pick a ghost selected above four In Progress ghosts labelled 6 of 15, 11 of 12, 7 of 12 and 2 of 9, a 25-minute duration with presets up to 90, and a Stakes switch.

Study for 25 minutes or two hours.

Start with 25 minutes: it's the default, and it catches a chapter like any other length. When the work needs more, Deep Focus runs up to two hours in 5-minute steps, and longer sessions pay more coins along the way, up to 4x at two hours.

For a shorter block, Shallow Focus starts at 10 minutes. It pays coins and keeps your streak alive, without a chapter. Study every day and your streak raises the coins on every session, up to 3x at a year.

Lock your phone and the countdown stays on the lock screen. Leave the app and the clock knows.

Free to study with. No card.

Study sessions, rooms, streaks and the Store are free, and there are no ads in the app.

Pro adds four things: Legendary ghosts, the rarest in the library; the Sleep Timer, which turns a night with your phone down into a chapter; the Ghost Universe, a map of how the figures connect; and Full History, your focus charted by day, week, month and year. It's $34.99 a year with a 7-day free trial. See pricing.

Common questions

Questions from students.

Can I study with friends?

Yes. Focus Together puts up to 8 people in one room, joined with a code, a link or a QR code, and every timer starts on the same second. When two or more of you finish, everyone who finished earns double coins and XP. Rooms are free and run from 25 minutes to 2 hours.

Does it work for long study sessions?

Yes. Deep Focus runs up to 120 minutes in 5-minute steps, and longer sessions pay more coins along the way: 3x at 90 minutes, 4x at two hours. Each finished Deep Focus session catches one chapter. Six soundscapes recorded by our team play while you work, and a break timer is a tap away when you finish.

What if I need my phone mid-session?

Lock it. The countdown stays on your lock screen and the session keeps counting. Leave the app and you have three one-minute passes per session to come back; stay away longer and the chapter gets away.

Is it free for students?

Yes, and for everyone else too, with no card. Deep Focus, study rooms, streaks and ghost catching are all free, and every ghost pack in the Store can be bought with coins you earn by focusing.

What age is it for?

Catch the Ghost is rated 13+ on the App Store. It is built for high school, college and grad students, and for anyone working against a deadline.

Your first chapter is 25 minutes away.

Free on iPhone and Android.