Most screen-time tools feel like a punishment. A red warning banner. A harsh block page. A cold "you've used 2 hours today." You click past it without thinking twice.
Pet Gatekeeper works differently — because it uses the one thing you actually can't ignore: your pet.
What is Pet Gatekeeper?
Pet Gatekeeper is a productivity app for Mac and Windows, and a browser extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. You upload 1 to 4 photos of your real cat, dog, or any pet you love. The app turns those photos into a looping video. Then you set custom time limits for whichever websites distract you most — X, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, or any URL you choose.
When your time runs out, your pet takes over the screen. Their face appears across the page, looking right at you, until your timeout is done. You can't scroll past them. You can't click through them. You just have to wait — and look at the face of something you love.
Your pet, always on your desktop
Here's what surprised early users: they actually started to enjoy it.
Instead of dreading the block, they looked forward to seeing their pet appear. A quick moment with their cat's face mid-workday. A reminder that their dog is waiting at home. It became a small ritual — a warm interruption in a long afternoon of work. Pet Gatekeeper doesn't just limit your screen time. It gives your pet a permanent presence on your desktop, showing up throughout your day like a gentle check-in from someone who loves you unconditionally.
For people who work from home and miss their pets during long focus sessions, this turns a productivity tool into something closer to companionship.
Built for real life
Upload 1–4 pet photos and generate a looping video in minutes
Set different time limits for different websites
Works locally on your device — no data collected, no tracking, no cloud sync required
Share your pet across devices using a simple 8-character code
Credits never expire, so you pay once and use at your own pace
Pricing starts at $14.99 for one pet
Why it works
Shame doesn't change habits. Connection does. When the thing standing between you and your next scroll is a creature you genuinely love, something shifts. You pause. You smile. You close the tab.
Pet Gatekeeper isn't about restriction. It's about letting the best parts of your life show up while you work
