Cat Sounds

Ten real cat sounds in your pocket, and a purr you can fall asleep to.

Every sound in Cat Sounds is a genuine recording of a real cat. Nothing is synthesised and nothing is a stock sound effect. Each clip was trimmed down to the vocalisation itself, cleaned up and level matched, so no sound comes out twice as loud as the one before it. Open the app, tap a card, and it plays instantly.

THE SOUNDBOARD

Ten sounds covering most of what a cat has to say:

• Meow, a clear house-cat meow with a proper rise and fall

• Chirrup, the little hello a cat gives when it wanders in

• Chatty, bright and clear, like it expects an answer

• Feed Me, long and drawn out, because the bowl is empty

• Purr, close up, warm and steady

• Deep Purr, a slower rumble from a bigger chest

• Moan, a low unhappy grumble that goes on a while

• Grumble, short, deep and thoroughly unimpressed

• Yowl, full volume, wide open

• Hiss, a proper warning, recorded up close

Every card tells you how long the clip runs before you play it, so you always know whether you are about to hear half a second or three.

PLAY IT YOUR WAY

Turn on Loop to keep a sound repeating for as long as you like. Turn on Shake to meow and a shake of the phone plays something at random, which is far more fun than it has any right to be. Or tap Surprise me and let the app pick for you.

The app quietly keeps count of what you have played, so your favourites add up over time and you can see which sound you keep coming back to.

THE PURR ROOM

A real cat purring on a loop, for reading, working, or drifting off to sleep.

Set a sleep timer for 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes and the purr fades out gently on its own, so it will not run all night. There is a volume slider built in as well, because purring is a genuinely quiet sound and your phone's own media volume is not always enough to bring it through properly.

A purr sits at around 25 pulses a second, low and steady. It works the way a fan or steady rain does. It covers up background noise and gives your ear one calm thing to settle on, rather than a room full of small sounds to keep track of. Cats do not only purr when they are happy, either. They purr when they are anxious or sore, so it is really a self soothing sound, which is part of why it is so easy to listen to for a long time.

WHO IT IS FOR

• Anyone who wants a calm, steady sound to sleep, read or work to

• People who cannot keep a cat of their own, in a flat, a rental, or with allergies at home

• Anyone missing a cat that is no longer around

• Curious cat owners who want to hear the difference between a chirrup, a moan and a proper yowl

• Anyone who simply enjoys making their phone meow at people

If you live with a cat, go easy with the yowl and the hiss around them. Those two are warning sounds and a real cat will take them seriously.

QUIET BY DESIGN

• No account and no sign up

• No internet connection needed, everything works offline

• No permissions requested at all

• Nothing tracked and nothing collected

The app is small, opens straight away, and does one thing properly. Light and dark themes are both supported, and it follows whichever your phone is already set to.

Ten real cats' worth of noise, and one very steady purr. That is the whole app.