This giant cat will cure your doomscrolling addiction: Chrome app goes viral

A Japanese developer created a new browser extension that sends a giant cat onto users’ screens to cure their doomscrolling addiction. The new app went viral on social media for being both adorable and useful. 

The app Cat Gatekeeper was created by developer ZOKUZOKU and designed to display a giant orange cat on users’ screens as a digital break timer.

Cat Gatekeeper lets users target several social media platforms, such as X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Bluesky, and Threads. Additionally, it also features a custom timer that allows users to set specific minutes for when the cat appears and how long it will occupy the screen for break time.

ZOKUZOKU took to X with a video showcasing the browser extension and wrote, “I made a forced break app for Kitty!  If you use SNS too much, Kitty appears and takes over the screen.”

This giant cat will cure your doomscrolling addiction: Browser app goes viral

The post went viral, garnering over 120,000 likes and more than 4.5 million views.

While the app is useful for desktop users, the developer confirmed that it still hasn’t made its way to smartphones. Moreover, the extension is currently only available in Google Chrome, with ZOKUZOKU stating that they will try to port it to other browsers, such as Firefox.

The viral app sparked a wide variety of reactions on social media. An internet user wrote on X, “I installed it right away. Thank you for this wonderful app. I’m a little excited to see it bring out something like the cat that used to live with me.”

Another added, “I would say I need this, but I have the real thing and they are way more demanding.”