vs OpalScreen-time blocker
Catches you off-screen
Opal
No. Opal blocks apps; it can't see your phone in your hand.
GOTCHU
Yes. Camera mode catches you when you reach for the phone.
15 voice-acted operators2,643 catchphrasesOne job.
YOU'VE BEENGOTCHU'D.
The focus app that actually watches you.
Pick an operator. Turn on your camera. They catch you when you scroll.
LOCAL-ONLYFRAMES NEVER LEAVE YOUR DEVICECAMERA OFF WHEN SESSION ENDS
WEBMACWINDOWSiOS soon
"The crown stays on, darling."
Watchman ON · PRINCESS
FREE
Frames stay on your device·Local-only detection·Camera off when session ends·Built solo · Indie
🔒YOUR CAMERA, YOUR MACHINE·ALL DETECTION LOCAL·FRAMES NEVER LEAVE YOUR DEVICE·CAMERA OFF WHEN SESSION ENDS
§ How it works · 60 seconds
Four steps. One watchman.
01
Pick your operator
Five voice-acted characters free. Each with a backstory, signature line, real ElevenLabs voice. Ten more inside the app.
02
Turn on Watchman
One click, one permission prompt, fully local. Pair your phone (optional, but you want this).
Camera ON
03
Start a focus block
50/10 deep work, 25/5 Pomodoro, 90/15 monk mode. Hit GO. Operator clocks in. Camera quietly watches.
Block live
04
You scroll, you get got
Pick up your phone, the camera sees it, the operator slides in on your laptop AND fires a push notif on your phone.
💻
📱
§ In-app preview
The screen that runs the block.
Real timer. Real operator. Real camera light. Hit go, get got, snap back. The whole loop is two clicks long.
Watchman ONThe Princess
23:14
Focus block · Deep · 50/10
End sessionPause
§ How the watchman sees
Two surfaces. One watchman.
“No other focus app can do this.”
§ The starting roster
The five who clock in for free.
Tap ▶ to hear a catchphrase. Each operator's a different flavor of “I see you.” Find the one that hits.
“The crown stays on, darling.”
The Princess
The regal roaster
“The crown stays on, darling.”
“Pain is temporary. Winning is forever.”
The Coach
'87 State champ, undefeated in his own memory
“Pain is temporary. Winning is forever.”
“Sit down and eat something.”
The Grandma
Bakes cookies, carries a rifle
“Sit down and eat something.”
“Bro. I got you.”
Billy, The Best Friend
Ride-or-die golden retriever
“Bro. I got you.”
“Yeah. We'll figure it out.”
Uncle Ed
Silent-strong fixer
“Yeah. We'll figure it out.”
And ten more in the app
??? · LOCKED
From Brooklyn.
??? · LOCKED
From the magical girl academy.
??? · LOCKED
From the seven-year-junior club.
??? · LOCKED
From Atlanta.
??? · LOCKED
From the Sheet of Managers.
??? · LOCKED
From the colosseum.
??? · LOCKED
From under the waterfall.
??? · LOCKED
From the Nile.
??? · LOCKED
From the academy.
??? · LOCKED
From the empire.
Find out who else is watching.
Get the full crew → $19.99 once§ Who GOTCHU is for
You're here because something didn't stick.
You bounced off Forest, Freedom, or Cold Turkey. The wall works until it doesn't.
Your screen-time report keeps creeping back up after every fresh-start week.
You finish things best when someone's watching. The operators are the someone.
§ What it unlocks
Built for the work that doesn't happen on a screen.
Every other focus app monitors your screen. GOTCHU watches the human. That changes what's possible.
“I sit down to write longhand and my phone wins every time.”
Camera mode catches you the moment you reach for the phone, even though your laptop's been closed for 40 minutes.
Operator: The Princess
“I work in a coffee shop and my Mac's still open at home.”
Mobile-paired sessions. The phone is the watchman when the laptop isn't.
Operator: Uncle Ed
“I'm sketching in my Moleskine and my phone is right there.”
Camera catches you whether you're working on screen or paper.
Operator: Billy
“I'm writing a thesis and I keep doom-scrolling Twitter.”
Classic catch, with character. The Coach yells. You laugh. You fix the paragraph.
Operator: The Coach
“What other apps can do this? None. We checked.”
§ The game layer
Focus is a real game. Play it with friends.
Six tiers. Weekly Hot List. 1v1 duels. Live taunts. Friend-only leaderboards. The first focus app that's actually a game, not a gamified to-do list.
§ 1V1
Pick a friend. Same start. Hardest focus wins.
Both lock in for a 50-minute block. Both timers run. Whoever stays caught the least, wins. Loser gets called out by the winner's operator. There's a record.
H2H DUEL · DEEP BLOCK23:42 LEFT
👑
@yuna
18 min · 1 catch
VS
🤝
@you
22 min · 0 catches
TauntForfeitEnd early
§ Hot list
Your friends. Ranked by focus.
Real-time leaderboard. Resets every Sunday at midnight. Friends-only mode if you want, global mode if you want, both at once if you're built different.
WEEK 18 · resets sun 00:00LIVE
Friends optional. Strangers welcome too.
1.👑@yunaCAPO472▲3
2.📣@ben_wCAPO388▲1
3.👵@sageMADE312─
4.🌸@miraMADE284▲2
5.🤝@keitaMADE267▼1
6.🧢@_jaxMARK241▲4
7.🎀@youYOUMARK198▲6
8.📣@lilaROOKIE142▼2
§ Next release · summer 2026
Squads. Tournaments. Bracketed bragging rights.
Form a guild of 6. Run weekly squad challenges. Premium gets bracketed monthly tournaments. Winner takes the SYNDICATE rank for a season. Losers get permanent regret.
SQUAD CHALLENGE · WK 181,847 MIN
👑
📣
👵
🤝
🧢
🌸
SYNDICATE 6RANK 4 / 28
“Focus alone, or focus with friends. Both count.”
§ Six tiers
The ladder you climb.
ROOKIEFirst clock-in
MARK10 hours focused
MADE25 hours · first streak
CAPO100 hours · runs the room
OPERATOR300 hours · catches the catch
SYNDICATECatches the uncatchable
§ Already using something else?
Different shape. Same problem.
Three honest one-row gut-checks against the focus apps people actually bounce between. The full breakdown lives on /compare.
Full breakdown →
vs FreedomCross-device blocker
Watches the human, not the screen
Freedom
No. Blocks websites and apps on a schedule.
GOTCHU
Yes. Camera mode detects when you reach for the phone.
vs FlipOffCamera-based focus app
Watches what
FlipOff
The phone (face-down detection).
GOTCHU
The human (camera detects phone pickup).
§ Privacy, plainly
Cameras off when you say.
Detection runs locally on your device. The server receives a yes/no event and a confidence score — never frames, never thumbnails, never audio. The audit log is open at /api/user/privacy.
On device
Watchman runs in your browser. The camera stream never reaches our servers.
Never uploaded
No frames, no thumbnails, no audio. Just a boolean: phone-detected, with confidence.
Instant-off
Camera releases the moment a session ends. No background access, no surprises.
§ Watchman is free. The crew costs.
Free forever. Or yours forever.
No subscriptions you'll forget. No streak guilt. Five operators free. Pay once, get all fifteen. Every operator we ever release, included.
Free Forever
For trying it free
$0forever
No card. No timer. No nonsense.
- 5 free operators
- Watchman cam + phone pair
- All 3 focus block presets
- Roast knob: gentle only
Web · Mac & Windows · 24 MB
Premium Monthly
Try the full roster
$5.99/ month
Cancel anytime. Or, you know, don't.
- All 5 free + 5 premium operators
- Full roast knob (gentle → scorched)
- Rank ladder + dialogue unlocks
- Custom intent phrases
- Local-first. Frames never leave.
Auto-renews · Cancel in 2 taps
Founding 1000
Lifetime · Founding
1000 spots, then it's gone
$19.99once$29.99
33% off the post-Founding price · Locked in for life
- Lifetime at $19.99 — every operator we ever ship, free
- 🎖 OG Founding Member badge — visible on your profile and every leaderboard, forever
- Discord OG role — private #founders channel and operator courts
- 48-hour preview on every new operator drop, before public
- Locked-in pricing — even when the price rises, yours never does
Closes August 16th or when 1000 spots fill — whichever comes first.
After Founding 1000 closesLifetime goes to $29.99. We're telling you up front so it doesn't feel like a surprise. Founders pay $19.99 for life.
✓CANCEL MONTHLY IN 2 TAPS·✓NO ADS·✓NO DATA SOLD·✓STRIPE · WE NEVER SEE YOUR CARD
Already paying for another focus app?
Cancel that. We're cheaper, funnier, and we don't gaslight you about your screen time.
What if I want to try before I commit?
That's what Free Forever is for. Five operators, full Watchman, no card. Lifetime is for when you already know.
Why "Founding"?
Status, not equity. The first 1000get the badge, the Discord role, and a locked price. After that, it's gone.
Stripe handles all payments. We never store your card. Lifetime is final sale — founders are buying the badge and the locked price, not a trial. Questions before you commit? Open the contact form — one human reads, 48 hours or less. Founders get the OG role on Discord the moment payment clears.
§ The Founding 1000
A status, not a subscription.
The first 1000lifetime members get the OG badge, the Discord role, and a price that's locked forever. After that, it's gone — we don't extend the window.
OG Founding Member badge
Visible on your profile and on every leaderboard placement. Forever. Future users see it. They cannot earn it.
Discord OG role
Private #founders channel. Operator courts. Direct line to the team while we build. The room is small on purpose.
48-hour operator preview
Every new operator drop, you get them two days before public release. New voice. New catchphrases. New ways to get caught.
Locked-in pricing
Lifetime is $19.99 today. We've told you it goes to $29.99 after Founding 1000 closes. Yours stays at $19.99 even when the rest of the site moves up.
Status label only — "Founding Member" is not equity, not a security, not an investment. You're paying for an app and a badge.
§ Why GOTCHU exists
“Every other focus app feels like a punishment for the thing you were already punishing yourself for. Streaks you break. Forests you kill. Walls that block Instagram while you reach for your phone anyway. GOTCHU watches the human, not the screen — and the operators make the catch funny instead of guilty. If you've bounced off Forest, Freedom, and Cold Turkey, this one's for you. The crew can wait.”
· The GOTCHU team
§ Questions
The honest answers.
Is my camera always on?
Only during active focus sessions.The moment the session ends, the camera light goes off. We don't watch you outside of sessions. Ever.
Does my video go to a server?
No. All detection runs locally in your browser using MediaPipe + TensorFlow.js. Frames are processed and immediately discarded. We publish a privacy receipt at /api/user/privacy. Every account can self-serve a list of what we have on them. The answer is always: nothing. No video, no audio, no frames.
What if I don't want camera mode?
Turn it off. GOTCHU still works in software-only mode: app/website blocking, manual catches, the operator roster, ranked ladder, friends. Camera makes catches sharper, but it's optional.
Are the operators real people?
Entirely fictional. Voice timbres reference broad cultural archetypes (a Brooklyn closer, a Midwest grandma), not impersonations of specific real people.
Is this AI?
The voices are AI-generated (ElevenLabs) and the catchphrases are written by humans. The operators are characters, not AI personas. We don't lead with AI. The characters are the pitch.
Can I cancel?
Monthly: yes, in 2 taps.Cancel from your account page or email hello@thegotchuapp.com. Lifetime is final sale — you're buying the badge and a locked $19.99 price, not a trial. Try Free Forever first if you're not sure.
Will it work on my phone?
Yes. The web app works on any modern mobile browser. The mobile companion (for receiving cross-device catches when your laptop catches you) is in beta. Pair it once and your phone fires the catch in real-time. Native iOS/Android apps are next.
What happens if I miss a day?
Streak resets. Premium gets a freeze-day mechanic. Operators are graceful about it. They let you down softly.