For cats that surf the web
2025
Roles
Designer
Developer
Tools
Swift
Figma
Procreate
Description
A macOS app that detects when your cat is typing on your computer and prevents them from typing any more.
Gap
Cats love computers. Laptop keyboards are warm and the laptop forms a perfect rectangle to sit in. However, this means that cats end up typing on keyboards, either on purpose or by accident.
According to the infinite monkey theorem, your cat could type ‘rm -rf ~’ in your terminal and wipe all your files!
Detection
CatsLock detects when your cat is walking across your keyboard and exhibiting "cat-like" typing.
Detection of "cat-like" typing prompts the CatsLock app to open and prevent further typing until the challenge-response task is completed successfully.
With the background from PawSense and in-house testing, cats tend to stand on keyboards with their paws, pressing down:
a key for an extended period of time,
on multiple keys at once, and/or
on keys, not forming English words.
Implementing the simplest solution first, detection is done by detecting a key down event and checking whether a corresponding key up event is received after the average human typing reaction time. After two cat-like typing events are detected, CatsLock is opened.
Alternative detection techniques
Low straight-line distance between keys
Multiple keys pressed at once, not forming English words
Clearing
After a cat is detected, the user simply types ‘human’ into the text box to minimize the application. This clearing method was chosen because it is quick to complete but complex enough that a cat is unlikely to complete it.
Performance and Considerations
The app is always running in the background.
More advanced detection techniques should be optimized for performance.
Unusual typing patterns may trigger CatsLock unintentionally, such as PC gaming using 'wasd' keys.
A gaming mode may be added to ignore cat-like typing events for such keys, or detection may be paused for gaming sessions.
The app requires read access for all key presses, which may pose security considerations for users.
Clear documentation about permissions should be presented to the user to acknowledge app needs.
Future Concepts
After a cat-like typing event is detected and subsequent events are blocked, a Cat Editing History would be available for the user to review and undo any unwanted changes.
