Frequently asked questions
Short, with numbers. Missing something? Write to kontakt@niven.io.
What does petting do?
- Tap your buddy and it cheers up. Stroke sideways across it and it cuddles. Affection drops 2 points per hour; petting is +5, but only once every 5 minutes. Below 20 your buddy gets lonely and tells you.
Which animals are there?
- Cat, dog and fox in pixel art. The cat is for everyone, dog and fox are part of Pro. Your buddy sleeps, eats, celebrates, wanders across the meadow and likes to be petted.
What does the coach do?
- Your buddy answers in the chat as itself and knows your sessions, tasks and plan. It adds tasks, moves them, logs time and changes your work hours right in the app. Every Sunday it builds a weekly plan from your sessions with a theme and time slots. Free: 10 questions a day, Pro: 50 and replanning anytime. Answers are suggestions, not orders.
What data does Niven store?
- Email address, sessions, buddy values, tasks, plans and chat history, stored with Google Firebase in Frankfurt (EU). No ads, no tracking, no sharing with ad networks. Delete your account in Settings and all data is removed right away. Details in the privacy policy.
Which devices does Niven run on?
- In the browser on desktop and phone at niven.io/play, no install needed. For Android there is the app as an APK at niven.io/get. Your account is the same everywhere.
Is Niven free?
- Yes. Timer, cat, treats, friends, weekly plan and 10 coach questions a day are free. In the browser all Pro features are currently unlocked without purchase. In the Android app Pro costs 7.99 EUR a month or 59.99 EUR a year, each with a 7 day free trial, and Pro+ Lifetime is a one-time 149.99 EUR.
How do friends work?
- You invite friends via a link on the Friends tab. Friends see your buddy and can feed it when you are busy, and you theirs. When your buddy is starving, your friends get a notice. Friends and feeding are free for everyone.
What happens if I do not feed my buddy?
- Fullness drops 4 points per hour, from 100 to 0 in about a day. One treat is +10, roughly 65 focus minutes a day (one 50 plus one 15) keep it up. Below 30 your buddy is hungry, below 20 it sends you a message, below 10 it is starving and your friends get a notice. At night from 22 to 7 it sleeps and stays quiet. It never dies.
How often does Niven notify me?
- Briefly: a day start in the morning with one thing for today, a reminder at the hour of an open plan block, hungry below fullness 20 and streak at risk in the afternoon. Together at most 4 a day, never before 8 and never after 21. The timer end counts separately.
How long are the focus sessions?
- 15, 25 or 50 minutes of focus, then 5, 10 or 15 minutes of pause. Cancelled sessions earn no treats: no loss, just no win. From one minute on they are still logged as time in the Times tab. The timer keeps running when you close the app.
How do I earn treats?
- 15 minutes earn 2 treats, 25 minutes 3, 50 minutes 9. Long sessions pay off far more. A pause of at least 5 minutes within 2 hours after a focus earns 1 extra treat. Treats are the only currency, there is nothing to buy.
What is Niven?
- Niven is a focus timer with a pixel buddy. You work in sessions of 15, 25 or 50 minutes. Every finished session earns treats you feed to your buddy: cat, dog or fox. It runs in the browser at niven.io/play and as an Android app.