Purrrr

Review by eFreeware

If you have ever wanted to do something for the stray cats in your neighborhood but could not take one in, Purrrr is built around that gap. Staff install cat houses with live-streaming cameras in discreet, safe locations, and you open the app to watch what happens there and send food to the animals in front of the lens. It is a small, specific idea: a window into feeding spots and a button that puts a meal down.

The app is free, carries no ads and offers no in-app purchases, so there is nothing to weigh before trying it. More than 500,000 people have installed it, and its 4.8 average across 11,575 ratings suggests the people who use it tend to stay happy with what they get. I would expect it to appeal most to people who already feed strays in their own way and want a second, easier outlet for that habit.

What appeals to me is the framing. The developer describes the project as having two halves: the physical cat houses that volunteers maintain, and the app that lets anyone drop in on them. You are watching a real place and doing one real thing there.

Who tends to get the most out of it

The clearest audience is the person who cares about stray animals but has limited time, space or mobility. If you live in an apartment that does not allow pets, work long hours, or simply cannot get out to a feeding spot every day, the app gives you a way to participate from wherever you are. It also suits people who are curious about how stray animals actually behave when nobody is standing over them.

A second group is the one the developer clearly has in mind: people who already feed, spay or rescue animals and want to compare notes with others doing the same. The live streams include a chat where viewers discuss feeding routines, spaying and neutering, and rescue work, and share what has and has not worked for them. That turns a solitary habit into something closer to a shared one.

The animals are real, the streams are unscripted, and the point is care rather than amusement. Adults who want a low-effort way to feel useful to animals are the ones who will get the most from it.

Watching and feeding through the live streams

The core of the app is the live stream from each cat house. You open one and see the animals that happen to be there at that moment. The developer says the houses attract not only cats but also dogs, hedgehogs, squirrels and other small animals, so the stream is not a single-species channel. What shows up depends on the location and the hour, which is part of the appeal if you like the unpredictability of watching a real place.

Feeding is the action layered on top. From inside the stream you can send food to the animals on screen, remotely, without being there. The developer describes volunteers appearing in front of the camera to express thanks to the people who feed, which closes the loop between the person tapping a button and the animals getting a meal. That is the whole interaction in miniature: watch, feed, see it acknowledged.

The app is the online half of a project that also exists physically, and the feeds are the evidence of that. I would treat it as a window rather than a service you direct.

The community side of the streams

Alongside the video, the app gives viewers a place to talk. Feeding, spaying and neutering, rescue work and personal stories all come up in the stream. For anyone who has tried to organize a feeding schedule alone, that kind of exchange has obvious value: you find out what others in similar situations have done.

The app is built as a community where everyone contributes, which is a broad claim, but the practical version is straightforward. You watch, you can feed, and you can talk to other people who care about the same animals. If you have questions about how to handle a stray in your own area, the chat is where those conversations happen.

It is a peer conversation among people who feed animals, and it works best when you treat it that way.

What it costs, and what that means

Purrrr is free to download and use. There are no ads in the app, and there are no in-app purchases, so nothing about the experience is gated behind a payment or interrupted by a banner.

There is no subscription, premium tier or paid feature, so the cost of taking part is your time.

For a free app with this many installs and a 4.8 average, the absence of ads and purchases is the most concrete thing in its favor. You can install it, watch a stream, feed an animal and delete it if it is not for you, without encountering a paywall on the way.

How it compares with other ways to help animals

The obvious alternatives are the things people already do: donate to a shelter, volunteer at a rescue, sponsor an animal through a charity, or simply feed the strays near where they live. Those routes usually ask for money, time on site, or both.

There is no virtual pet to raise, no collection to complete, no quiz to pass.

The trade-off is reach. A donation to a shelter can fund medical care, food and facilities on a scale a single feeding cannot match. What the app offers instead is immediacy and visibility: you see the animal you are feeding, and the effect of your action is right there on screen.

A quiet fit for people who already care about strays

Purrrr is a narrow app that does one thing: it lets you watch live streams from cat houses set up for stray animals and feed those animals remotely. It is free, it has no ads and no in-app purchases, and it has drawn over half a million installs with a 4.8 average from more than 11,500 ratings since its release in November 2024. The developer refreshed the landing page in a September 2026 update to make the app easier to explore and get started with.

The people I would point to it are those who already feel something about stray animals and want a way to act on that without rearranging their lives. It also suits anyone who wants to compare notes with other feeders about spaying, neutering and rescue.

For what it is, the value is easy to see. You install it, open a stream, watch a cat or a hedgehog or a squirrel eat, and close it again. That small loop, repeated across a lot of people, is the entire idea, and it is a reasonable one.

What's new in version 1.38.0

We’ve refreshed our landing page with a new look and improved user experience. The updated design makes it easier for users to explore our features, understand our mission, and get started faster.