Launching today
Paws
Meet strangers through their cats, behind frosted glass
48 followers
Meet strangers through their cats, behind frosted glass
48 followers
I’ve always found something quietly beautiful about brief encounters with strangers. Paws is a tiny room of other people’s cats, seen through frosted glass. Maybe one wanders over and presses a paw to your fingertip. Nothing to win. Just stay a while. 🐾
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Hi Product Hunt! I'm Yuxuan. I make small things on the Internet, and today I'd like to share a tiny room I made called Paws. 🐾
I've always found something quietly beautiful about the brief encounters we have with strangers.
We don't necessarily need to know each other, or even know who the other person is. Sometimes we just cross paths for a moment, and still somehow feel each other's presence.
That's something I kept thinking about while making Paws.
And so, this tiny, fluffy room came to life.
People from different corners of the world bring their own little cats here. You might never know who's behind each one. But perhaps, at some point, a curious cat will wander over, look down at you through the frosted glass, and gently press its paw against your fingertip.
I love moments like these.
While figuring out how the room should look, I found myself drawn to the hazy light of Impressionist paintings and the soft, grainy textures of risograph prints. There's something about the blurred colors and little imperfections that makes me feel like we don't always need to see every detail for something to feel real. I wondered if encounters between strangers could feel that way too.
When you visit Paws, you can make a cat of your own and bring it into a shared room. You can pet the cats, watch how they react to your cursor or touch, listen to their little voices, or say hi to someone in your own language.
If you can, turn your sound on. The little sounds are a big part of the experience for me.
Paws is free, and available in 18 languages.
There's nothing you need to accomplish here. No levels to finish, no points to collect, and nowhere you need to get to. You can simply stay for a while.
If this tiny room can help you slow down for a moment, bring a little smile to your face, or make you feel a little warmer inside, that's more than enough for me.
I'd love to hear how it feels to you, or if there's a little interaction that made you smile. If it helps you slow down for a moment, that's more than enough for me. Thank you for being here 🐾
Thank you for being here. 🐾
(A longer look at everything inside: https://youtu.be/qoV8Qox1e0s. Paws is the second place I've opened after laundro.cafe, the laundromat on the Internet.)
@li_yuxuan Oh my god! How cute))
Off to make one for my cat 🐈
If I say hi in Greek, does the other person see it translated, or just the way I wrote it?
@adamvisu hi! just the way you wrote it, and it will be played out in cute sound!
Can I track my cat's movements somehow and transfer here? =) The service deserves #1 today :D
@generalgda wow, time to build a mobile app that records your physical cat and gives it a digital copy on paws.garden 🥰
@li_yuxuan , there are apparently even sensors for indoor positioning. They don't use GPS, but rather some combination of Bluetooth and Wi‑Fi. I know this for a fact (because I actually worked on this stuff, lol): navigation apps like Google Maps have been developing indoor navigation for malls, and these kinds of sensors definitely exist. It would be awesome to integrate with them. That would be a game changer! 🚀
I am a dog person, but I think I can manage a cat through a glass. Very cute
The little paw meeting your fingertip is such a sweet idea. Congrats on making this, Yuxuan!
@marianna_tymchuk Thank you!!
Finally, a reasonable use for my time on the internet: saying hello to strangers' cats!
@ksenia_sl hello! 🐾
This brought joy to my morning.
@kassandra_mendes glad that my objective for this tiny digital corner has been achieved :)