Short answers to the questions people ask most about Plant Cat. More about the app is on the Plant Cat page.
Is Plant Cat free?
Yes, all of it. There's nothing to buy: no Pro, no in-app purchase, no ads, no account and no sign-up. Settings lists what you get under Free, all of it: unlimited plants, with photos; your own schedule and reminders; and the care history and plant-sitter sheet.
How do I add a plant?
Tap Add your first plant, or Add plant (the +) at the top of the home screen. Type a name and, if you like, a room. Under Your schedule, water is on. Turn on feed, mist or repot too if you want them. Set each one to Every so many days, then tap Add. The schedule is counted from today, and you can change it any time. Plant Cat doesn't suggest a schedule for your kind of plant, identify plants or give care advice: the numbers are yours.
Can I add a photo?
Yes. On the new plant screen, tap the camera square (Add a photo) next to the name and pick a photo from your library. To change it later, open the plant, tap More, then Edit name and photo. There you can tap Change photo or Remove photo, then Save. Plant Cat uses the system photo picker, so it doesn't ask for access to your library.
How does the reminder work?
Tap Settings (the gear) on the home screen. Morning reminder is on, and At sets the hour, from 5 AM to noon. You get one notification on mornings when something's due, listing every plant. Nothing on the other days. Plant Cat asks to send notifications the first time there's a plant to remind about, not when you first open it. When you tick a task off in the app, that morning's reminder is updated. Each time you open the app, it sets reminders for up to 30 days ahead, so open it now and then.
I'm not getting reminders. What do I check?
Make sure Morning reminder is on in Plant Cat's Settings. If notifications are off for Plant Cat, its Settings says Notifications are off for Plant Cat, so this reminder can't reach you. Tap Open Settings under it and turn notifications on. A reminder only comes on a morning when something's due. If the hour has already passed today, the next one comes on the next morning with something due.
How do I mark a plant watered?
On the home screen, Today lists everything due or late. Tap the round button at the end of a row to mark it done. Tapped by mistake? Tap it again to undo. When nothing's left, Today says All done for today. You can also open a plant and tap Done today next to the task.
How do I change a schedule?
Open the plant and tap a task under Schedule. Change Every so many days (from 1 to 730) and Last done, then tap Save. The screen shows when it's next due. To add feed, mist or repot later, tap Add a task. To stop one, tap Take Water off the schedule (or Feed, Mist or Repot). Its past entries stay in the history.
Where's the history, and how do I fix a mistake?
Open the plant: History shows every task you ticked off, newest first, by month. Press and hold an entry and tap Remove from history. To delete a plant, tap More, then Delete plant, then Delete plant and its history. Its schedule and every logged task go too. This can't be undone.
What is the sitter sheet?
It's one page for whoever looks after your plants while you're away. On the home screen, tap the printer button (Sitter sheet). Pick the first day (From), how many days you're away (up to 14), the Paper (Letter or A4), and add a note, like where the watering can is. The page has a row for each plant and a box to tick on each day something's due. If you have more plants than fit, the page says how many didn't. Tap Print, or Share to send it as a PDF. It prints your plants' names, rooms and photos, your own schedule and your note, with no care advice.
Where are my plants kept? Do I need an account?
There's no account. Every plant, photo and log is kept on your device and in your own backups unless you share it. Every change is saved as you make it. There's no sync between devices.
Does it work offline?
Yes, for your plants. Adding plants, ticking tasks, the history, the reminders and making the sitter sheet don't need a connection: Plant Cat's own code makes no network request, and reminders are notifications set on your phone. Printing goes through AirPrint, so your printer has to be reachable. Sharing the PDF by email or to iCloud needs a connection. The only part of the app that goes online on its own is More from the Cat family in Settings: it asks the App Store which family apps are out, at most once a day, and offline it shows what it last found.
Something else?
Write to [email protected] from any email app.