Oslo, Norway – 14 October 2025 – Opera’s mindful browser, Opera Air, is celebrating Global Cat Day by introducing a playful feline mascot. The new mindful companion – a gray and white cat with big eyes and often a teal ball of yarn – can be spotted inside Opera Air playing, stretching, even meditating – and much like a real cat will come and go as it pleases. The company is also partnering Turkey’s largest animal welfare NGO to create the largest “cat district” in Istanbul, the cat capital of the world.
A mindful browsing companion
A web browser designed to help users feel better while they browse, Opera Air comes with integrated mindfulness tools Boosts and Take a Break. Now, Opera Air also comes with a mindful companion: a built-in browser cat.
Upon updating to the latest version of Opera Air, users will first spot the cat in the lower-right corner of their browser. They can interact with the cat by clicking on it, which will cause it to react in various playful ways. Present but never intrusive, users might see the cat in different locations within Opera Air as they browse – sleeping, playing, practicing yoga, and more. Or, they might not see it at all: much like a real cat, Opera’s mindful cat will come and go as it pleases. And did we mention cats are the ultimate mindfulness experts?
“The goal of Opera Air is to improve our users’ wellbeing through free mindfulness tools that are always just a click away,” said Mohamed Salah Mourad, Senior Director of Product at Opera Air. “But we also want to have some fun. There’s no better embodiment of the two than a cat, and now this one – formerly a stray – has a home with Opera Air.”
As a new addition to the browser, the mindful cat does not yet have a name, but the company will ask the Opera Air community for help once users have gotten to know it a bit better. Users can also hide the cat by right-clicking it if they wish. It won’t hiss at them as they do so.
Giving cats a home in the cat capital of the world
Cats have always been a part of the soul of Istanbul. Every day, the city’s millions of residents share quiet, tender, and funny moments with an untold number of street cats – estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. But winter is coming, and though thousands of people feed street cats every day, food alone is not enough: Cats need shelter to keep them safe, and protection from rain, wind, and cold.
To celebrate Global Cat Day, Opera Air is partnering with HAÇİKO, Turkey’s leading animal welfare NGO, and the municipality of Sarıyer to create the country’s largest “Cat District.” On 16 October, for every 10 new Opera Air users in Turkey, the company will donate one cat house to the pilot project. With the support of community volunteers, HAÇİKO plans to expand the project further to install more shelters beyond Sarıyer.
“Mindfulness aims to help practitioners achieve inner tranquility, but it also has a broader social goal: making the world a kinder, better place. And so we’re delighted to take that spirit of Opera Air offline, helping both cats and humans breathe a little easier on the streets of Istanbul,” continued Mourad.
Incorporate more mindfulness into your daily routine – download Opera Air here.
About Opera
Opera is a user-centric and innovative software company focused on enabling the best possible internet browsing experience across all devices. Hundreds of millions use Opera web browsers for their unique and secure features on mobile phones and desktop computers. Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Opera is a public company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol OPRA. Download the Opera web browsers and other Opera products from opera.com. Learn more about Opera at investor.opera.com.