Install a Virtual Pet on Your iPhone.

You could give a Tamagotchi-style pet a home on your iPhone 14 Pro.

 

The large, bright features of new technology always steal the spotlight. The Dynamic Island, a camera cutout that actually changes based on how you’re using your iPhone, is of course the star of the iPhone 14 Pro. Apple promotes the island as a hub for notifications and background operations, but its true value may lie in the inventive applications created by other developers. As an illustration, you may make the Dynamic Island on your 14 Pro a place for a pet that resembles a Tamagotchi.

 

Naturally, Apple doesn’t make this feature available in the settings (although they totally should). Instead, it’s a function developed by iOS programmer Christian Selig, who is best known for his Reddit client, Apollo, and the app Amplosion, which converts AMP links into regular URLs. Selig put a cat on top of the Dynamic Island for this Tamagotchi-inspired feature, and it only exists to run around, look adorable, and sleep while living the dream.

 

Hugo the cat, named after Selig’s actual cat, is one option for your 14 Pro Tamagochi, but it’s not the only one. He also offers “Pixel Pals” Finnegan the fox, Chortley the hedgehog, Mochi the axolotl, and Rupert the dog from what he refers to as the Dynamic Island Zoo.

 

 

 

The one (significant) drawback is that these virtual companions cannot accompany you when using your iPhone 14 Pro. Hugo, Finnegan, and Chortley can’t sleep on your Dynamic Island while you tweet, scroll TikTok, or email your friends, sadly, because iOS is still iOS. Instead, the feature is built into Apollo, leaving you little choice except to start using Reddit right away if you haven’t already.

 

Although there are paid levels in Apollo, Selig gave the Dynamic Island Zoo away. The option may be found in the Apollo app’s Settings > General > Pixel Pals section if you have the most recent version of the programme and an iPhone 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max.

 

Pixel Pals is also compatible with other iPhones.
You can still enjoy Pixel Pals if you don’t own an iPhone 14 Pro. For iOS 16’s customisable Lock Screens, Selig added Pixels Pals as an Apollo widget option. If your iPhone is compatible with Apple’s most recent update and the Apollo app is loaded, you can access your Pixel Pal at any time.

 

Long-press on the Lock Screen to bring up the Add Widgets menu, then hit “Customize” and a widget area to put it up. Swipe over to “Pixel Pal” after tapping “Apollo.” Two, three, or four Pixel Pals can be displayed on the screen at once if you add a small or large Pixel Pal widget to your lock screen.

 

Hugo the cat will be the default Pixel Pal when you add one to the Lock Screen. Tap the widget to choose it, then tap “Cat (Hugo)” to replace it with one of the other four friends.