Pets on Screen

Pets on Screen puts a cat, a dog or a dinosaur on your phone, walking about over whatever else you are doing.

Most pet apps give you one animal to poke. This one is built around what happens when two of them meet.

THEY NOTICE EACH OTHER

Put more than one pet out and they greet, chase, play, share a bowl and curl up together for a nap. Two pets that keep meeting become friends, and friends start seeking each other out instead of wandering off alone. That bond keeps growing the more time they spend together, and nothing can take it away.

EVERYTHING IS FREE, FROM THE FIRST LAUNCH

Sixteen pets are already yours: five cats, five dogs, four dinosaurs, a German shepherd and a husky. Every one is properly animated, with real frames for walking, running, sitting, sleeping, lying down and stretching. Nothing is locked, nothing has to be earned, nothing costs money.

A ROOM OF THEIR OWN

Open the playground and your pets get the whole screen: a floor to roam and each other for company. Choose who is in the room, stroke a pet with a tap, hold a finger on one to feed it, pick one up and put it down anywhere, or call them all over at once. It works upright or sideways.

OR OUT OVER YOUR OTHER APPS

Switch them on and they wander across whatever you are using, one at a time or several at once. Every pet has its own settings: how big it is, how fast it moves, whether it wanders or stays put, and whether it greets the others.

ON YOUR HOME SCREEN TOO

A widget shows the pet you know best, doing whatever it happens to be doing right now.

NOTHING HERE PUNISHES YOU FOR LEAVING

Your pets get hungry and tired but never miserable, and time away is capped, so a week off costs you nothing. No pet is ever deleted or taken away. They stay yours.

WHAT THIS APP WILL NOT DO

No subscription. No locked pets. No account to create. No analytics. Nothing about your pets leaves your phone.

It also does not use an accessibility service, which apps like this often demand. The only permission it asks for is Android's permission to draw over other apps, and it only asks at the moment you switch your pets on.

Light and dark themes, and around 13 MB.