WatchieBesti: Watch Pet — a tamagotchi-style digital pet & step tracker for Apple Watch

Spot the Pet is one of your pet's favourite mini-games! Study the target for a moment, then the board reveals: the same pet on different mood-coloured tiles. Tap the one that's actually different before the timer runs out.

This is just one corner of WatchieBesti. It's free to download, no ads, no subscription. There's a whole roster of mini-games, moods, and streaks to discover, and a pet that's happy to see you whether you win or lose. Miss a day and nothing bad happens: no guilt-tripping, no dark patterns, just a sleepy pet that perks right back up when you're back.

Quick video walkthrough below. For step-by-step tips, see the Spot the Pet guide on WatchieBesti's Brain Boost hub. Let me know what you think.

WatchieBesti: Watch Pet — a tamagotchi-style digital pet & step tracker for Apple Watch

Besti Break is one of your pet's favourite mini-games! Turn the Digital Crown to slide your paddle, then launch the ball to bounce it off walls, the paddle, and bricks. Break a Pet Block brick for a bonus (an extra ball or a wider paddle), and clear the board with no misses for the strongest Brain Burst.

This is just one corner of WatchieBesti. It's free to download, no ads, no subscription. There's a whole roster of mini-games, moods, and streaks to discover, and a pet that's happy to see you whether you win or lose. Miss a day and nothing bad happens: no guilt-tripping, no dark patterns, just a sleepy pet that perks right back up when you're back.

Quick video walkthrough below. For step-by-step tips, see the Besti Break guide on WatchieBesti's Brain Boost hub. Let me know what you think.

What was supposed to be a small update has ballooned into an iOS overhaul mixed with heaps of general improvements and bug fixes - and another pet!

Who is this dashing yellow machine? So good at digging and so cute while doing it?

Diggy the digger! Shiny and yellow (or many other colours), Diggy can’t wait to come out and play!

There will also be:

- Numerous tweaks and improvements to minigames
- An encyclopedia to help answer questions you may have about how the game works.
- Much more extensive iOS pet display.
- Opportunity to link out to the App Store to rate your favourite watch pet.
- Fixes for bugs specific to Japanese or Korean language translations.
- Accessibility overhaul: everyone should get a spark of joy from their WatchieBesti!
- Vastly streamlined the debug export and support contact methods.
- Fixed a bunch of bugs and crashes in the background wake process, making your besti snappier and more reflective of your day (you won’t have noticed these crashes, the issues manifest in a generally slower boot up).
- Fixed tortoise names not showing up (because they weren’t there … derp).
- You will be able to manage ALL your WatchieBesti settings from the iOS app.
- More!

And after this?

I’ve still got to finish my “what’s next” after Brain Bursts and mini games were released - I broke this work into two parts and good thing I did given the work I’ve outline above! It’s always most important to polish what is live before layering on features. That’s going to take a bit of testing so when things calm down I’ll get to it.

Then I’ve got to overhaul how the app manages sprites (which is the term for the type of images used in games like this) as there are so many (5000+!) that the app has grown too large too soon. The way I’ve figured out I’ll fix this brings some exciting opportunity’s that play into the brain burst part 2 work, cool!

Then I’ve got ideas about food, sickness and healing and another game or two.

And more. So many ideas.

But what do you think? What feature is on your mind or what bug have you found that you want fixed?

Let me know, I love to hear feedback and I promise you - I listen and mostly I’ll act on it. If I don’t, you’ll understand why and we probably will come up with an even better idea together! That’s where brain bursts, mini games and the encyclopedia came from!

And finally, my pet grew into an adult today! An orange car, looking really sleek and powerful in its final form! Fast asleep right now, as I should be. Later!

A virtual pet for your Apple Watch, No ads. No subscriptions.

Your activity keeps your pet happy.

The more you move, the more your pet grows.

I wrote up more info about it in these posts:

• An app that turns steps into happiness
• Why did I build WatchieBesti?
• Fun site about the features the virtual pet watch app offers
• The best videos about an apple watch virtual pet you've ever seen

Give it a try if you've got an apple watch - hope it sparks joy for you!

Recently I launched WatchieBesti - a watch pet for Apple Watch.

I made it because I wanted something for my daughter that was private, fun without being demanding on her time, extremely cute and ... just there when you need it, encouraging you, while being ignorable without punishment.

It is intended to spark a moment of joy and to encourage more activity.

Works for me - more stairs less elevator, more walks when I'm working from home.

I'm always interested in learning more from you all about what works, what doesn't and what might be missing.

Oh - no ads, no subscriptions, no third party tracking of any kind.

There are 3 groups of pets - plants, animals, machines. Each has at least 3 species, each species have numerous colours to collect.

You can learn more here: https://watchiebesti.com/

I recently built WatchieBesti, cute Apple Watch pet app built around encouragement instead of pressure. Your pet gets happier as you move, grows over time, and eventually joins a collection with lots of species to discover.

No ads, no subscriptions, no third-party tracking, one-time purchase.

watchOS first with a companion iOS app. 

The pet lives on your watch and reacts to your day. Steps, heart rate, and sleep schedule all feed into its mood, so it feels more like checking in on a little companion than opening another fitness app.

I get annoyed when watch apps don’t dive into what a watch can do, so I’ve tried to make it as watch native as possible, including going deep on complications. I think the app offers a complication or many complications for every possible slot!

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to keep the tone gentle. No dying pet, no guilt loop, no streak punishment. If you have a quiet day, the pet reacts, but it doesn’t scold you.

Im super keen on feedback and ideas - right now I’m working on simple mini games you can play to earn “brain bursts”, inspired by a user who asked me about why the school mode I made and mentioned in the App Store wasn’t working (hint: I misunderstood how apples school mode worked, and had to rethink how to use the work I did and the cute school sprites).

WatchiBesti makes me feel a spark of joy, hope you like it!

https://apps.apple.com/app/watchie-besti/id6760113059

What the app does

Baby Food Tracker & Allergies is a food diary for parents introducing solids. Log every food, flag every reaction, track allergen introduction windows. Built for the moments when the paediatrician asks what your baby ate last week, the daycare needs to know what's safe, or your partner logged something yesterday and you can't remember what.

I would greatly appreciate any testing, but 2.2.0 launches a "Caregiver Sharing" feature that'm particularly interested in feedback on:

Caregiver sharing. Optional and off by default — the app still works fully offline. When you want to share, scan a QR code or send a link to connect a partner, grandparent, or nanny. Entries and photos sync between phones automatically via Google Drive. Every shared entry shows the source device, so you always know who logged what. Revoke access from Settings or by deleting the folder it creates in your Google Drive.

The whole flow needs real-world testing across two devices, ideally with the second device held by someone who didn't set up the share.

Specifically:

1. Sender: Settings → Give access → Set up live access → Show a code
2. Receiver: fresh install → Connect to another device → Scan code
3. Add a food entry on the sender, pull-to-refresh on the receiver
4. Add a photo, edit the entry, remove the photo
5. Add a reaction with a photo on the sender — verify it appears on the receiver
6. Settings → Who has access — verify connected device shows
7. Revoke and reconnect

Requirements

- iOS 16+

- A Google account on each connecting device (only used when you turn caregiver sharing on)

- Two devices to actually exercise the sync (your own + a willing tester, or the patience to work with me directly)

Privacy posture

- No accounts, no sign-up

- No analytics, no ad SDKs, no intrusive tracking

- COPPA-treated end to end

- OPTIONAL Caregiver sharing uses your own Google Drive — opt-in only, no data on our servers

- Child names and personal details never leave your device

Feedback

Reply here, DM me, or use the in-app feedback. Crashes are caught by Apple's built-in reporting.

Thanks for helping!