# Guardians: Unite the Realms > Augmented reality pet collection and training game for mental wellbeing. (iPhone/iPad app by Craig Ferguson.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/guardians-unite-the-realms/id1509508125 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Craig Ferguson](https://appshunter.io/developer/1509508124) - Category: Games, Health & Fitness, Casual, Strategy - Price: Free - Rating: 4.56/5 from 70 App Store ratings · 36 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 9+ - Requires: iOS 10.0 · 548 MB - Languages: English - Released: 2020-04-24 - Data updated: 2026-07-23 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/guardians-unite-the-realms/id1509508125/reviews.md ## What is Guardians? Can you save the Guardians and their Realms? There are many Realms other than ours, each with its own Guardian that has protected it for millenia. But now, evil Scorians have begun to trap the Guardians and have sent the creatures of these Realms into hiding. It's up to you to inspire the creatures to return and fight back against the villainous invaders! Unlike other games, the only way to collect pets is to do real life activities that are meaningful for you in order to inspire them to join you! Once you've inspired pets to join you, it's up to you to send them on missions to train them in skills they can use to fight back and retake their Realm! Build a customized team of pets and send them on missions to train their various skills, while upgrading and customizing your own abilities. Be sure to collect useful items and cosmetic outfits to help your pets on their quest! You'll have to carefully manage your teams of pets in order to stop the Scorians and free the Guardians! The Guardians is not only a game about collecting and training pets. It is a tool you can use to build the skills you need to fight depression and improve your wellbeing. Developed in the Affective Computing Group of the MIT Media Lab, The Guardians is a unique tool created using psychological techniques of mobile games to reward and encourage healthy habit formation and teach skills that are invaluable toward fighting depression. The best way to help the creatures of the Realms is to help yourself live the best life you can! It's up to you to help the Guardians, your pets, and most importantly, yourself! ## Key features - Real-life activity-based pet collection - Pet training and skill development - Team customization and mission deployment - Ability upgrades and customization - Item and cosmetic outfit collection - Healthy habit formation tool ## Recent user reviews (10 of 36) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/guardians-unite-the-realms/id1509508125/reviews.md ### 3/5 — Good until it time-locks you *2025-09-02, version 1.2.4* This was a fun game that actually did encourage me to do a few things I might not have otherwise. Unfortunately, once you finish the first area, you have to wait two weeks for the next one to open. Why is it telling me to go away and come back in 14 days? Aren’t I supposed to be forming better habits? I don’t see how, when the game makes you stop for two weeks. Will I even remember to come back? ### 4/5 — What do I do with gems?? *2024-12-06, version 1.2.4* Overall I’m liking the game. I wish you could go on more than one adventure a day and keep a list of what you’ve done. Also I can’t remember what to do with the gems, you’re supposed to buy upgrades but where?? ### 3/5 — Broken. But could be so good. *2023-05-06, version 1.2.4* Feel it could help me through depressive episodes but needs a bit of work. Although I enjoyed playing it until I couldn’t any more. Can’t seem to feed my pets “s’mores” as I can’t seem to get any to give them I’ve had one so far and I need 30?! Completed all other tasks on the first chapter. Also the bit about doing tasks needs a little more motivation for me as you can literally just say you did it (I know that’s not the point and you need to be honest with yourself) the custom task thing is fine but I’d like to write in what I want to achieve (maybe more like a small Journal feature?) ### 4/5 — Strange bug *2022-04-15, version 1.2.3* Restarting my phone fixed it for now, but today after being in the fire area for a couple days I was unable to close quests in the app, whether by the “ok” buttons or the X in the corner. To close them I had to restart the app, but the same problem would happen. Also couldn’t turn down dressing up after finding clothes items, but that problem doesn’t always happen at the same time. Cute app otherwise! ### 5/5 — Love this app! *2021-12-09, version 1.2.1* I switched phones and I reinstalled this app. I absolutely love it. First time I left a review for them on Android, it wasn’t too good and I sounded kind of angry, but the team was super nice, they contacted me and we exchanged e-mails with suggestions. They were incredibly nice and I am so happy I reinstalled it and I get to replay it again. I wish there was a way to support its developing, maybe creating some special outfits that you could unlock for a small price like 0.99. I am pretty sure people would like to purchase that to help the adventure go on in this wonderful realm. It has a wonderful way of helping you do daily tasks without feeling any pressure and I feel like it taught me that on a personal level also. To just be thankful for what I achieved that day, even if small. It has really helped me keep motivated and on track lately and it’s such a fun experience! I really recommend it as an unusual and creative motivating app! ^^ ### 3/5 — Feeling stuck! *2021-10-06, version 1.2.1* I’m not a phone game-player, but as an advocate for mental healthcare I was interested in seeing how this one works. I really like it, the adventures are inspiring and the pacing is good. That is, up until you finish the first chapter! I wonder what the reasoning is for the 12-day pause between chapters (you are actually locked out from progressing from chapter to chapter for a set number of days once you finish!) I found that this really slowed the momentum I had gained in thinking about daily self care (adventures!) and what was working for me. I bet that once my 12-day wait is up, I will have forgotten how much I enjoyed this game so far. If there is a therapeutic reason I am so curious! (And, like many others, I would love to be able to write in my custom adventure. For sufferers of anxiety like me, there may be adventures like mediation or deep breathing that are effective in daily care and would be great adventures to keep track of). This is a great start and I’m so glad there is something like this geared toward mental and behavioral health. I hope this game keeps improving! ### 3/5 — Preparing for disappointment *2021-09-30, version 1.2.1* If what other reviewers have said is true, that when you go from chapter one to two, you lose everything and have to start all over again, I’ll likely delete the app. When I got duplicate pets, I renamed the higher level one with a related name. Mossly became Mosslydead (The Princess Bride reference.). I’m very attached to Mosslydead. Now I’m in a 12 day lock until chapter two becomes available. I had been stocking up on luck pops, stamina buns and the like, in anticipation of having them in chapter two. Now, I don’t see the point in doing so. Which makes me see no point in playing. I’ll likely just write down a list of suggested activities from the app and do two or three a day. I was really enjoying this game but I’m preparing to be disappointed. ### 2/5 — Please read *2021-06-18, version 1.1.0* Good game but forgot my progress I even went through cloud nothing please fix this ### 4/5 — It’s great until Chapter 3 *2021-02-27, version 1.1.0* I’ve been really enjoying the game and I’ve now made it to Chapter 3. I’d love to keep moving forward, but Chapter 3 has an issue and crashes all the time. Whenever I start a mission, I cannot close out of the mission window. I have to close out the app entirely. When I come back later the mission is complete. I then get the rewards and have the same problem; I can’t close out of the window and I have to close the app. I would love to keep going but restarting the app twice for every mission is really disheartening. ### 5/5 — Love it! Just one thing *2021-02-20, version 1.1.0* This game is great, it’s really helped me feel a sense of purpose. I also love the visuals and soundscape, huge kudos to everyone involved in making this come to life. One thing I would like is the ability to complete more than one task per day. I feel very motivated to do the thing I choose, but I struggle to feel motivated to do everything else I need to do in a day. My only solution is to make a to-do list and choose the custom mission option, making its completion my goal. The problem is that the task is suddenly much, much larger and overwhelming. Even if there were only one big reward per day, having little rewards (maybe stamina??) for subsequent tasks would personally help me a lot. Anyways, I love the game and I’m really grateful for everyone involved in making it. Thank you very much! ## Frequently asked questions about Guardians ### What is Guardians: Unite the Realms about? Guardians: Unite the Realms is a game where you collect and train pets inspired by your real-life activities. You then build teams of these pets to send on missions to fight invaders and save different Realms. The game also incorporates psychological techniques to encourage healthy habit formation and improve wellbeing. ### How do I collect pets in the game? Unlike traditional games, pets are collected by completing meaningful real-life activities. These activities inspire the creatures to join you, making the collection process tied to your personal engagement and wellbeing. ### Is the game free to play? Yes, the game is free to play. Based on the provided information, there are no in-app purchases or advertisements, indicating a completely free experience for users. ### What are the benefits of playing this game? Beyond the core gameplay of collecting and training pets, the game is designed as a tool to help users build skills for fighting depression and improving their overall wellbeing. It uses psychological techniques to reward and encourage healthy habit formation. ### What kind of activities can I do to collect pets? The description emphasizes that pets are inspired by 'real life activities that are meaningful for you.' This suggests a broad range of personal activities, from exercise to mindfulness, could potentially inspire pet collection, depending on the game's specific tracking mechanisms. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.2.4 — 2022-05-25 Fixed a bug in the fire realm where sometimes a hat could not be a hat, and that broke a lot of menus. ### 1.2.3 — 2021-12-15 Upgraded Unity version Enabled Unity Crash Reporting to send anonymous data to our Unity Dashboard to help us debug crashes Fixed shaders for UI particles that weren't showing up Fixed small crashes and bugs Added skip button to the intro cinematic ### 1.2.1 — 2021-09-18 Minor text edits ### 1.2.0 — 2021-09-02 Added a disclaimer for when you first start playing. Please heed it! Updated Mission and Adventure UI, as well as images for Soul Gems. Fixed other UI and graphical bugs. ### 1.1.0 — 2020-05-20 Added the Festival of the Sun, a new Realm which will automatically unlock over time! Can you save the Festival from the evil and narcissistic Basher? Fixed some minor visual and gameplay bugs. ## Apps similar to Guardians | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Tack and Stack](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tack-and-stack/id6476882359) | — | Free | Games | | [Health Hero: Gamified Health](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/health-hero-gamified-health/id6745303107) | 5.0 (3) | Free | Games | | [Feynman rules](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/feynman-rules/id6478752222) | — | Free | Games | | [Idle Queen RPG](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/idle-queen-rpg/id6670756517) | — | Free | Games | | [Intergalactic Algebra](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/intergalactic-algebra/id1550524246) | 4.8 (6) | Free | Games | | [Kingdom GO!](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kingdom-go/id6447459537) | 4.7 (47) | Free | Games | ## More apps by Craig Ferguson - [Guardians: Paradise Island](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/guardians-paradise-island/id1619826930) All apps by Craig Ferguson: https://appshunter.io/developer/1509508124 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-07-23.*