# PocketFly: Fly Brain — A fruit fly with a real brain

> A fruit fly with a real brain (iPhone/iPad app by Andrew Nelson.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocketfly-fly-brain/id6828474412 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Andrew Nelson](https://appshunter.io/developer/6828011281)
- Category: Education, Games, Simulation
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.4 · 36 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-11-11
- Data updated: 2026-11-13

## What is PocketFly?

PocketFly puts a fruit fly in a small 3D room on your phone. Its behaviour isn't scripted: a spiking model of 1,589 real neurons, wired with 84,298 connections (1,118,467 synapses) from the Drosophila male connectome, turns what the fly sees into descending-neuron commands, and those commands steer its walking and flight.

PLAY WITH THE FLY
• Drop food on the floor or table and watch it turn and walk to it
• Send a hand swooping in: looming-sensitive neurons drive the giant fibre, and the fly takes off away from the threat
• Watch it land, feed and groom

SEE THROUGH ITS EYES
• Three views: the whole room, a follow camera, and the fly's own eye
• Turn on pixel eyes to feed a low-resolution render from the fly's head into its visual neurons

WATCH ITS BRAIN
• A live brain map and spike raster of the descending neurons; tap to expand
• Turn, thrust and escape readouts, with the neuron firing rates behind them

REAL DATA, HONEST MODEL
Every neuron identity, cell type and soma position, and every connection with its synapse count and brain region, comes from the connectome. The neuron dynamics (leaky integrate-and-fire), the sensory encoders and the body mapping are modelled. It's a toy, not a full fly brain, and the About screen explains exactly what is real and what is modelled.

No account, no ads, no tracking. Nothing you do in the app leaves your phone.

DATA CREDIT
Connectome data: Janelia FlyEM MaleCNS v1.0 (neuPrint dataset male-cns:v1.0), licensed CC-BY. Berg S. et al., "Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system", FlyEM / HHMI Janelia, University of Cambridge, MRC LMB and Google Research (2025). https://male-cns.janelia.org/
PocketFly is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by HHMI Janelia or the FlyEM project.

## Is PocketFly safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess PocketFly.

## Is PocketFly legit?

PocketFly: Fly Brain has limited verification signals. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for PocketFly is 58 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 1 release)

### 1.0.0 — 2026-11-11

No release notes.

## More apps by Andrew Nelson

- [The Welding Link](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-welding-link/id6828011279)

All apps by Andrew Nelson: https://appshunter.io/developer/6828011281

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*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 2026-11-13.*