# VirtualHamster — Virtual pet sim

> Virtual pet sim (iPhone/iPad app by Ian Lander.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/virtualhamster/id6759629384 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Ian Lander](https://appshunter.io/developer/1689920635)
- Category: Games, Education, Family, Simulation
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 13.0 · 21 MB
- Languages: English
- Released: 2026-03-10
- Data updated: 2026-06-28
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/virtualhamster/id6759629384/reviews.md

## What is VirtualHamster?

VirtualHamster is a cozy pixel‑art virtual pet game where you care for your own tiny hamster in real time. Feed it, clean its cage, reduce stress, and keep it alive as long as you can. Relaxing, cute, and surprisingly challenging.

Gameplay Features

Free vs Full Version — Free includes one hamster with random properties and a 10-minute session limit; full version unlocks unlimited play with two hamsters and full customisation (name, color, personality)
Real-Time Pet Stats — Hunger, thirst, energy, stress, sickness, and age change continuously — requires active management
Interactive Gameplay — Tap to feed, tap to water, drag the food bowl to reposition it, double-tap poop to clean it up, turn lights on/off, and pet hamsters to reduce stress
Multiple Animations — Walking, running, sleeping, stressed, full, starving, and dead states with smooth 2-frame animation cycles
Pixel-Art Procedural Graphics — All visuals (cage, hamsters, objects, UI) are drawn procedurally — zero image files, resolution-independent
Persistent Game State — Hamster data and settings saved locally; resume your game anytime
In-App Purchase — One-time non-consumable purchase to unlock the full version with offline verification

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium Version | $2.99 | one-time |



## Version history (last 4 releases)

### 2.0.3 — 2026-06-25

New Features
Accessibility — Audio-Described Game Events
Key game events are now automatically announced aloud via VoiceOver

Accessibility Guide
A new dedicated Accessibility Guide page is available from Help → "ACCESSIBILITY GUIDE". It covers:

Screen reader support (what is and isn't labelled)
Sound guide — every game sound and its meaning
Portrait mode instructions
Realistic mode (slower stat drain) explanation
Screen Reader Support (overlays)
All Flutter overlay buttons, switches, and toasts now have Semantics labels, enabling full VoiceOver support.

Portrait Mode
A new Allow Portrait toggle in Settings lets players rotate the game into portrait orientation.

### 2.0.2 — 2026-05-15

Bug Fixes
Resume after demo no longer creates fresh hamsters — exiting demo mode correctly restores the previous saved game.
Improvements
New Landex logo on the opening splash screen, now displayed full-screen edge-to-edge on all devices.
Demo mode overhaul — demo is now fully isolated from your saved game (no data is written while demo runs, and your game is restored on exit). A visible "DOUBLE-TAP TO EXIT DEMO" banner makes it easy to return to the menu at any time.

### 2.0.1 — 2026-04-03

Bug Fixes
Fixed the Dynamic Duo badge never being earnable — the check incorrectly required 3 alive hamsters instead of 2.
Fixed the splash screen trumpet sound never playing — trumpet_blast.wav was missing from the preload list.
Fixed Reset (from the game-over screen) always showing the stats overlay regardless of user settings.
Improvements
Sociability System
Hamster personalities now actively affect how cage-mates interact:

Social hamsters (Social Butterfly) gain a small stress relief when near their cage-mate and briefly greet with a squeak and happy emoji on contact (12 s cooldown). They slowly build stress if left alone.
Solitary hamsters (Lazy Lounger) take extra stress from collisions and from extended proximity to a cage-mate.
Sickness Spread
Sickness is now contagious:

A heavily sick hamster (sickness ≥ 60) has a 15% chance to infect a cage-mate on each collision.
When sickness spikes from poop contact or an infection, the hamster sneezes — a brief stressed animation + sick emoji + squeak (15 s cooldown).
Ageing Milestones
Hamsters now show visible signs of ageing:

Grey fur — coat gradually desaturates from age 20 to 40 minutes (arcade), reaching up to 60% grey.
Speed penalty — movement slows progressively from age 15 min, up to 60% slower at age 30 min.
Growth cap — hamster size is now capped at the senior threshold (age 20 min arcade / 200 min realistic); no more runaway growth.
New Senior Citizen badge awarded when a hamster reaches 20 minutes of age.
Senior age warning toast shown once per hamster.

### 2.0 — 2026-03-10

No release notes.

## More apps by Ian Lander

- [VirtualHamster](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/virtualhamster/id6449627739)
- [Bible Blast](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bible-blast/id6759405078)

All apps by Ian Lander: https://appshunter.io/developer/1689920635

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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 2026-06-28.*