Bird Alone vs Goodbye Lily
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bird Alone
Nurture a lonely bird through daily conversations, creative activities, and life's big questions. This award-winning app offers a unique companion experience, exploring themes of friendship, growth, and existence.
- Daily conversations and questions
- Creative expression (drawing, poetry, music)
- Nurture a virtual bird companion
- Explore themes of life and existence
- Unlock new content daily
- Experience changing seasons and time
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◆ Apple Design Award Winner 2021 ◆ Become best friends with the loneliest bird in the world. A journey of growth and loss with a best friend. Talk about life, make music, draw pictures and write poetry. Start each day answering your new friend's questions about life, death and the meaning of existence. Guide the bird through daily life as it confronts the same worries as the rest of us. ◆ What's your favourite colour? ◆ Where are all my friends? ◆ Do you ever think about death? What will your best friend ask you today? ◆ Draw a picture for the Art Gallery ◆ Write a poem together for the Book of Poetry ◆ Unlock today's plant for the Musical Garden ◆ Rub its belly Watch each day turn to night Ponder the changing seasons Face the heaviness of growing old with a best friend. Maybe this bird won't be so lonely after all. * Minimum required device: iPhone 6S or similar * Content warning: Bird Alone contains themes and discussion of death. User discretion is advised for those sensitive to this topic.
Goodbye Lily
Experience a poignant text-based narrative with 3D graphics and interactive touch controls. Relive memories of a loved one who has passed away through this emotional story.
- Text-based narrative
- 3D graphics
- Touch interactions
- Emotional story
- Interactive gameplay
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Lying awake in the middle of the night, my mind drifts back to memories of a girl I loved who recently passed away. A text-based story featuring 3D graphics and touch interactions. -------------------------------- Cursor icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com Undo/redo/delete/confirm/back icons made by Google from www.flaticon.com Textures from textures.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Goodbye Lily at none against Bird Alone's 3. Bird Alone's advantage is review sentiment (81% vs 56%) and ratings volume (11K vs 9). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Bird Alone sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Goodbye Lily asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bird Alone holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bird Alone has 11K ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Bird Alone's written reviews are positive against 56% of Goodbye Lily's.
Bird Alone ships an update every 3 weeks, Goodbye Lily every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bird Alone | Goodbye Lily |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (11K ratings) — better | 4.4 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.9% of reviews — better | 55.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 11K — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 12.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 409 MB | 141 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | George Batchelor | Alex Hannigan |
Customer experience
Bird Alone
Goodbye Lily
Bugs and requests
Bird Alone
Reported bugs
2 issues- App crashes on older devices
- Issues with loading and navigation
Requested features
4 requests- Option to keep the bird alive permanently
- More customization options for the bird
- Expanded daily activities and interactions
- Ability to restart or continue after the bird's passing
Goodbye Lily
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bird Alone
- Cup of Coffee$2.99
- Bird Alone full version$2.99
- New Socks$8.99
Goodbye Lily
No in-app purchases
