Bug & Seek vs Pocket Oasis
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bug & Seek
Become a bug collector in a peaceful simulation game. Catch over 200 real insects, customize your insectarium, and explore a charming town with a light mystery. Enjoy simple, stress-free gameplay and learn interesting facts about bugs.
- Catch 200+ real insects
- Customize and expand insectarium
- Explore the world
- Meet locals and solve mystery
- Simple, stress-free gameplay
- Bug-based economy
- Learn real bug facts
Read full descriptionHide full description
Catch 200+ real life bugs in this peaceful creature collector. You’ve bought the local insectarium (bug zoo) in the cozy town of Buggburg, so start swinging your net to build your dream bug collection and create the best insectarium Buggburg has ever seen. Developed by a tiny, two-person dev team, Bug & Seek is a relaxing bug-catching game with a mystery twist and pixel art bugs. You've just bought an abandoned Insectarium (bug zoo)—congratulations! Now, go catch real-life bugs, build your collection, and level up your skills. Bug & Seek features a very simple and peaceful gameplay loop, no stress, and no wrong choices. So relax and enjoy all those bugs (and learn about them too)! * Discover 200+ adorable and real insects * Customize and Expand Your Insectarium * Explore The World * Meet the Locals * Solve the Mystery What to Expect: * Simple Game Mechanics — Explore, shake objects to reveal hiding bugs, and swing your net. Bug & Seek was meant to be easy, peaceful, and stress-free. A leveling system increases the rarity of bugs you can catch, and some special items boost your chances too. * A Bug-Based Economy — To earn money, you will have to sell bugs at the stores and for jobs and quests. But don't worry, you will be able to catch more! * Cozy, Humorous Vibes — The cute little town of Buggburg to explore, lots of goofy and bug-obsessed NPC's, bugs with personalities and jokes, and a fun mystery about someone stealing a bunch of bugs. * Light Customization — There are a handful of adorable new decoration sets, and even a few new clothing items you can acquire. * Real Facts and Information — Every bug in the game is a real bug, and you'll learn things like why bugs are so important to biodiversity and environmental health. What Bug & Seek DOES NOT have: * Challenging gameplay; the gameplay loop in Bug & Seek is very simple. * Mini games; if you swing your net at a bug, you will catch it. * Energy meters or sleep requirements; after all, you can only catch certain bugs at night. * Multiplayer options; * Combat; while bugs in real life do attack and eat other bugs, they don't in Bug & Seek, and you won't fight NPC's with your bugs. The bugs also do not carry swords or wear medieval armor, as fun as that might sound. * Romance; while you can talk to NPC's, and do jobs for them involving catching bugs, you cannot romance them, nor can you romance the bugs, regardless of the superpowers that might give to your offspring.
Pocket Oasis
Cultivate a serene virtual garden on your own balcony. Choose from a variety of plants and decorations to create a personalized oasis, influenced by real-world weather and climate data. Enjoy casual gameplay and unlock pets to join your tranquil space.
- Hand-painted 2.5D balcony simulation
- Decorate 3 balconies in global cities
- 36 unlockable plants with harvestable fruit
- Name and repot plants with unlockable pots
- 36 bespoke decorations
- Day/night cycle impacting plant stats
- Real-world weather and climate data
Read full descriptionHide full description
Gardening is one of life’s simplest pleasures, and there are few things more satisfying than watching a plant grow from a tiny seedling to a blooming plant. Pocket Oasis brings that joy to life in a beautiful, hand-painted world. Take a deep, relaxing breath and step out onto your very own balcony in a city of your choice. Choose from a wide variety of plants and decorations as you build your own little pocket oasis. Game Features - Relax in a hand crafted 2.5D balcony simulation with casual gameplay to unwind - Decorate 3 balconies in stunning cities around the world with hand-painted watercolors - 36 plants to unlock each with their own fruit to grow, harvest, and turn into jam - Name and repot your plants with up to 36 unlockable pots - 36 bespoke decorations to give each balcony a personal touch - A day and night cycle that impacts plant stats - Real-life geographical, weather, and climate data backend Plants Design a garden that’s entirely your own - With a wide selection of fruit bushes, vegetables and herbs, you have complete control over what you choose to grow in your garden. Decorate your balcony as you see fit - this is your little oasis. Harvest Fruit Transform your balcony into a true masterpiece with vibrant colours and deliciously drawn fruit. Pets Unlock up to 20 of your very own pets to roam around on your balcony. Cities Discover gardens around the globe - Grow sunflowers in Switzerland, roses in Rome, or figs in France - explore cities across Europe. Weather Influenced by real-life weather - Pocket Oasis takes data from the real world and brings it into the game, mirroring the weather and seasons of each city with its real-life counterpart. Hand Painted Beautiful, hand-painted water colours - Every flower, creature, object and backdrop has been carefully painted by hand. Audio Original scoring from composer Tom Jensen.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Bug & Seek at 4.8 against Pocket Oasis's 4.2. Bug & Seek also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 58%) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). Pocket Oasis's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, in-app purchases, 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. Bug & Seek sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pocket Oasis sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bug & Seek holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bug & Seek has 62 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Bug & Seek's written reviews are positive against 58% of Pocket Oasis's.
Bug & Seek ships an update weekly, Pocket Oasis every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bug & Seek | Pocket Oasis |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (62 ratings) — better | 4.2 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.7% of reviews — better | 58.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 62 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 487 MB | 731 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | So Peculiar, LLC | knit'n'purl game studio LLC |
Customer experience
Bug & Seek
Pocket Oasis
Bugs and requests
Bug & Seek
Reported bugs
8 issues- DLC not recognized as owned
- Insectarium maxed, no room for bugs
- Bugs disappeared after season change
- Game restarts when closed
- Expansion content not showing up
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Paying didn't unlock content
- Furniture placement bug (aquarium opens storage)
- Ads on iOS are over a minute long
Requested features
8 requests- Add controller accessibility
- Include Latin names for bugs
- Add scientific names for bugs
- More expansions/DLC
- Search/filter in field guide
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Apple Pencil support
- Build a home or greenhouse
- Add botany elements
Pocket Oasis
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bug & Seek
- English (U.S.)$6.99
Pocket Oasis
- Unlock Full Game$0.99
Questions
Is Bug & Seek free?
Is Pocket Oasis free?
Which has better reviews, Bug & Seek or Pocket Oasis?
Do Bug & Seek or Pocket Oasis have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bug & Seek or Pocket Oasis?
Other comparisons















