Pet Jima vs Backyard Biome
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pet Jima
Adopt, nurture, and evolve adorable pixel creatures on your own island. Decorate your home, send creatures on expeditions for rewards, and enjoy a relaxing, timer-free experience. Collect unique creatures and build your island paradise.
- 40+ unique pixel creatures
- Creature evolution stages
- Island decoration with 160+ items
- Expeditions for coins and rare finds
- Time-based creature availability
- Offline play supported
- Social island visits
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Your own little island. A growing family of pixel pets. Welcome to MagicPets, a cozy creature-collecting game where you care for adorable pets and turn a little island into a place that feels like home. Adopt creatures from four magical habitats, feed them, and keep them happy as they grow from babies into adults and mighty mega forms. Watch your pets wander around your island, then send them on expeditions to bring back coins, decorations, and rare discoveries. Make room for a flower garden, a cozy corner, or something a little spooky. With over 160 pixel art decorations to collect and place, your island can grow along with your imagination. Play at your own pace. Stop by for a daily gift, complete a mission, or simply spend a quiet moment with your pets. COLLECT & CARE • Discover 40+ unique pixel creatures with charming animations. • Explore four magical habitats. • Raise your pets through baby, adult, and mega evolution stages. • Look for creatures that appear at special times, from dawn to moonlight. CREATE YOUR ISLAND • Collect and arrange 160+ pixel art decorations. • Build gardens, cozy spaces, and playful little corners. • Mix and match items to make your island your own. EXPLORE & CONNECT • Send pets on expeditions to earn coins and uncover rare finds. • Collect daily gifts and complete missions for rewards. • Visit friends’ islands, exchange gifts, and discover messages in bottles. • Back up your progress to the cloud. A LITTLE ESCAPE • Colorful pixel art inspired by classic 16-bit games. • No energy system—enjoy your island at your own pace. • Play the main game offline. An internet connection is required for social features and cloud backup. Your next little friend is waiting on Pet Island.
Backyard Biome
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Build a small yard and explore the food web it supports. Backyard Biome is an offline ecology-inspired strategy game for iPhone and iPad. SHAPE YOUR YARD Place meadow, nectar patches, shrubs, trees, ponds, deadwood, compost, rain gardens and predator shelters across 70 tiles. Balance a restoration budget as simulated weather, soil conditions and invasive growth change the yard. PLAN AT YOUR OWN PACE Start paused, inspect any tile, then run the clock or advance one or seven simulated days. Leaving the Yard pauses time. Your active study saves on this device and reopens paused, preserving its habitats, weather sequence and progress. LEARN FROM YOUR STUDIES Inspect moisture, nutrients, shade and disease pressure. Follow daily stability, diversity, soil and water-quality indices in survey charts. Export observations as CSV through Files. Completed studies retain their daily survey history in the field journal; older journal entries retain their original summaries. FOUR WAYS TO PLAY Campaign chapters offer repeatable starting yards. Daily and Weekly modes use shared UTC-based seeds. Practice offers a slower automatic clock. Optional Game Center leaderboards accept Daily and Weekly results completed within the same seed period; achievements are available when Game Center is connected. Existing leaderboards keep best scores and do not reset with each seed. EXPLORE THE FOOD WEB Read a 32-entry guide to organisms and ecological roles, with source links and clear model notes. Listen to 20 included soundtrack pieces. Use labeled tile controls, Dynamic Type, reduced-motion options and haptic controls. EVERYTHING INCLUDED One purchase. No ads, subscription, in-app purchases or developer account required. Play works offline. Active studies and the journal remain local. Optional manual private iCloud snapshots transfer campaign progress only; they do not transfer yards or journals. This is a simplified game model. Its indices are not wildlife counts, scientific measurements, calibrated predictions or professional environmental advice.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Pet Jima at Free against Backyard Biome's $2.99. Pet Jima also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 4 weeks). Backyard Biome's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On 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
Pet Jima is free to download; Backyard Biome costs $2.99 up front. Pet Jima sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Backyard Biome asks for nothing beyond the download.
Pet Jima ships an update every 2 days, Backyard Biome every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Pet Jima | Backyard Biome |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (14 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 14 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 40 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Genki Mine | Robert Corbin |
In-app purchases
Pet Jima
- Pouch of Coins$0.99
- Bag of Coins$4.99
- Chest of Coins$9.99
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- Treasure Vault2 variants$19.99
Backyard Biome
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pet Jima free?
Is Backyard Biome free?
Do Pet Jima or Backyard Biome have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pet Jima or Backyard Biome?
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