Comparison

Dopamine Pet vs Shapling

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Dopamine Pet

Features
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Dopamine Pet is a tiny habit game — keep your glowing creature alive with daily check-ins. Miss a day, the glow dims. Stack a streak, the colors evolve. A nudge toward small consistent habits, dressed as a creature. • On-device pet, streak shield, cosmetics • Grow through tiers, unlock new auras • Premium forms with Pro • No accounts, no ads Dopamine Pet is entertainment / habit-game only. Not medical advice. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Shapling

Features
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A puppy who remembers you – and shows it. Shapling is a cozy 3D dog game and virtual pet: one puppy who knows how you treat him. Like a real dog, he tells you without words – in how he greets you, what he keeps for you and the habits he picks up from your days together. HE REMEMBERS YOU • Every greeting is different. Back after a few days? He comes flying. Back after lunch? A polite hello. And if his needs were ignored while you were right there, he hangs back a moment – crouch down, wait, and he forgives you. • Leave the ball on the grass and he’ll bury it. Come back a day later and he digs it up for you. • Every “first time” – first fetch, first nap next to you – grows into a flower where it happened. On its anniversary, he goes back and sits beside it. • He learns his name. Come at the same time often enough and he waits for you by the gate. • A journal writes your days down: today’s fetch count, the day he first came when called, a butterfly leading 1–0. PET, PLAY, LOOK AFTER HIM • Pet him with a tap, scratch him with a swipe – his tail tells you the rest. • Throw the ball. He brings it back… most of the time. • Feed him, brush him, let him nap as day turns to night. • Teach him four tricks, one at a time: Sit, Shake, Spin and Play dead. Each one takes practice. • Pick his coat, his name and whether he’s a he or a she. • He has a personality – more playful or more obedient – and it shows in everything he does. A LITTLE SOMETHING EVERY DAY • A basket hangs on the park gate every day. Nobody knows who leaves it; he has a theory. Each one adds a stamp to a card of seven; the days needn’t be in a row, and the card never resets. • From day two he has ideas: up to three suggestions for play. None are required, and none expire. • Now and then, mid-sniff, he finds a four-leaf clover. Statistics disagree. He doesn’t do statistics. • Play on consecutive days and his medallion gets an engraving: a star, a heart, a moon, a sun. One rest day a week doesn’t break the streak. • After 30 days in the park he gets a party hat, and autumn brings turning trees and piles of leaves. DRESS UP YOUR PUPPY AT THE HONESTY STALL • By the gate stands a stall of scarves, hats, glasses, collars and balls – plus things for the park: a new roof, a bowl with his name on it, a blanket he’ll happily nap on. • Try everything first – on him or in the park. He’ll let you know what he thinks. • You pay in clovers, found and earned by playing. Everyday care earns none – petting him is not a job. • Some things can’t be bought at all. They’re earned with stamps, friendship and time together. KIND BY DESIGN • He never dies and never punishes you for having a life. While you’re away his needs drop slowly, and only so far. • At most one gentle notification a day, never at night, always about him – never about offers. Leave them unopened and they pause on their own. • Plays offline; only ads and purchases need a connection. • No ads in care. No subscription. No account. ADS AND PURCHASES – YOUR CHOICE In three places – the basket, the ideas and the stall – you can choose to watch a rewarded ad for a few extra clovers, at most four a day. From day two, a short ad may also pop up now and then at a pause – announced a moment before, at most four a day, never while you care for him. The ad network only starts if you agree. Purchases are optional and never touch care or play: the Golden Collar (every ad reward instantly, no ads at all), No Pop-up Ads and eight cosmetic bundles – Welcome Bundle, Rainbow, Starry Night, Park Scarves, Cottage, Lanterns, Autumn Bundle and Winter Bundle. After any purchase, ads never pop up again. No random rewards. Your puppy’s save stays on your phone. Ads come through Unity LevelPlay and its partners, who use data from this device to show and measure ads (details in the privacy policy). Your ad choice is always in Settings › Privacy and ads. Languages: English and Serbian (Latin).

Screenshots

Dopamine Pet4 screens
Shapling4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Dopamine Pet at none against Shapling's shown. Dopamine Pet also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Dopamine Pet sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Shapling sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
Dopamine Pet versus Shapling: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDopamine PetShapling
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 4 days—
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAndreas FetscherDjordje Subotic

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Dopamine Pet

Subscriptions1
  • Dopamine Pet Pro$3.991 Month
One-time5
  • Ticket Refresh$0.99
  • Revive$0.99
  • Growth Boost$1.99
Show 2 more
  • Cosmetic Pack$2.99
  • Dopamine Pet Pro (Lifetime)$6.99
10 purchases

Shapling

One-time10
  • Welcome Bundle$1.99
  • Park Scarves$1.99
  • Autumn Bundle$2.99
Show 7 more
  • No Pop-up Ads$2.99
  • Rainbow$2.99
  • Starry Night$2.99
  • Lanterns$2.99
  • Winter Bundle$2.99
  • Golden Collar$3.99
  • Cottage$4.99

Questions

Is Dopamine Pet free?
Dopamine Pet is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shapling free?
Shapling is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Dopamine Pet or Shapling have ads?
Shapling shows ads; Dopamine Pet does not.

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