PixelPal vs Hermit Crab Simulator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PixelPal
Raise a virtual pet from an egg, caring for its needs like hunger and sleep. Decorate its room and collect different Pal forms. Play mini-games to earn coins for customization and new species.
- Virtual pet care (feeding, cleaning, sleep)
- Home screen widget for quick interaction
- Mini-games for earning coins
- Room decoration and customization
- Collect 25 different Pal forms
- Multiple collectible Pal species
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A little buddy is waiting for you. PixelPal is a virtual pet game where you raise a Pal, an original little creature all your own. The egg hatches in 5 minutes, and from then on it's all up to you. As time goes by, your Pal gets hungry, poops, and falls asleep when night comes. ■ 6 ways to care • Meal / Treat – fill up Tummy and Mood • Play – earn coins in 3 mini games (Which Way? / Treat Catch / Remember & Tap) • Clean – leave poop lying around and your Pal gets sick • Medicine – two doses and it's all better • Lights – turn them off at bedtime • Scold – if it calls you for no reason, teach it some manners ■ Sweet dreams At 9 PM your Pal closes its eyes and drifts off to sleep. Turn off the lights and the whole room goes dark for a cozy night. Leave them on, and it gets a little grumpy. ■ Neglect it, and it runs away If Tummy or Mood stays at 0 for 12 hours, your Pal leaves a goodbye letter and is gone. You'll get a notification when it's about to run away (at night, everything except run-away alerts waits until morning). ■ Care from your Home Screen Tap the buttons on the widget to feed and clean without opening the app. ■ Decorate the room Pick a room, then decorate the ceiling, the wall, the floor on both sides and the rug. Put a hat on your Pal, or let it hold a balloon or a teddy bear. With coins from the mini games you can collect 4 rooms, 16 pieces of furniture, 8 hats and 6 held items. Your decorated room also becomes the background of your Home Screen widget. ■ Collect all 25 forms Depending on how you care for it and teach it manners, your Pal grows into one of 5 adult forms. Once it's all grown up, it's on to the next egg. Raise generation after generation and fill up your Collection. ■ Sweet friends (egg packs, one-time purchase) Pudding Pal / Dango Pal / Macaron Pal / Cotton Candy Pal. Each species grows up its own way and has its own adult forms. Every pack comes with that Pal's room set (Pudding Café, Dango Teahouse, Patisserie Room, Cloud Carnival: 1 room, 5 pieces of furniture, 2 hats, 1 held item). • Egg packs and the Complete Pack are one-time purchases – no subscription, no auto-renewal • With the free Mint Pal alone, you can play from egg to adult for as long as you like • Already bought PixelPal Pro or the Item Pack in an earlier version? All eggs are unlocked for you • Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ • Privacy Policy: https://sano131.github.io/pixelpal-privacy/ Works with VoiceOver: it reads out how your Pal is doing and the results of your care. Play in 9 languages: English, Japanese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional). Everything is saved on your device.
Hermit Crab Simulator
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No Ads. No Subscriptions. A Quiet Little World. Welcome a hermit crab and build a tropical home on the sand. Name your companion, collect beautiful shells, and make each habitat your own. A SHELL FOR EVERY MOOD Discover 44 shell designs, from natural spirals to fantasy jewels. Change shells while keeping your crab’s name, age, and care history. Each habitat has its own collection. CREATE YOUR SANCTUARY Explore 12 environments and arrange 29 decorations, including plants, hides, climbing structures, pools, and five luxurious treasures. Move, resize, and layer pieces to design your home. Unlock up to five habitats with a shared coin balance. CARE AND PLAY Feed your crab, mist the habitat, refresh freshwater and saltwater pools, and clean the glass. Tap the sand to play: ten taps fill playfulness. Each fresh pool adds 12 happiness for 24 hours. Optional feeding reminders help you keep a routine. A PEACEFUL POCKET COMPANION Enjoy a silent game with no ambient sound. Earn daily rewards, save terrarium photos, and use optional iCloud backup. Loading a backup replaces local progress; use one device at a time. Coins can be earned through play. Optional consumable coin packs are available through Apple in-app purchases. There are no ads or subscriptions. Care continues while the app is closed. If care lapses, the worn shell is lost. A free recovery meal brings your companion back in the starter shell; buy the lost shell again for 10% of its original coin price. Other collected shells remain yours. This is a fictional virtual-pet game. Its habitats, fantasy shells, and care timers are not instructions for real animal care.
Screenshots
Verdict
PixelPal and Hermit Crab Simulator are too close to call on the numbers: across 7 compared parameters — price, rating, ratings volume and ads among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. PixelPal sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Hermit Crab Simulator sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for PixelPal against 5.0 for Hermit Crab Simulator. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.
| Parameter | PixelPal | Hermit Crab Simulator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 68 MB | 112 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SANWA Inc. | WYATT WAYNE KELLER |
In-app purchases
PixelPal
- プレミアム$1.991 Month
- プレミアム着せ替え解放$0.99
- Dango Pal Egg$1.99
- Cotton Candy Pal Egg$1.99
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- Pudding Pal Egg$1.99
- Macaron Pal Egg$1.99
- Complete Egg Pack$5.99
Hermit Crab Simulator
- Tiny Coin Pack$0.99
- Small Coin Pack$3.99
- Medium Coin Pack$7.99
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- Large Coin Pack$12.99
- Premium Coin Pack$29.99









