Pathlings vs Unhooked
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pathlings
This app transforms your daily steps into a gentle adventure with a virtual companion. Nurture your unique buddy, unlock new stages of growth, and complete daily quests to build a consistent routine. Goals are customizable to fit your lifestyle, making fitness fun and private.
- Virtual companion with unique personalities
- Daily step-based adventures and quests
- Unlockable growth stages and rewards
- Customizable step goals
- Collect in-game items
- Private and ad-free experience
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Walk more with a little buddy who grows alongside you. Pathlings turns your real daily steps into a cozy game. Choose a tiny creature, give them a name, and help them grow through five forms as you reach milestones and finish quests. There are snacks to share, Rubies to collect and a home to make your own. • Find your walking buddy. Start with a leaf-eared forest mouse, a lava frog or a water panda, each with their own personality and five forms to discover. Feed them snacks, play with toys, and watch them grow. • Make room for more friends. Save your Rubies to adopt other Pathlings, including a storm owl and Pebblehorn, the sandstone rhino. Decorate their home with plants, lanterns and treasures, unlock new habitats, and watch your little crew wander around together. • See who walks the most. PathLeague turns your weekly steps into a friendly race with your Game Center friends. See their Pathlings, chase a place on the podium, and win weekly Ruby prizes. Earn 100 Rubies for each new friend you add who plays Pathlings. • Turn your steps into playtime. Earn a Trail Run pass halfway to your daily goal and another when you reach it. Then dash down forest, volcanic, underwater, mountain or canyon trails: switch lanes, jump over obstacles and collect Rubies to bring home. • Take your Pathling for a stroll. Follow your walk live on your iPhone’s Lock Screen and look back on your outings in Walk History. Walk half your daily goal in one stroll, with a minimum of 2,000 steps, to earn 50 bonus Rubies once a day. • Find a pace that fits. Choose your own daily step goal and change it whenever you need to. Complete daily and weekly quests, collect badges, and look back on your progress with a weekly recap. When you need a day off, a Rest Day Shield can protect your streak. • Keep your buddy close. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets let you check in at a glance, with Feed and Play shortcuts on the Home Screen widget. See your synced progress and PathLeague race on Apple Watch, start and end walks from your wrist, or ask Siri to start a stroll. Pathlings counts your steps using Apple Health and your iPhone’s motion sensor. Free to play with optional Ruby packs. No ads, no subscriptions, and no Pathlings account needed. PathLeague is optional and uses Game Center. Choose your buddy and take your first walk together.
Unhooked
This app helps you reduce screen time by adopting and caring for a virtual pet. Your pet thrives when you stay within your set daily limits on distracting apps, offering a gentle, motivating way to build healthier digital habits.
- Adopt and care for a virtual pet
- Set daily limits on chosen apps
- Pet thrives with reduced screen time
- Customize pet and room with cosmetics
- Track streaks and earn rewards
- Private by design, no account needed
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Meet the pet that grows when you put your phone down. Unhooked turns cutting screen time into something you actually want to do. Adopt a cozy companion, set a daily limit on the apps that pull you in, and watch your friend thrive every day you stay under it. Slip back into the doomscroll, and they'll feel it too. No shame. No lectures. Just a warm little world that quietly roots for you. HOW IT WORKS • Adopt your pet and pick the apps you want to use less • Set a gentle daily time limit • Stay under it to earn Energy — then feed, care for, and grow your friend • Keep it up to evolve your pet through four adorable life stages • Miss your goal and your pet gets hungry, then sick — a soft nudge, never a punishment WHY IT WORKS Most screen-time apps just block you and hope for the best. Unhooked gives you someone to show up for. That small bit of care turns "I should use my phone less" into a daily streak you're proud of. FEATURES • A cozy, hand-crafted pet that reacts to your real habits • Choose exactly which apps count toward your limit • Daily check-ins, streaks, and milestone rewards • Dozens of cosmetics to make your pet and room your own • Gentle notifications that help you pace your day • Memorials that remember every friend you've raised PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your Screen Time data never leaves your device. No account, no sign-up, no tracking, no ads. Your progress backs up safely to your own iCloud. That's it. Put the phone down. Someone's waiting for you.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Unhooked at 5.0 against Pathlings's 4.5. Pathlings's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and ratings volume (8 vs 2). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Pathlings sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Unhooked sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Unhooked holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 2 respectively.
Pathlings ships an update weekly, Unhooked every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pathlings | Unhooked |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 249 MB | 138 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dave Mohan | TrueSight LLC |
Customer experience
Pathlings
Unhooked
In-app purchases
Pathlings
- 500 Rubies$0.99
- 1,200 Rubies$1.99
- 3,000 Rubies$4.99
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- 6,500 Rubies$9.99
Unhooked
- Pocket of Gems$0.99
- Pouch of Gems$4.99
- Jar of Gems$9.99
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- Chest of Gems$19.99
- Vault of Gems$49.99









