Comparison

Tiny Text Terrarium vs Dotling

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

Head to head
About

Tiny Text Terrarium

Cultivate a serene text-based garden that grows over time. Discover unique flora and fauna, track your garden's history through diary entries, and enjoy seasonal changes. Widgets provide a glance at your growing world.

Highlights
  • Plant seeds and watch them grow with real time
  • Diary logs of garden events
  • Discover 27 species and oddities
  • Real weather and seasonal changes
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • Time acceleration option
  • Customizable appearance
Features
Read full description

Plant a seed. Close the app. Come back to a little world that grew while you were away. Tiny Text Terrarium is a cozy garden built entirely from text. Every plant, puddle, and passing bee is an emoji living in a tiny grid. There's nothing to optimize, no timers to beat, and no way to lose. Just a quiet patch of soil that keeps growing while you live your life. • Plant seeds, sprinkle droplets, and let real time do the rest • Come back to a hand-written diary of everything that happened, "A bee stopped by the daisies and did a little happy dance." • Discover 27 species, visitors, and oddities for your Almanac • Learn the garden's secrets: something likes rainy mountains… • Real weather moods, day and night, snow in winter, and a few seasonal surprises • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets: your garden at a glance, one tap away • Can't wait? The Sundial nudges time forward, a day's worth per day • Make it yours: five backdrop tints and a light/dark appearance switch • Wilted flowers forgive you. One droplet fixes everything • Nothing to buy, ever. A tip jar exists only if you'd like to say thanks Fully playable with VoiceOver. No ads, no accounts, no data collected, your garden never leaves your device.

About

Dotling

Features
Read full description

A pocket virtual pet that lives on a real dot-matrix LCD. No emoji, no cartoons: just 576 dots, a beeping little friend and the feeling of the keychain toy you carried in the 90s. HATCH IT • Start with an egg and watch it hatch, grow and evolve through 5 stages • Three species: Dotto the blob, Peep the bird and Nyx the cat • Adults evolve differently depending on your care: Classic, Radiant or Scruffy CARE FOR IT • Meals and snacks, cleaning, medicine, lights out at bedtime • Discipline it when it misbehaves, or it grows up wild • Gentle reminders, at most 3 a day, only when your pet really needs you • Vacation mode freezes all needs while you are away PLAY WITH IT • Guess the Turn: the classic virtual pet duel • Stop the Dot: a timing game that speeds up every round • Hi-Lo: will the next number be higher or lower? KEEP IT CLOSE • Home Screen widgets show your pet and its meters • Lock Screen widgets tell you at a glance when it is hungry or bored • LCD beeps and haptics, with on/off switches A REAL SIMULATION • Time passes while the app is closed, and it is handled fairly • Care windows are measured in hours, not minutes • Every pet passes a trait to the next generation • Records, a graveyard for every lineage and 8 achievements to unlock DOTLING PREMIUM Your first generation is free forever. Dotling Premium unlocks every later generation, the bird and cat species, and the Amber, Ice and Noir LCD screens. The yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial for eligible new subscribers. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel any time in your account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.dijitalpilot.com/uygulama-gizlilik/

Screenshots

Tiny Text Terrarium4 screens
Dotling4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Dotling at every 5 days against Tiny Text Terrarium's monthly. On price, ads, 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. Tiny Text Terrarium sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Dotling sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tiny Text Terrarium ships an update monthly, Dotling every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Tiny Text Terrarium versus Dotling: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTiny Text TerrariumDotling
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAntonio Gordillo ToledoDIJITAL PILOT REKLAM SANAYI TICARET LIMITED SIRKETI

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Tiny Text Terrarium

One-time3
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Kind Tip$2.99
  • Generous Tip$6.99
2 purchases

Dotling

Subscriptions2
  • Dotling Premium$5.991 Month
  • Dotling Premium7 Days trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Tiny Text Terrarium free?
Tiny Text Terrarium is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Dotling free?
Dotling is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Tiny Text Terrarium or Dotling have ads?
Neither Tiny Text Terrarium nor Dotling shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tiny Text Terrarium or Dotling?
Tiny Text Terrarium ships an update monthly, and Dotling every 5 days. Most recently, Tiny Text Terrarium was updated on October 16, 2026 and Dotling on October 24, 2026.

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