Tamadochi

Tamadochi's most appealing rule is simple: according to its App Store description, progress stops when you close the app or put the Mac to sleep. For a pet game designed to sit beside your work, that matters. Time away from the screen doesn't keep advancing the game.

While it's open, you feed the pet, clean its room and give it medicine when needed. It grows through five stages. Care reminders and sounds are configurable, and three difficulty settings let you choose how demanding that routine should be.

The habitat follows a visible Dock at the bottom of the screen by default, then disappears when the Dock hides. If you keep your Dock on the left or right, the listing advises turning off automatic following and choosing a fixed position through the menu-bar settings. Placement is worth checking before assuming the app is missing.

Eight randomly selected minigames award Star Bits, which also come from caring for the pet. Those earned points buy accessories, decorations and room themes. The developer lists 12 themes and says Star Bits cannot be bought through in-app purchases.

The US listing shows a $1.99 purchase and requires macOS 13 or later. It advertises no account or ads. ByteRove's privacy policy says pet status, play records and settings stay on the Mac and are not automatically sent to the developer. Pet photos are local images of the game room, not screenshots of other apps. Device backups and folder syncing follow your own settings.

These details come from the listing and privacy policy, rather than an installed-app test. The listing does not yet specify supported accessibility features, which is worth checking if you depend on them.