Pawdex: Pets & Battles
Snap any animal. If nobody has found it yet, you discover a brand-new creature, and everyone after you meets yours.
Gotta snap ’em all.
The cat on the wall, the dog in the park, the pigeon on the bench: every kind of animal has a creature waiting in one world that all players share. Raise your own pet as your partner, then battle friends, hold park arenas with your team and climb the weekly leagues.
Coming soon
How it plays
Snap, discover, raise, battle
Snap
See an animal, open the camera from where you are and throw a Snapball with a quick timing tap. It is just a photo, worked out on your phone.
Discover
If nobody has found that kind of animal yet, a brand-new creature is made and you are its discoverer. If someone else found it first, you meet their creature and catch your own copy.
Raise your partner
Snap your own pet and it becomes your partner creature. Care for it every day, take it on walks and watch it evolve.
Battle
Turn-based battles against friends, park arenas held by teams, and weekly leagues.
Discover first
One shared world, and your name on what you find
Every player snaps into the same shared world. A kind of animal is its species and coat: a ginger cat, a black dog, a grey pigeon. The first player ever to snap a kind discovers it, and the game invents its creature on the spot: a name, a look, an element and moves.
From then on, every player who snaps that kind meets the same creature, and every creature carries its discoverer’s trainer name for good. Be quick, look around, and be the first to find the kinds nobody has snapped yet.
- First to find, credited forever. The discoverer is shown on every creature, in every player’s Pawdex.
- Same kind, same creature. Your copy has its own level and stats roll, but it is the creature the world already knows.
- Undiscovered kinds wait in silhouette. New animals and coats are added over time, so the world keeps opening up.
Your pet is your partner
Raise the animal you already love
Snap your own pet once and mark it as your partner. It becomes a creature that lives on your home screen, follows you into battle and grows with you.
Give it daily care, a meal and a play once a day each, and count your walks with your phone’s steps. It evolves at levels 10 and 25, keeping its face and gaining a new move each time.
Daily care
A little time each day earns XP and happiness. Miss a day and your partner just gets sleepy: it never gets ill or runs away.
Walks count
Steps from your phone give your partner XP, up to a daily cap. Steps taken in a car or on a bike do not count.
No location for pets
Your partner is snapped at home, so a partner snap never records where it was taken.
Compete
Battles are the heart of it
Pick one of three teams when you start. Then there is always someone to beat.
Friend battles
Add a friend with a six-character invite code, sent as text or scanned as a QR code when you are together, and battle their team.
Park arenas
Arenas are public parks. Stand in the park, beat the team holding it, and your team takes the arena until someone wins it back.
Weekly leagues
Every win earns league points. The table resets each week, so a new season of bragging rights is always just starting.
Leaderboards
Global boards for the most discoveries, the most wins and the strongest partner.
The map shows parks only. Players are never shown on a map or in a “nearby” list, and there is no chat.
Try it
Discover a sample creature
Pick an animal and a coat colour: that is a kind. The first time you pick a kind on this page you discover it. Pick it again later and it is already discovered, and you meet the same creature, made by the rules the app uses.
Strays never come out rarer. Marking one adds a “Help this animal” card instead. Nothing you pick here is sent anywhere, and a reload starts an empty world.
Turn on JavaScript to discover a sample creature.
Elements
Eight original types
Every creature has one element, picked from its kind: a black cat is Shadow, a ginger cat Ember, a duck Tide, a pigeon Gale, a white dog Frost. The eight types have their own Pawdex strengths and weaknesses in battle.
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Ember
Warm coats, fiery spirit.
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Tide
Ponds, puddles and rivers.
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Leaf
Hedges, parks and patchwork coats.
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Gale
Wings, rooftops and wind.
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Stone
Sturdy, earthy, unshakeable.
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Spark
Quick, bright and full of zip.
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Shadow
Night prowlers and dark coats.
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Frost
Pale coats and cool heads.
Our pledge
Safe and kind, built in
A game that sends people towards animals has to be safe for both. These rules are part of the game’s code, not small print.
Photo only
Snapping is a photo. No touching, feeding, luring, chasing or cornering.
Keep your distance
Getting closer gives no bonus. A small or blurry animal still counts.
Never while moving
No snapping or arena battles above 10 km/h, so nobody plays while driving or cycling.
Help strays
Strays get a “Help this animal” card with welfare and rescue guidance, and a Kindness badge, never extra rarity.
Blurred locations
Any location is stored on a grid of about 500 m, never an exact spot, so no home or hiding place can be traced. Players are never shown on a map.
Photos stay on your phone
Identification happens on the device. Your photos are not uploaded, only the kind of animal is shared, and pictures of people are refused.
Shelters
Adoptable creatures
We are planning a shelter partnership: an animal waiting for a home at a partner shelter appears as a special creature, and snapping it shows its adoption profile. Shelters will pay nothing; sponsors fund the feature.
How it compares
Where Pawdex fits
Lots of good apps sit near Pawdex. This is a summary of what each kind of app does, from their public descriptions as of October 2026.
| Feature | Pawdex (in development) | Pokémon GO | Cat-only catchers | Sticker collectors | ID tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creatures come from real animals | Yes | No, virtual creatures on a real map | Yes | Yes | Real species, not creatures |
| Animals covered | Any animal | Not applicable | Cats | Varies | Wide range of wildlife |
| Shared world, first to discover | Yes, the first player to snap a kind discovers its creature, credited for good | No, creatures are designed in advance | Personal collections | Personal collections | Shared sightings, no creatures |
| Raise your own pet | Yes, your pet is your partner and evolves | No | Not a focus | No | No |
| Types, stats and battles | Yes: friends, park arenas, weekly leagues | Yes | Some have stats and rarity | Collecting, no battles | No, a tool rather than a game |
| Gives back to animals | Stray care cards, shelter creatures planned | Not a focus | Not a focus | Not a focus | Supports citizen science |
FAQ
Questions
Is Pawdex free?
Yes. Pawdex is free to play, with no adverts aimed at children and no paid loot boxes. An optional subscription with extras is planned for a later version; snapping, discovering, raising your partner and battling stay free.
What if someone already found my animal?
You still catch it. You get your own copy of the creature they discovered, with your own level and stats roll, and their trainer name shown as its discoverer. New kinds of animal and coat are added over time, so there is always something left to be first to find.
Does it hurt animals?
No. Snapping is a photo and nothing else: no touching, feeding, luring or chasing. There is no bonus for getting closer, strays never count as rarer, and stray animals get a Help this animal card with welfare guidance.
What about my privacy?
Animals are identified on your phone, and your photos stay there. The shared world only learns the kind of animal and the creature made for it, never the photo. Your public trainer name is generated, not typed. Locations are blurred to roughly a 500 m grid, players are never shown on a map, and photos of people are refused. Read the privacy page.
Which phones will it run on?
The first release is for iPhone with iOS 17 or later, signed in to iCloud for the shared world. Android is on the roadmap for a later version.
Is it Pokémon?
No. Pawdex is an original game with its own creatures, names, elements, art and rules. It is not affiliated with Nintendo, The Pokémon Company or Game Freak.