{"id":897715,"date":"2026-10-28T16:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T16:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897715\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T16:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T16:36:12","slug":"meta-has-a-new-ai-pet-app-called-waddle-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897715\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta has a new AI pet app called Waddle World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Continuing its fast-paced experiments with AI apps, Meta has now launched a new app called Waddle World, which essentially looks like a Tamagotchi clone, but with AI. The might be a test, but it could very well be a precursor to the company\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/09\/24\/metas-muse-charm-looks-like-a-tamagotchi-but-its-tapping-into-a-much-newer-trend\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tamagotchi-like gadget powered by Muse<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company has launched Waddle World in the Philippines on both iOS and Android. The app, <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MattNavarra\/status\/2115210391462551845\">spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra<\/a>, lets you pick and grow a virtual pet, feed it, and play with it. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have reached out to Meta for a comment on wider availability, and will update this piece if we hear back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meta\u2019s description of the app indicates that it doesn\u2019t want the app to be a habit builder. The company\u2019s page also says that the app is not a chatbot, and is flagged as suitable for users older than 18.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWaddle World is a cozy 16-bit world where your pixel pet lives. Hatch a virtual pet, visit whenever you like, and let it get to know you. No pressure, no streaks to protect, no scores to chase \u2014 just a warm little escape in the cracks of your day,\u201d the app\u2019s description reads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNot a chatbot. Not an assistant. Not a productivity tool. It\u2019s a pet, and a place. Stay two minutes or twenty \u2014 it\u2019ll be happy either way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The app also doubles as a journal, letting users describe their day through voice or text. The pet listens to the user and writes up the note in its own voice as an entry with a doodle. The app also features mini-games that you can play over a few minutes, and can send you a weekly email based on what it learned about you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meta may be wanting to stay away from building companion apps, given companies like <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/10\/13\/just-5-years-in-interactive-chatbot-platform-character-ai-files-for-bankruptcy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Character.AI <\/a>and OpenAI have faced lawsuits that allege their products caused harm to teenagers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Until now, the social media giant has released AI-centric apps like <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/08\/20\/meta-brings-pocket-an-app-that-lets-you-vibe-code-and-share-games-to-us-users\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pocket, which lets you vibe-code games<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/02\/05\/meta-tests-a-standalone-app-for-its-ai-generated-vibes-videos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vibes, which let you quickly generate videos<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Besides virtual pets, some companies have also tried making <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/10\/21\/i-spent-a-month-living-with-a-430-ai-pet-the-casio-moflin\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hardware<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/snippet\/3079661\/step-aside-moflin-theres-an-ai-panda-in-town\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AI pets<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When you purchase through links in our articles, <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/techcrunch-affiliate-monetization-standards\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Continuing its fast-paced experiments with AI apps, Meta has now launched a new app called Waddle World, which&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1282,129955,376390,74],"class_list":["post-897715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-meta","tag-muse","tag-tamagotchi","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}