How can we help?

Questions and answers

• How do I add the widgets?

  On the Home Screen

  1. Touch and hold an empty spot on your Home Screen until the apps jiggle.
  2. Tap + (or Edit, then Add Widget) at the top of the screen.
  3. Search for Sqwidge and tap it.
  4. Swipe to the medium size, then tap Add Widget.

  The medium and large widgets have Feed, Play and Tidy buttons. The small one shows your Sqwidge in its room, and tapping it opens the app.

  On the Lock Screen

  1. Touch and hold your Lock Screen, then tap Customise.
  2. Choose Lock Screen.
  3. Tap the box under the time.
  4. Scroll to Sqwidge and tap a widget to add it. Then tap Done.

  The app shows you these steps after your first egg hatches, and your Sqwidge gets a bonus treat and 25 coins when you add your first widget.

• Can I feed it from the Lock Screen?

  Yes. The rectangular Lock Screen widget, "Sqwidge status", has a round Feed button beside your Sqwidge's mood whenever it's at home. Tap it to feed; if your iPhone is locked, iOS may ask for Face ID or your passcode first. Tapping anywhere else on the widget opens the app.

  The round "Happiness" widget shows your Sqwidge's hearts. If you walk with your Sqwidge, you can edit it to show how close you are to the next step treat instead.

• The widget buttons don't do anything

  Your Sqwidge is probably out:

  • Exploring. An adventure takes 2 hours, and the widgets show when it's back. Care waits until then, and a chest is waiting when it gets home.
  • Wandering. If it's been hungry, bored and messy for a few days, it wanders off for a while. Open the app to welcome it home; it brings back a souvenir.
  • Still an egg. Until your first egg hatches, the widgets just show the egg. Hatch it in the app.

  Your Sqwidge never gets ill and never dies. It always comes home.

• How does walking with Apple Health work?

  Walking is optional, and always a bonus: you can raise a perfectly happy Sqwidge without it. After your first egg hatches, the "Walk together?" card asks; Continue opens Apple Health, where you choose whether Sqwidge may read your steps and walking distance.

  If you allow it, your steps become treats (at 2,000, 5,000 and 8,000 steps a day), hatch walked eggs (at 2, 5 and 10 km) and move your Sqwidge along the journey map.

  Your step counts and distances are read on your iPhone and never leave it. If you sign in, only game values worked out from them are saved with your account: treats earned, the days you walked 5,000 steps or more, and journey distance.

  To turn it off, open Settings (the gear on the Collection tab) and switch off Walk together, or turn off Sqwidge's access in the Health app: tap your picture, then Apps, then Sqwidge. Changed your mind the other way? Turn the access back on in the same place.

• Do I need an account? How do friends work?

  You don't need an account. Everything except friends and the Happiness League works without one, even offline.

  To add friends, sign in with Apple from the Friends tab (or Settings, then Account). Sqwidge doesn't ask Apple for your email address. Then share your friend code or invite link; your friend accepts the request, and you can visit each other's Sqwidges. A visitor stays for up to a day and leaves a little gift of coins.

  There's no chat. Friends see your display name and your creatures' names, and someone you send a friend request to sees your display name. Everyone else just sees "Keeper" and the end of your friend code. If someone's names aren't kind, report or block them from their page in Friends, or with the flag on a friend request. Our rules say what's allowed and what happens to a report.

• How does the Happiness League work?

  Once you're signed in, you join a league group of up to 30 players each week, Monday to Sunday (UK time). Your score is how happy your Sqwidges are, checked every hour and counting the happiest one you're raising. So it's all about care, not time played or money spent: nothing you buy raises your score directly, and step treats never count.

  Results arrive on Monday. The top five move up a league and the bottom five move down, through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Everyone who played gets that league's coins and badge, and the top three win something to wear.

  If your iPhone's clock is set ahead, care from that stretch doesn't count towards the league. Keeping Set Automatically on (iOS Settings, General, Date & Time) avoids it.

• What can I buy, and how do I restore purchases?

  Sqwidge is free. Everything in the shop is cosmetic or convenience only, like outfit packs, a second creature slot or a special egg. Nothing you buy raises your league score directly; the starter pack's coins buy the same everyday things coins from play buy. A paid egg shows the exact Sqwidge it will hatch before you buy. There are no ads. Payments are handled by Apple, and we never see your payment details.

  To get your purchases back on a new iPhone, or after reinstalling, tap Restore purchases in the Shop, or in Settings (the gear on the Collection tab) under Purchases. Use the same Apple Account you bought them with, and everything you keep for good, like outfit packs and the second slot, comes back.

  Refunds are handled by Apple, at reportaproblem.apple.com. If something you bought didn't arrive, try Restore purchases, then email us with the date and what you bought.

• How do I delete my account?

  1. Open the Collection tab and tap the gear to open Settings.
  2. Tap Account, then Delete account, and confirm.
  3. Sign in with Apple once more, so we know it's you.

  Your account and everything linked to it (friends, league history, Arcade scores, purchase records) are removed from our servers straight away, and Sqwidge's Sign in with Apple access is revoked. A world record you set stays in the record history as "A former keeper", with nothing about you. Your creatures stay on your iPhone unless you delete the app.

  Deleted Sqwidge already? Install it again, sign in with Apple, and delete your account from Settings as above: signing in is how we know it's yours. Stuck? Email support@sqwidge.app.

• What do you do with my data?

  As little as the game needs. Without an account, your Sqwidge lives only on your iPhone. With one, we keep what friends, the league and the Arcade's tables need. Other players see your Arcade scores only if you choose to show them, and then only with a nickname. We never sell it, never use it for ads and never track you. The privacy policy has every detail.