Meta's Waddle World is a Tamagotchi-like AI pet app

Screenshots by Mariella Moon (Meta)

Looks like a big part of Meta's AI strategy is to rely on "uwu" and cuteness as a way to get people to use and train its models and agents. The company has released a new Tamagotchi-like AI-powered pet-rearing game called Waddle World, but it's only available in the Philippines for now. If you've ever played Tamagotchi or any other virtual pet game, Waddle World will feel very familiar. You hatch an egg to get a pet, then you have to play with it and feed it to keep you happy. This virtual pet, however, can chat with you and even create illustrated journal entries to illustrate your conversations. 

Social media consultant Matt Navarra has posted links to its Apple App Store and Google Play store listings on X. Based on those listings, the game first became available in late September. Waddle World is a 16-bit game that Meta describes as a "daily journal disguised as a pet." You'll be able to write or dictate a journal entry, which the game presents as a way to communicate with your pet. Every time you write in your diary, your pet writes back and draws a little doodle to go with the entry. The responses are, of course, powered by Meta's AI. As Navarra noted, this is basically "Tamagotchi meets ChatGPT."

Screenshot by Mariella Moon (Meta)

In addition to the app's journaling features, you can play mini-games to collect points that you can use to buy food and toys for your pet. One mini-game will have you stacking grocery items on top of your pet's head. Another will have you catching falling stars and dodging bombs. The third game will have you spelling words using the jumbled letters on the screen. It's not clear why it has such limited availability at the moment, but it's possible that the company is testing it in the Philippines before giving it a wider release. 

Meta already lets you design cute avatars and designate a personality for your Muse agent. It also revealed the "Muse Charm" at its Connect event in September. The Muse Charm, designed to be an AI companion, is an egg-shaped physical device like the Tamagotchi that contains your Muse avatar. It's small enough to be a keychain, created so that you'll have constant access to Muse — or for Muse to have constant access to your environments and experiences. Meta is aiming to release the device in time for the holidays this December.