Jolly Dog, an iPad game for dogs, is rapidly climbing the App Store charts, thanks to viral gameplay clips on social media.
Originally released in 2016, the app currently ranks No. 27 on the top free iPad apps in the United States, according to App Figures, a market research firm that provides app analytics.
I couldn’t get our dog interested in it, but plenty of pet owners say it provides lots of gameplay fun — and not just for their furry friends. Some humans enjoy playing it, too.
Jolly Dog: Play simple catch games with your dog on iPad
Jolly Dog is a simple game of catch: Various cartoon animals skitter across the screen while making noises. If your dog “catches” the critter by landing a paw on top of the skittish character, it disappears in a cascade of stars, and another animal appears. If you let it, the game will play in an endless loop. You can see the gameplay in the YouTube video above.
Each cartoon animal has different running patterns and noises. For every 10 characters caught, the game unlocks additional animals and environments.
The app’s color scheme appeals to cats’ and dogs’ vision spectrum, according to the developer.
Jolly Dog is free to download and play, but is restricted to just three animals — a mouse, a rabbit and a pig — and three play environments. A paid pro version, which costs $1.99, unlocks all 14 characters (including a gopher, crab and spider) and four more play environments (a terrace, a seashore, and so on.)
iPad game for dogs is a hit with pooch owners
The game seems like a hit with pet owners, with favorable reviews and ratings. “My cat loves the basic version so I paid for the pro version,” said one.
Another reviewer said she plays it herself to help with her anxiety.
“This app is amazing,” she wrote. “I saw people say ‘my cat/dog loves it’ but I thought my anxiety would love this and it does ❤ it’s a great little sensory game for young children or people with anxiety like me! I couldn’t let this game be called ‘game for pets/animals’ because it’s a great sensory game for pets/animals and humans! And I love it. I literally played for over an hour just pressing the little toys and watch them turn into stars. It’s amazing 10/10.”
Where to download: App Store
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
