Skip to main content

‘My Tamagotchi Forever’ is an endless barrage of microtransactions

Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re looking for a full-on blast from the past, look no further than My Tamagotchi Forever for iOS and Android. Since it’s now officially available worldwide — aside from Japan and China– you’re no longer required to carry around a brightly colored egg-shaped keychain to get your Tamagotchi fix.

With My Tamagotchi Forever, you’re still raising your Tamagotchi the same way you normally would — feeding it, washing it, cleaning up after it, and putting it to bed. It also places you in the heart of Tamatown, where you get to customize the village with different things like a swing set or soccer a goal.

Recommended Videos

You will get to see your Tamagotchi evolve through its different stages as you continue to play the game. But the type of character you get will always be a surprise — it’s all dependent on how you take care of it. You won’t have to worry about checking in on it either since your phone will provide you with notifications when it is in need of attention.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

In true millennial fashion, you can even take photos of your Tamagotchi completing different activities. The pictures are stored in a photo album which you can then share with others through text or email. Completing pages of the album will also earn you different rewards like clothing or forms of currency.

It also supports augmented reality functionalities using ARKit for Apple and ARCore for Google, which allows you to play hide-and-seek games with your Tamagotchi in real surroundings. So basically, your Tamagotchi can come to life in your very own living room —  which sounds kind of terrifying, but we all know it’s a feature we would’ve begged for back in the 1990s.

Even though the game is free to play, it’s highly reminiscent of Animal Crossing where you will only really get ahead by making in-app purchases. It isn’t free from advertisements either — to receive free gifts, it will often ask you to watch a 30-second video. But you can still gather coins and level up by playing mini-games.

We played around a bit with My Tamagotchi Forever and thought the experience was interesting. We thought it was a refreshing change to be able to see our Tamagotchi in color and interact with it via touchscreen rather than tiny buttons on the original device. But the addition of in-app purchases and currencies made it feel like more work than it should be.

You can download My Tamagotchi Forever from the App Store and Google Play Store. For now, we think we’re going to stick to our keychains — it’s much cheaper, anyway.

Brenda Stolyar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brenda became obsessed with technology after receiving her first Dell computer from her grandpa in the second grade. While…
This music app is doing something different in the Apple App Store
The Practice Pro app.

The iOS App Store is awash with apps using subscriptions and in-app payments, but our attention has been drawn to a brand new release that goes back to the old way of doing things — charging a one-off payment. It’s such a rare approach, the company has even drawn attention to it in the app’s top features list.

The app is Practice Pro, a release from developers Dynamic App Design, and it is made to help musicians practice and improve with use. The studio claims it’s suitable for professional and amateur musicians due to its clever modular design. Using different widgets, the app can be set up to only include the practice tools relevant to you, a better option than either using multiple apps, or having a cluttered, unfocused menu.

Read more
Phone cameras are so good, they’ve finally replaced my camera for work
Close up of the camera on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro.

For almost two decades, I’ve carried more than twenty pounds of electronics in my backpack for the slightest chance of needing to capture content for my professional life. My backpack usually contained my MacBook, a full-frame camera with a big lens, a tripod, and an assortment of video and audio gear that I always deemed essential.

As it turns out, over the past two years, many of these items were rendered obsolete, as many companies launched new products that were quickly able to replace technology that I previously considered irreplaceable.

Read more
There’s a secret way to free up 7GB of storage in your iPhone
iPhone 16 Pro homescreen with an Apple Intelligence Notification Summary

If you constantly run out of space on your iOS device, you could free up as much as 7GB of data just by disabling Apple Intelligence. The iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS Sequoia 15.3 updates released this past week enabled Intelligence by default, but it isn't a requirement — and if you don't want to use it or would prefer the free space, you can turn it off.

On average, Apple Intelligence requires around 7GB of storage space regardless of platform. The reason for this relatively large requirement -- especially when the operating system itself takes up a decent amount of storage -- is because Apple runs the Intelligence features on-device. This ensures greater levels of security, but it also means less memory. This is a 7GB requirement per device, according to MacRumors.

Read more