getting started
How to Play
Murmels doesn't come with a manual it expects you to read first — but here's everything you might wonder about.
Hatching
Open the app and your Murmels hatches with its own seeded look — shape, texture, pattern, eyes, and a palette drawn from dozens of combinations. No two creatures look alike, and yours is set the moment it hatches.
Gestures & Care
Tap for a quick reaction. Double-tap for a high-five, once your creature has learned it. Long-press for a hug. Stroke to find its personal sweet spot. Fast rub to tickle it. Two-finger pinch to squish. Shake your phone to surprise it. Drag food to its mouth to feed it.
Every gesture gets its own voice, animation, and haptic, synthesized live from your creature's own size and mood.
Growth & Personality
Life stage and personality move based on the care your creature actually receives, not a timer. Pay attention and it shows; neglect it and that shows too. Personality drifts slowly, about ±0.02 a day, so it's shaped over weeks, not single sessions.
While You're Away
Closing the app doesn't pause your creature's life — it sleeps, wakes, and has off-screen events on its own. You can also send it on an adventure for 1–8 hours, tracked with a Live Activity the whole time. Come back to a story and often a souvenir. If a creature goes too long without care, it can run away — come back in time to call it home from the adventure banner, or welcome it back with a reunion ritual.
The Field Journal
Every discovery your creature makes — a favorite food, a hidden quirk, a trick it's learned, a dream it had — is recorded automatically, with keepsake photos taken for you. Open it from the More menu. Export the whole thing as a paginated PDF from the toolbar menu any time.
Decorating the Room
Open Decorate from the More menu to choose wallpaper and a rug, and place trinkets your creature has collected on the shelf, windowsill, or floor. The room also quietly reflects the season and any holiday on its own — no setup needed.
Shimmer Berries
Find a shimmer berry through play and feed it to a grown creature to reshape part of its look — texture, pattern, mouth, top, or tail — from three seeded options. Changed your mind? Undo the latest mutation any time and get the berry back.
Mini-Games
Once your creature reaches the kid stage, open Games to play Peekaboo, Bubble Pop, Copycat, Snack Catch, Teach a Trick, or Hum Along together. Each one can earn a prize trinket or teach a new trick.
Widgets
Add a Murmels widget from the widget picker to check in from your Home or Lock Screen. The Boop and Snack buttons work right from the widget — no need to open the app.
Notifications
Murmels asks for notification permission in character, once your creature is at least a day old. When enabled, you'll get up to two notifications a day, always outside the quiet hours you set in Settings.