Help and How to Play

Getting started

1. CritterPal needs macOS 14 or later. It runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
2. Open the downloaded disk image and drag CritterPal into Applications.
3. Open CritterPal from Applications. If macOS says it can't check the app, open System Settings, go to Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway. You only need to do this once.
4. On the first launch, CritterPal asks what you want to call it. Until you pick a name, it's called Critter. You can change the name any time in Settings.

Your critter appears on your desktop. There is no account to make and nothing to log in to.

Right-click the critter to open chat. There is also a CritterPal icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen. It shows your pat and click counts, and its menu has:

• Chat with CritterPal
• Settings, Rename, How to Play and Show the Guide
• Reset Position, if you lose your critter off the edge
• Hide or Show, so you can tuck it away for a while
• Mute Sounds and Idle Animations
• Quit CritterPal

Playing with it

• Boop. Click it once. It giggles, hops or winks.
• Pat. Move the pointer back and forth over its head without clicking. Hearts float up.
• Drag and throw. Drag it anywhere. Let go mid-swing to throw it. It bounces off the screen edges and lands on its feet. Throw it hard into a wall and it gets dizzy. Click it in mid-air to catch it.
• Click and hold. Press and hold without moving. It charges up, gets carried or squirms, a different one each time.
• Spam-click. Keep clicking and it gets more and more fed up: first a flat look, then glaring, stomping, steam and grumbling. Stop for a few seconds and it calms down. If Kaboom is on in Settings, push it too far and it bursts into pixels, then rebuilds itself.
• Press Enter. Press Return or Enter in any app and your critter jumps and spins. This needs the Input Monitoring permission (see below). It doesn't spin while you're typing in its chat or playing a game.
• Sleep. Leave it alone for about two minutes and it falls asleep. Move the pointer close to wake it. Clicking it while it sleeps startles it awake.
• Idle antics. When it's bored it stretches, yawns, hums, dances and looks around. Its eyes follow your pointer when you're nearby.

The menu bar's How to Play window shows each of these in motion.

Chat

Right-click your critter, or pick Chat with CritterPal from the menu bar. You can also Control-click it. Press Return to send and Esc to close.

• Show it your screen. Tap the camera button in the chat, or the "Look at my screen" suggestion. That takes one screenshot and attaches it to your message. You can remove it before you send. Nothing is captured in the background.
• Follow-up questions. If you ask again within about five minutes, CritterPal sends the same screenshot along again, so it can keep talking about it. Start a new chat to drop it.
• Answer length. Choose Minimal, Short, Balanced or Detailed from the menu under the critter's name in the chat header, or in Settings → Chat. Minimal gives just the answer, like a single letter or number.
• New chat. The pencil button in the header clears the conversation. Your chat stays on your Mac, even after you quit, until you press it.
• Free chats. CritterPal gives you 3 chat answers a day. A small "answers left today" note shows by the text box. The count goes back to 3 at midnight. Only answers CritterPal actually gives count: errors and cancelled replies don't.

Answers are written by an AI, so they can be wrong. Check anything that matters. Use chat for homework help and practice, not for tests. More in the Terms.

Your messages go to CritterPal's server and on to an AI company to write the reply. The Privacy page explains exactly what is sent.

Games and the shop

Open the Arcade with the game controller button in the chat header, or from the Games menu in the menu bar. Every game pays coins based on your score, and your best score is saved.

The 6 free games are:

• Fetch
• Catch the Treats
• Cactus Hop
• Baby Conga
• Memory Match
• Rock Paper Scissors

Fetch and Catch the Treats play right on your desktop, over your windows. Press Esc, or click the × at the top, to stop. The others play in the Arcade window. Press Esc or the Games button to go back to the list.

Spend coins in the Shop (the storefront button in the chat header). Click an item to try it on your critter, then buy it. Outfits and colours show on your desktop and in every game. You can also earn achievements for playing, and an "Achievement unlocked" note pops up next to your critter.

Settings, sounds and mute

Open Settings from the menu bar, or with the gear button in the chat header. There you can:

• Change the name.
• Switch between Small, Medium and Large. The critter flickers between sizes like a classic video game power-up.
• Turn each reaction on or off under Animations, or use Turn All Off.
• Turn idle animations on or off and choose how often they happen.
• Choose how long chat answers are.

CritterPal makes little retro sounds for what it does. In Settings → Sounds there is one big switch to mute everything, a volume slider, and a switch and a preview button for each sound. You can also choose Mute Sounds in the menu bar.

Permissions

CritterPal works without either permission. Each one only unlocks one thing.

Screen Recording: only for the camera button

Needed so CritterPal can take the one screenshot when you tap the camera. It never records video and never looks at your screen on its own. After you turn it on in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording, quit and reopen CritterPal.

Input Monitoring: only checks for Enter

Needed so your critter can spin when you press Return or Enter in any app. CritterPal only checks whether a key is Return or Enter. It never records, stores or sends what you type. Turn it on in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring. If CritterPal isn't in the list, click + and add it from Applications. Settings has an Open Settings button that takes you there.

CritterPal also follows the pointer when it is near, for patting and waking up. That stays on your Mac.

Quit and uninstall

Quit

Click the CritterPal icon in the menu bar and choose Quit CritterPal.

Uninstall

1. Quit CritterPal.
2. Open Applications and drag CritterPal to the Trash.
3. Optional: also delete the folder ~/Library/Application Support/CritterPal. That is where your saved chat is. In Finder, choose Go → Go to Folder and paste the path.

Settings, coins and your install ID live in a small preferences file, ~/Library/Preferences/com.critterpal.app.plist. Delete that too if you want a completely clean start. More in the Privacy page.

Still stuck?

Email and say what you were doing when it went wrong.