Meta is entering its AI era (please ignore the company name, reflective of the last time it went all-in on an emerging technology), and it has a pretty clear playbook in mind: a cuteness honeypot. Its latest installation in the “what if we disguised our latest tech with an unassuming little mascot” is a Tamagotchi-like pet app called Waddle World.
The game that maybe isn’t really a game puts users in charge of a 16-bit pet. To keep it happy, users are encouraged to talk to it, which is where hidden layer number one comes in. Waddle World is not really a pet game—the creature users are put in charge of won’t die if they are neglected, as there is “no pressure, no streaks to protect, no score to chase,” per the app description—but instead a digital journaling app meant to get users talking about their day.
The pet is presented as a confidant who listens to users describe their day or asks specific question prompts, and writes it down for them. Which perhaps is where hidden layer number two is revealed.
The app description says that Waddle World “isn’t a chatbot” or assistant. There is no mention of AI or Meta’s Muse model, but it seems likely that it’s running in the backend here to do the transcribing. There is no disclosure stating whether or not the app uses a person’s interactions with it to help train Meta’s models, but at a minimum, it seems like another attempt by Meta to soften up the experience of interacting with AI for users who may otherwise be skeptical or disinterested.
It’s the same technique that the company seems to be taking more broadly with its AI tools. Last month, the company unveiled its soft and cuddly Labubu knockoff of a mascot for Muse, the apparent goal being to make the AI agent feel more approachable. It also announced a more direct Tamagotchi 2.0, a wearable and carryable little pendant called Muse Charm, where an AI-infused digital pet will live and let users interact with it.
In typical Meta fashion, this approach seems to optimize for one thing: engagement. A normal AI assistant sits in wait for a user, but doesn’t poke or prod them to come back. A digital pet, though, creates both an excuse to nudge users to come back and an incentive for them to stay engaged, usually with warnings that it will die or it’s lonely. Streaks or no, the goal is clearly to create a routine for users to keep coming back.
Waddle World is apparently only available in the Philippines right now, which is interesting. It’s the second AI-powered app the company has launched recently in a specific region, the other being an AI fashion app called Style Sketch that is only available in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand, according to social media consultant Matt Navarra, who first noticed the new Meta apps.
