FAQ
Basics
What is Mochi: Walk Buddy?
Mochi is a virtual buddy that lives off your real steps. Walk, hit your daily step goal, and your pet stays well and grows. Skip too many days and things get rough, but you can always come back. Steps keep the buddy alive. Premium is extras.
How do steps affect my buddy?
The app reads how much you walk today. Hit your daily goal (6,000 steps by default; you can change it in Profile → Plan) and the day counts as a win: health goes up once, evolution can tick forward, and mood clears. Miss, and health dips by how far you were. Food and water can lift mood to happy, but only steps protect from neglect.
Where do steps come from?
On Android, Mochi reads daily step counts from Health Connect when you grant permission, with a device pedometer fallback if needed. On iOS, the app uses your device’s built-in motion / pedometer capabilities. Open Settings → Health & steps to connect or check status. Fake steps do not count. We do not use GPS or location tracking.
Do I need an account?
Yes. When you first set up the app, you create an account (email or Google Sign-In) so your progress can be backed up and restored. You can sign in on a new phone and restore from the cloud in Settings → Account.
Your buddy
Which pets can I pick?
During onboarding you choose one of four buddies: Slime, Cat, Dragon, or Deer. You name your pet and that buddy stays with you.
Mood and health
They are two different numbers. Mood is the face: consecutive missed step-goal days make your buddy mad, then sad, then sick. Hit today’s food plan (calories plus protein) and mood can go happy, but only if there is no miss streak. Health is 0 to 100. Hit your step goal and it goes up once that day. Miss and it dips more the farther you were from the goal. Grave is 0. The Care score heart on Insights is this health number, not a weekly average.
Your pet also reacts during the day, not only at midnight. From 8am, almost no steps can look tired. From noon, still-low progress can look mad. After 3pm, being far from the goal can look sad. Finish today’s goal and the mood clears.
Evolution stages
Every full goal day counts toward growth. Stages run Egg → Hatchling → Baby → Kid → Teen → Adult. From Baby on, walking 2× or 3× your goal in one day can count as 2 or 3 goal days (max 3). Egg and Hatchling stay at 1 per day. Growth currently stops at Adult. Check Home for your current stage.
What if I miss my goal?
After a finished day under your step goal, mood drops: 1 miss mad, 2 sad, 3 and 4 sick. After 5 missed days, your pet ends up in a grave. Health also dips on those days. A rest day or Streak Shield can cover a miss. For the full ladder, open Settings → What happens if I miss days?
How do I revive my buddy?
Walk 1.25× your daily goal in one day (for example 7,500 steps if your goal is 6,000). After revival, health starts at 25%. Keep walking to recover.
Rest days and Streak Shield
Rest (the Home rest chip) pauses today: no miss, no goal coins, streak holds. Shield (the Home shield chip) forgives one already closed miss. Free is 1 shield and 1 rest day a month. Premium is 3 shields and 3 rest days.
Explore
From Baby on, send your pet exploring from Home after you hit today’s step goal. The trail lasts 1 hour. They bring back a find and a tiny health bump, not extra steps. Free is 1 send per goal day. Premium is 2 — send again when the first trail ends. Quiet Trail walks 1 stone per finished explore (Premium can finish 2 per goal day). You can spend coins to finish the current trail early, or to send again after today’s cap. The Mystery Trail Chest unlocks every 24 hours, or early with coins.
Finds jar
Duplicate finds from chests fill the Finds jar. When it reaches 2, the seal can break and a mini buddy waiting in the quiet can step out.
Quests, adventures, and coins
Daily quests
Seven tasks on the cream board, such as logging water, meals, or hitting step milestones. Complete one, then tap it to collect 4 coins. A fresh set appears every day at midnight.
Special and weekly quests
Ten harder special quests per day on the purple board (8 coins each when collected). Seven weekly quests reset every Monday (12 coins each). Built for a full week of small wins.
Adventures
Fill adventure energy by walking. You earn energy at 25%, 50%, and 75% of your daily goal, plus a bigger chunk when you hit the full goal. When the bar is full (10 segments), send your pet on a 3-minute adventure. When they return, collect 12 coins. Hitting your daily goal also awards 5 coins on goal days.
What are coins for?
Spend coins in the shop on looks and accessories, then equip them in the wardrobe (Home or Profile → Collection). You earn coins from quests, adventures, and goal days. Premium members earn double coins on quest and adventure rewards.
Nutrition
Water and meals
Log water and food from the Nutrition tab. Some daily quests ask for water or meals. Hitting your food plan can make your buddy happy, and water or macros can keep the Home streak flame going. They never replace the step goal for mood misses, sickness, or the grave.
Barcode, pantry, and history
Free: 5 barcode scans a day, 10 Quick foods, and 7 days of meal history. Premium unlocks unlimited scans and pantry slots, full macro detail, and a year of history.
Friends
How do friends work?
Open the Friends tab to add people with a share code, see how their buddy is doing, and send stamps. Weekly and monthly challenges let you hit your step goal and compare with friends. Choose what they can see in Settings → Friends & sharing.
Premium
What does Premium include?
Extras like looks and portraits, deeper nutrition, home-screen widgets, dark mode, custom reminders, extra app icons, a second Explore plus two Quiet Trail stones on a goal day, double coin rewards, and more shields and rest days (3 of each a month; Free is 1 of each). Open Settings → Mochi Premium for the full list.
Do I need Premium to keep my buddy alive?
No. Steps, mood, health, evolution, death, and revival stay free. Premium is extras: looks, deeper nutrition, widgets, and a few more shields and rest days. Mochi does not sell “pay to stay alive.”
How do I buy Premium?
Optional Premium is offered in the app through the Apple App Store or Google Play. A short free trial may be available depending on your store and region. Store billing, renewal, and refund rules apply. There are no ads in Mochi.
Account, privacy, and data
Account and cloud backup
Sign in from Settings → Account to back up your pet to the cloud (Google Firebase). Without an account, everything stays on your phone only. Delete account removes your cloud backup and auth account. Start fresh wipes local progress on the device. Those can’t be undone.
Is my health data shared or sold?
No. We do not sell your personal information. Step counts and app progress are used to run Mochi. If you add friends, they can see the buddy card you share (such as today’s steps and pet stage). See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Troubleshooting
Steps are not updating
Open the app and pull to refresh on Home. Check Settings → Health & steps. Permission may have been revoked. On Android, make sure Health Connect (or your manufacturer health app) is installed and allowed. Steps sync when the app opens; background updates depend on your phone.
Notifications
Toggle Pet reminders in Settings. Your buddy can ping in the morning, at lunch, at 6pm, and in the evening. Custom reminder times are Premium (Settings → Custom reminders). If you turned them off at the system level, allow notifications for Mochi in your phone settings too.
Changing your daily goal
Your step goal lives on Profile → Plan. Change activity or personal details there and the number updates. A higher goal means more steps to win the day. Revival from the grave scales with it too (still 1.25× that goal).
Looks, portraits, and widgets
Change outfits in the wardrobe once your buddy leaves the nest (Baby onward). Tap the portrait on Profile or Friends to pick a face. Some looks and portraits are Premium. Add a live home-screen widget from Settings → Home screen widget. Adding widgets is a Premium extra. The in-app Home cards stay free.
Contact
Bug, account issue, or something else? Contact us or email steppet.support@gmail.com. In the app, use Settings → Report issue to send a pre-filled message with your app version.