A lot of games today are built to keep you playing. Daily streaks, energy bars, levels that never end, pop-ups, rewards to collect, notifications to bring you back. They're clever, and they work. But they can also be exhausting, and they're a lot to hand to a child.
We wanted to make something different: a game that's easy to pick up, easy to put down, and doesn't ask for more of your time than you meant to give it.
Made for the little gaps in the day
Puppy Sweeper is built for the five minutes in the car waiting to pick up the kids, the queue at the shop, or the wait before an appointment. A board takes a few minutes: clean up the park, catch the puppy, get a hug. Then you're done.
- No accounts, no levels to unlock, no streaks. Open the app, tap a board, play.
- Nothing to lose by stopping. Switch to another app and the clock pauses. If a board gets lost along the way, every board is short and the next one is just as good.
- No notifications. The game never nags you to come back. It'll be there when you want it.
For kids, that means a quick, cheerful puzzle they can enjoy without getting too wrapped up in it. Play a board or two, then it's time for something else, and nobody has to argue about "just finishing this level".
Play timers, just in case
Even a simple game can turn "one more board" into an hour. So Puppy Sweeper has two optional tools in Settings → Play time:
- Break reminders show a friendly "Time for a break" message after 30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours of continuous play.
- Play limits lock the game for a break of 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour after 1, 2 or 3 hours of play. The lock can't be skipped, and lifts by itself.
Both are off until you turn them on. Parents can set them for their kids, and grown-ups can set them for themselves. Here's more on how they work. They're there to help build good habits, so the game stays a nice break rather than becoming the thing you need a break from.
Why there are so few ads
Puppy Sweeper is free, and ads help pay for it. More ads would earn us more money. We chose not to do that, because ads are one of the biggest things that make games noisy, distracting and hard to put down.
So we keep them to a minimum:
- No ads while you play. The only ad during a board is one you choose to watch for an extra hint.
- An ad may show when you tap Next board after a win, but never after your first win since opening the app, at most once every 2 wins, and never within 2 minutes of the last ad.
- No ad after a lost board. Stepping in a poop is bad enough.
- Every ad is child-safe. Ads are marked as directed to children, so they're family-friendly and never personalised. You can read exactly how in our privacy policy.
If you enjoy it, please consider removing the ads
We're a small team, and we'd love to keep making simple, kind games like this one. If Puppy Sweeper has made your waiting a little nicer, we kindly ask you to buy Remove ads. It's a single, one-time purchase, in Settings → Ads or from the link after a win.
- Every ad is gone, for good.
- Hints become unlimited, with no ads to watch.
- It's yours to keep: if you get a new phone, Restore purchases brings it back.
It directly supports us in making more apps like this, built around healthy habits instead of more screen time. Thank you for playing, and for helping us keep games simple.