''Pou'' ( or ) is a

virtual pet A virtual pet (also known as a digital pet, artificial pet, or pet-raising simulation) is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment. People may keep a digital pet in lieu of a real pet. Digita ...

game for

BlackBerry 10 BlackBerry 10 is a discontinued proprietary mobile operating system for the BlackBerry line of smartphones, both developed by BlackBerry Limited (formerly Research In Motion). BlackBerry 10 is based on QNX, a Unix-like operating system that was ...

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

and Android developed and published by Lebanese designer Paul Salameh (listed as Zakeh on the

Google Play Store Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...

). It is similar to

Tamagotchi The is a handheld digital pet that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the USA on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the biggest toy fads o ...

, a

fad A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short period. Fads are objects or behaviors that achieve short- ...

game that required caring for a simulated creature. The player's Pou can interact with other Pous by visiting them when the game is connected to the Internet, or play games with other Pous as opponents via selected mini games which have Pou-vs-Pou (PvP) capability. The game connectivity is via

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...

, or

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

. It has user accounts in order to save and back up the game progress state, in case the device is cleared. The last game progress can be resumed by logging into the user's account. Users can transfer a Pou from one device to another regardless of the platform by logging out of their account from a device and logging into another device; however the application version must be the same between the two devices. In 2014, multilingual support was added. On August 19, 2015, it was announced on Pou's official profile on

Google+ Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

that the game would get a new 3D treatment and that a new

app App, Apps or APP may refer to: Computing * Application software * Mobile app, software designed to run on smartphones and other mobile devices * Web application or web app, software designed to run inside a web browser * Adjusted Peak Performan ...

would be released in the summer of that year. However, this new app was not launched for unknown reasons and official news is still awaited. With the success of the game, it has been cloned using the name "Mou" on

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design lan ...

. Among other clones include the ''Moy'' franchise by Frojo Apps, the two ''My Boo'' games by Tapps Games, and the two ''My Chu'' games by Apofiss. ''Pou'' disappeared for a few days in the Google Play Store in early December 2019 due to there being an update made to the game.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Pou website

Pou at Google Play
2012 video games Science fiction video games Android (operating system) games Virtual pets BlackBerry PlayBook games BlackBerry 10 games IOS games Video games developed in Lebanon