Can I put a virtual pet over my Android apps?

How a pet can appear over other apps

Normally an Android app can only draw inside its own screen. The exception is the special access called Display over other apps. With it, an app can add a window that floats above other apps. Chat heads, floating video players and screen pets all use it.

Android has tightened this over the years. Since Android 8.0, apps must use a dedicated overlay window type, and those windows always sit below critical system windows such as the status bar and the keyboard, and the system can move or resize them. Since Android 12, Android blocks taps that pass through an opaque overlay from another app to the app underneath, unless the overlay is mostly see-through. That rule exists to stop “tapjacking”, where an overlay tricks you into tapping something you cannot see.

Google’s own reference for the permission notes that very few apps should need it. That is a good reason to give it only to apps whose purpose is obviously to float on screen.

The kinds of virtual pet apps on Android

“Virtual pet” covers a few different designs. Only the first needs overlay access.

• Overlay pets. A character drawn on top of other apps, in the spirit of old desktop mascots. Needs Display over other apps, and usually a foreground service so it keeps running while you use other apps.
• Self-contained pet games. Tamagotchi-style care games that live inside their own app. No overlay access, but you only see the pet when you open that app.
• Widgets and live wallpapers. A pet on the home screen or lock screen. No overlay access, but it disappears as soon as you open another app.

Overlay pets differ in what they are for. Some are pure decoration. Others, Poekito included, use the pet as a gentle cue about how long you have been in a particular app. Look at which permissions an app asks for, and whether its reason for each one is explained before you grant it.

Battery: what actually costs power

Drawing a small sprite is not the expensive part. What costs power is work that keeps running in the background: animation frames, video playback, and any service that checks what you are doing. An overlay app that keeps running while you use other apps has to run as a foreground service, and Android requires a foreground service to show a notification. That notification is your sign that the app is active.

Things to look for in an overlay app:

• It stops animating and drawing when the screen is off.
• It only appears in the apps you choose, not everywhere.
• It lets you dismiss the overlay without uninstalling anything.

Privacy: what the permission does and does not allow

Display over other apps lets an app draw. On its own it does not let the app see what other apps show, read your messages or watch your typing. Capturing your screen needs a separate screen-capture consent, and reading on-screen content needs an accessibility service, which Android asks you to approve separately. If a pet app asks for accessibility access, ask yourself why it needs it.

Many overlay apps also ask for Usage access. This lets an app see which app is in the foreground and app usage history. It is what makes “only show the pet over Instagram” possible. It is not access to the content of those apps, but it is still sensitive, so check the privacy policy for what happens to that data.

How to grant Display over other apps

Most apps send you to the right screen. If you need to find it yourself:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Apps, then Special app access.
3. Tap Display over other apps (on Samsung phones, Appear on top).
4. Pick the app and turn the switch on.

Since Android 11, an app’s “grant permission” button opens the full list of apps instead of jumping straight to the app, so you may have to scroll and pick it yourself.

How to turn it off again

• Go back to Settings > Apps > Special app access > Display over other apps, pick the app and switch it off. The overlay disappears straight away.
• Turn off Usage access the same way, under Special app access > Usage access.
• Uninstalling the app removes both.

How Poekito does it

Poekito is an Android app from Hilo Inc. that puts a pixel pet, a timer bubble or a short animal video over the apps you choose. The point is not decoration. It is a nudge: after you have spent a while in an app you picked, the companion shows up so you notice the time. It never blocks, closes or locks anything.

What it asks for, and why

• Display over other apps (required) to draw the pet or timer.
• Usage access (required) to know which app is in front, so it only appears over the apps on your list.
• Notifications (recommended) for the foreground-service notification that keeps it running.

Poekito has no sign-up and no personal account. It checks which app is in front on your phone and does not keep that as a history or send it anywhere. It never reads what is on screen, your messages or your typing. The one thing stored on a server is an anonymous ID, so a Poekito Plus purchase can be restored. See the privacy policy for the details.

What you can set

• Which apps it watches, from a suggested list or any app you add.
• How long before it appears: instantly, or after up to 60 minutes (5 by default).
• The companion: 17 pixel pet styles, five floating timer styles, fullscreen effects such as cracking glass, rising water and frost, and short animal videos.
• Tap × to dismiss it for that session, or drag it out of the way.

It stops drawing overlays while the screen is off and pauses videos then. It needs Android 8.0 or later, and there is no iPhone version yet.

Price

Free to download, with all five timer styles, one pet and one mindful video. Poekito Plus is a one-time in-app purchase, $4.99 in the US on Google Play (other countries are priced locally), that unlocks every pet, effect and video. No subscription.

Want the reason behind the nudge? Read how to stop scrolling without blocking apps.

Questions people ask