Player guide

KIN Player Guide

KIN (shown as MyKin in the app header) is a small virtual creature that hatches in a living garden under your real local sky. You can feed, brush, train and play with your KIN at home, or put two screens side by side so it can hop across to visit a friend. Everything below describes the current web build.

What it is

Every KIN grows from a number called its seed. The seed sets its colour family (apricot, honey, mint, glacier, periwinkle, lilac or rose), its ears (pointed, round, long or tuft), its tail (plume, curl, leaf or nub), an optional accent (crystal, sprout or ember), how round its body is, and five traits: curiosity, bravery, playfulness, warmth and energy. The traits choose the temperament word shown next to its name: eager, cautious, playful, aloof, curious or easygoing. The same seed always makes the same KIN, on every device.

Your KIN lives in a 3D garden with a mushroom shelter, a nest, a glowing berry plant, a water bowl, a brush and toys that really bounce and roll. The sky follows your real time of day, sun angle, temperature, wind, rain and snow. Four times a second, the KIN's brain scores 11 possible actions and picks one, such as wandering, sleeping, basking in the sun, shivering when it is colder than 6 degrees Celsius, or hiding under the mushroom when it rains or the wind is stronger than 35 km/h.

How to start

1. Open mutaafaziz.com/kin in a web browser on a computer, phone or tablet. There is no account and no sign-up. A softly breathing, pearly cocoon waits in the garden.
2. Tap or click the cocoon twice. The first tap makes it wobble and chirp, and the second tap pops it open so your KIN hops out.
3. Name your KIN on the card that appears. Keep the suggested name or type your own (up to 16 characters), then press Enter or tap That's them.
4. Touch the screen or move your mouse to show the action bar: Feed, Play, Explore, Train, Customize (marked as coming soon) and Camera.
5. Tap your KIN's name at the top to open its card, with Friends, Memories, Collection and Settings. On a large screen the same items also sit in the menu on the left.

Controls

You care for your KIN directly, with a mouse on a computer or with touch on a phone or tablet.

How progress works

KIN has no game over, no sickness and no punishment for taking a break. Progress only goes up.

• Five care needs. Fullness, fun, clean, rest and affection drift down slowly while your KIN is awake, but never below a gentle floor. When a need gets low, a small hint icon appears beside your KIN. Rain gives an awake KIN a free bath. Time away is counted for at most 48 hours, and coming back after more than 6 hours earns a happy reunion.
• Bond XP. Care earns Bond XP: befriending the ladybug 10, planting a seed 8, practising a trick 7, feeding or a bath 6, playing or tucking in 5, brushing or keeping a find 4, watering 3, and petting 2. Doing the same thing more than 5 times in one clock hour halves its XP each extra time, but it never drops below 0.5.
• Bond levels. You start at level 1, New friends. Reaching level 2 takes 60 XP, and each level after that needs a little more. The names are New friends, Curious, Trusting, Pals, Close, Best friends, Inseparable and then Kindred, which keeps going forever.
• Tricks. Sit and Fetch are open at level 1, Spin at level 2, High five at level 3, Roll over at level 5 and Dance at level 7. The wobbly jelly toy also arrives at level 2.
• Habitats. In Explore, Sky Meadow opens at level 1, Forest Grove at level 2 and Crystal Cave at level 3. Other habitats are shown as not built yet.
• Garden and collection. You start with 3 garden plots and get one more every 3 levels, up to 8. The Garden Book lists 17 things to find (pebbles, shells, seeds, feathers, leaves, crystals and an acorn), each rated from 1 to 4 dots for rarity. Nothing is for sale.
• Personality. Your KIN is a blend of 8 archetypes: Pop Star, Scholar, Gamer, Athlete, Brat, Royal, Explorer and Artist. Each day brings a menu of snacks: trivia tarts, arcade candy, protein berries, sparkle pops, sour fizz and trail crunch, plus on some days a rarer royal jelly, rainbow macaron or moon bun. What it eats, the tricks it practises, how you play and what you talk about slowly shape its title and the way it talks. Change is gradual, so one snack only adds a little flavour.

Tips

• Mix it up each hour. Any one action gives full XP only for the first 5 times in a clock hour, so switch between feeding, throwing toys, brushing, watering and tricks.
• A happy KIN learns faster. A trick's chance of landing grows with practice and with mood, and mood comes from fullness, fun, rest and affection. Feed, play and pet first before trying Roll over or Dance. Every attempt still teaches a little, even a miss.
• Watch for the ladybug. Once a day, a ladybug may land on a calm, curious KIN that is close to it. It rides on its head for 18 seconds, and the friendship is worth 10 XP.
• Water the plant. Berries ripen over about 3 hours of daylight. A dry plant grows at only 30 percent speed, but it never dies. Seeds in a watered plot bloom in about two days of good daylight and much more slowly when dry.
• Look for finds and surprises. A wandering KIN sometimes stops to dig, up to 4 finds a day, with seasonal items more likely in their season. Each day also plans 1 or 2 surprises, such as a bird that drops a blue feather, shells washed in by rain, a jelly toy that rolls into the garden, a butterfly swarm, or a shooting star after 9 pm.
• Go visiting. When your KIN crosses to a friend's screen and comes home, its bond grows a little and the visit is saved in its Memories, including the friend's name and how they reacted.

Settings

• Sound. Turns the chirps, purrs, chimes and babble voice on or off.
• Reduced motion. Uses fades instead of hops. It switches on by itself the first time if your device asks for reduced motion.
• Precise sky. Off, the weather comes from your timezone's city. On, it uses your location, rounded to about 11 km.
• Why did it do that? Shows the brain's reasoning: the scores behind each choice.
• Thoughts. Your KIN's thoughts come from a free open model (Gemma 4) by default. You can paste your own Claude, OpenAI, xAI or Gemini key instead; it stays on your device.
• Who can visit. In Friends, choose Ask me, Anyone nearby or Nobody.
• Starting over. Forget all memories is in Memories. Release in Settings asks you to tap twice before it lets your KIN go.

For parents

KIN needs no account, email or sign-up, and there is nothing to buy. Needs never reach zero, and a KIN never gets sick or is punished when a child takes a break. There is no chat between players. When two KIN visit each other, only the creature's seed, name, colour and traits travel between the screens. The AI thoughts can only pick from a short list of safe actions, such as wander, sit, play, sleep or shelter.

Privacy and ads

Your KIN, its care and its memories are kept in your browser's storage on your device. Memories name other KIN, never the people who own them. Weather uses your timezone's city unless you turn on Precise sky, which rounds your location to about 11 km on your device first. The app itself and this guide show no ads. The KIN about page has one child-directed sponsor banner slot; parents can read the ad privacy policy.

FAQ

What happens if I leave my KIN alone for weeks?

Nothing bad. Time catch-up stops at 48 hours, needs never fall below their floor, and your KIN greets you with a happy reunion when you come back.

How do two phones or tablets link without a code?

Open KIN on both, put their left and right edges together, and slide one finger quickly off one screen onto the other. That swipe links the screens and lines up the hop. Both devices need an internet connection.

Can my KIN get lost on another screen if a tab closes?

No. Your own device always keeps your KIN's record, and the other screen only borrows it. If the link goes quiet for about 5 seconds, the visit ends and your KIN is safely home.

How do I steer my KIN toward a personality?

Feed it snacks that match, such as trivia tarts for a Scholar or protein berries for an Athlete, or use Feed it a topic in the Feed menu when it is available. Practising matching tricks helps too, like Dance for a Pop Star or Fetch for an Athlete.