Poplings: Balloon Pop for Kids

Every balloon might be hiding a Popling! 37 of them, across three hand-drawn worlds. Free, with no ads, no in-app purchases, no accounts, and no internet needed.

Poplings are little creatures that hide inside balloons. Tap a balloon and it pops with a happy sound and a burst of confetti, and every so often one of them is in there, waiting to be found!

There are 37 to collect. Nothing to lose, nothing to buy, and nobody to beat.

I have three kids, and I couldn't find a game I actually trusted. The free ones were full of ads, asked for money, or wanted an account before a four-year-old could tap anything. So I built the one I wanted for my own children. It is free because it costs almost nothing to run: no server, no accounts, nothing collected from anyone.

BUILT FOR THE WAY YOUNG CHILDREN ACTUALLY PLAY

Nothing in Poplings is ever punished. A balloon your child misses simply drifts away, and the game never tells them they did anything wrong. No lives, no game-over screens, no scolding. In the no-timer Play mode there is nothing to beat, so a two-year-old mashing the screen and a six-year-old hunting the last Popling are both playing it exactly right.

37 POPLINGS TO COLLECT

Every Popling is drawn by hand and has its own little sound. There is a crayon cat, a paper crown, a clay bear, and 37 in total to find. Found ones go into "My Poplings", where the empty spaces are the good kind of mystery. Nothing is timed and nothing expires, so a child can hunt for the last one for as long as it takes. Toot, the mascot, turns up in every world, drawn again in that world's own style.

THREE HAND-DRAWN WORLDS

Every balloon has a face, and every world is a completely different art style, drawn by hand rather than assembled from clip art. Each has its own Poplings, its own sky, and its own music of pops:

• Crayon: a kid's drawing come to life on notebook paper, with wobbly outlines and scribbled-in color.
• Paper Party: a construction-paper craft table, with folded balloons, glued-on googly eyes, and pennant bunting.
• Squish: chunky, glossy clay-toy balloons with giant friendly eyes.

TWO WAYS TO PLAY

• Play: continuous, no timer, no score. The default, and where most children will spend their time.
• Pop Party: an optional timed mode for slightly older kids who want a challenge. Clearing one level leads straight into the next, so a good run keeps going,with a combo chain and a list of your own best runs. The score is only ever compared to your own, on this device, and even when a run ends it never says you failed.

A GROWN-UPS SECTION THAT RESPECTS YOU

Behind a simple parental gate (a basic math problem) you'll find:

• A play-time summary: how long today, how long this week, and what a typical visit looks like. No streaks, no rewards for playing more, and no notifications nudging your child back in.
• Volume, plus a quiet mode that softens the pops and keeps the celebrations.
• Vibration on or off, and reduce motion for children who find lots of movement overwhelming.
• Difficulty for the Play mode: "Easy" for a child still learning to point at a screen, "Just right", or "Challenge".
• An optional gentle stop after 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes, which ends the session kindly instead of cutting it off mid-tap.
• A one-tap way to erase everything saved on the device.

WHAT THIS APP WILL NEVER DO

• No advertising of any kind.
• No in-app purchases, no currency, and no loot boxes. Nothing in Poplings is locked behind a payment.
• No accounts, no sign-ups, no email address required.
• No data collection. Poplings, scores, and settings are saved only on your device and are never sent anywhere.
• No internet connection. Poplings works exactly the same in airplane mode, on a plane, or in a car with no signal.
• No links a child can tap that lead out to the web or to social media.

WORKS ON IPHONE AND IPAD

Free on both, in portrait, with the same game on each.

Made by CM Collective LLC, a small family business in Minnesota. If something is wrong or you have an idea, email hello@holdoversoftware.com.