🎨 Getting Started
Draw your creature
Grab paper and a pencil. Draw any creature you can imagine — cat, dog, dragon, robot, anything! Keep it simple with basic shapes. The drawing doesn't need to be perfect.
Take a photo
Tap the camera button in the app. Line up your drawing inside the frame. Make sure the paper is flat and well-lit (natural window light works best). Tap the capture button.
Customize your pet
Pick an animal type, choose 3 colors, select a personality trait, and add a special power. Tap through each option — you can't make a wrong choice!
Watch the magic
Wait anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes while AI transforms your sketch into a cartoon character — complexity and server load vary. Your new pet will appear in the Gallery with your original drawing preserved in a picture frame.
Play with your pets
Visit the Pet Room to tap your creature and watch them react. Go to the Zoo to drag multiple pets onto scenes and watch them wiggle when they meet!
Common Questions
What is a token?
A token is one transformation. Turning one of your kid’s drawings into a character uses one token. Choosing the high-quality option uses two.
Tokens are a quantity, not a subscription. They never expire, nothing renews, and an unused token sits there until your kid draws something worth using it on.
Why do I need to buy tokens?
Fair question. Every time DoodlePet turns a drawing into a character it runs a paid AI service, so each creature costs real money to make. On top of that there’s the ordinary cost of running this properly — the tooling, the business insurance, the attorney who reviews everything for children’s privacy. The price is what makes it sustainable. Yes, there’s margin in that, and it’s what pays for building the thing and keeping it running.
You get a lot before any of that matters. The app comes with 4 creatures already in your gallery, plus 2 free transformations of your own drawings — 6 creatures before you spend a cent. When your kid asks “can we make more?”, that’s when the $2.99 Starter Pack makes sense: 8 more transformations, no watermark on images you share, and it lifts the 10-creature gallery limit. One purchase, permanent.
Is there a subscription?
No. DoodlePet has never had a subscription and never will. There is nothing to cancel, nothing renews, and tokens never expire — once you buy them they sit in the app until your kid uses them. Everything DoodlePet sells is a one-time purchase.
What's the best way to photograph drawings?
For best results:
- Good lighting: Natural window light works great. Avoid shadows or harsh overhead lights.
- Flat paper: Lay the drawing on a table or floor so it's not wrinkled.
- Fill the frame: Get close enough that the drawing fills most of the camera box.
- Simple backgrounds: Plain surfaces work best (white paper on a wood table is perfect).
What kind of drawings work best?
Simple creature drawings work best. Think: cats, dogs, hamsters, horses, birds. The AI looks for basic shapes — body, head, legs, tail, ears. Drawings don't need to be "good" — kid scribbles transform beautifully! Avoid: landscapes, houses, vehicles (those aren't creatures).
Why did my transformation look weird?
AI isn't perfect. If the result looks strange, try:
- Retake the photo with better lighting
- Make sure the drawing is a creature (not a house or car)
- Try a simpler drawing with clearer shapes
- Pick a different art style (Cartoon vs Whimsical vs Realistic)
Each transformation uses one token.
What if a transformation fails?
A failed transformation does not cost you a token. The app only counts a token once a character has actually come back successfully — if it errors out, times out, or you lose signal partway, your balance is untouched.
If it fails, just try again. Transformations can take anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes, so give it a moment before assuming it’s stuck. If it keeps failing on the same drawing, try better light or a simpler sketch — and if it keeps failing on every drawing, email me at [email protected] and I’ll look into it.
Can I share my creatures with friends?
Yes! Tap any pet in the Gallery, then tap "Share My Creature" to save an image showing the before-and-after transformation. Send it via Messages, email, or save to Photos.
How do I delete a pet?
There’s no delete button inside the app, and that’s deliberate — a kid tapping the wrong thing shouldn’t be able to lose a creature they love.
To remove a child’s creations entirely, delete the app. Every creature, original drawing and transformed image is stored on the device, so deleting the app removes all of it permanently. There is no copy on any server of ours — nothing for you to ask us to delete, because we never had it.
If you need something removed and deleting the app isn’t what you want, email me at [email protected]. A real person reads it — there’s only one of us.
What are Zoo scenes?
Zoo scenes are backgrounds where you can drag multiple pets and watch them interact. When two pets get close, they wiggle at each other! DoodlePet comes with a free scene (Grassy Meadow). More scenes are on the way — and from a future update, kids will be able to draw their own backgrounds too.
Is my child's data safe?
Yes. DoodlePet is COPPA-compliant. Your creatures, drawings and app data live on your device — we run no server that stores them. A drawing you transform is sent over an encrypted connection through our proxy to OpenAI. Our proxy stores nothing. OpenAI keeps the image for up to 30 days in its abuse-monitoring logs and then deletes it, and does not use it to train its models — the privacy policy explains exactly why that window exists. The only thing that leaves your device otherwise is your token balance, which backs up to your own iCloud account so a reinstall doesn’t wipe what you paid for — we can’t read it. No accounts, no analytics, no tracking, no ads. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
What devices does DoodlePet work on?
DoodlePet works on iPhone and iPad running iOS/iPadOS 17 or later. It's a universal app — buy once, use on all your family's Apple devices.