Start here
A new visitor gets a mixed 200× dish with rich nutrients, a day and night cycle, and room for up to 128 cells. Returning visitors load their most recent dish. Autosave runs while you explore.
1SelectTap a cell. Its inspector shows energy, current action, conditions, genes, chemistry and reproduction.
2ObserveUse Follow and Depth to stay with it. Open Cell Perception to see recorded local sensing and decisions.
3ExperimentTry a preset or use + to place cells, assorted algae clumps and local nutrients.
Move the microscope
↕Slide up / downFocus toward surface Z1 / floor Z7. Use the left FOCUS meter for precise depth.
↔Slide left / rightZoom out / in. Pinch also zooms; use the right ZOOM meter for precision.
✥Hold, then pushThe joystick ring pans continuously; push farther to move faster and release to stop. Two fingers still drag directly. Panning releases Follow while keeping Depth.
⌾Double tap a cellLift and pause it. Drag it in stages; double tap again to place it. Open CRISPR while lifted to edit genes.
Arrow keys pan; Page Up and Page Down change focus. The fit icon restores the full dish. In App settings, “Link focus and zoom” makes depth of field narrow as you zoom in.
Buttons at a glance
PresetsStart a themed dish. Set volume, population cap and target starting count first.
PerceptionWith a cell selected, show its local sensed cues and chosen action.
EnvironmentAdjust medium, nutrients, currents, chemistry, reproduction and automatic events.
LightingPick sun, day/night, dusk or dark; aim the lamp and tune its cycle.
⚙ SettingsOpen App, Presets, Environment, Lighting, Specimen, Population, Graph and Catalog tabs.
⛶ Full dishGive the dish the viewport; the compact controls and specimen drawer remain available.
◎ Follow · ↕ DepthFollow centers the selected cell. Depth tracks its Z level. Each can be toggled separately.
⛶ Fit · Ⅱ PauseFit restores the map. Pause, speed, performance, full dish and settings share the row below Follow and Depth.
1× Speed · ◉ PerformanceSpeed cycles 0.25, 1, 2, 4 and 8×. Performance view draws a simpler display; App settings also offer adaptive detail and smoothing.
+ Dish toolsAdd a catalog cell, assorted algae clump or local nutrient pocket; remove or erase with the other tools.
+50% Dose · Auto FeedThe nutrient bar shows supply. Dose enriches the whole dish by half a normal full level; Auto Feed maintains supply.
IR viewAvailable at any time of day. It helps you see cells without adding biological light and stays on until you turn it off.
See more without changing biology
Ecology LayersOpen the drawer below the dish. Filter dissolved cues, rot, gametes and spores; use SOLO to isolate a layer or NONE to hide them. Chemicals Only gives a clean heat map. Tap a tile for its contributing chemicals.
Circles and colored tiles show dissolved cue reach. Small viable particles are gametes or spores that must make physical contact or find conditions to develop. Their colors follow the source cell.
SENSE→REMEMBER→ACT
Cell PerceptionSelect a living cell, then use the eye button. The small medallion shows its local view; maximize it over the dish or open its legend drawer. Channel toggles control the display. Recorded sensing can miss a visible cue.
Cell Perception symbols
Balanced Orbit is the default medallion. Dotted spokes connect the central directional radar to eight circular sense icons. Thick colored arcs show energy, vacuole, division mass/fuel/age and the three chemical reactions; small readings stay beside their own arcs. The cell name and current action remain in the top and bottom bands. Double tap to enlarge. Switch among Balanced Orbit, Grouped Radar, Classic Orbit, Compact Orbit and Black & White in Settings → App. Black & White uses the Balanced Orbit geometry with high-contrast grayscale; the same layout appears in both medallion and tracking overlay. Both the medallion and tracking overlay leave the dish visible through the rings; only small icon and text backings use dark contrast. Rings within one category sit together, with space between categories.
Grouped Radar keeps the original directional compass at the center and groups energy, vacuole, division mass/fuel/age, paired senses, and organic/alarm/social reactions into concentric radial bands. Chemical arrows show approach or avoidance; a dot shows registration without directional response. The normal Grouped Radar diameter is compact; double tap to enlarge it. When usable energy is exactly zero, a red S countdown replaces the energy number and shows the model’s remaining starvation grace. Classic Orbit preserves the separate rings. Change layouts in Settings → App; the choice is saved on this device and included in exported App Preferences.
The medallion and the overlay on the selected cell use the same symbols. Bright means a current sensed input; muted means the sense is present but quiet; dark grey means the receptor is absent. A channel hidden in the Perception drawer is listed as hidden. None of these markers gives the cell information it has not sensed.
☀ LightLocal ambient brightness or a light probe.
◉ SightAn eligible body identified in available ambient light. Unlit prey is lost in darkness.
✦ GlowBiological light registered by the cell's spectral receptor.
≈ MotionA local disturbance bearing, without the mover's identity.
◆ MineralDissolved mineral level or a local gradient.
⚗ CompoundsChemical receptor activity. The three inner orbits use ❧ for organic food scent, ⚠ for alarm, and ∞ for social cues.
⊙ BodyNearby body clearance or contact.
⌖ BoundsRim, floor, or surface constraint.
Compact Orbit: chemicals share one segmented inner ring; energy and vacuole share a two-part middle ring; division mass, fuel and age share another segmented ring. Each colored meter is about twice as thick as Classic Orbit, while the center stays clear for the cell and steering vectors. The outer eight circles remain individual senses. The chemical arcs grow with measured activation. Green means approach or gather, red means avoidance, and blue means neutral registration. The Perception drawer labels identified prey and threats as sight, glow, or touch; smell and motion remain uncertain bearings. Dashed marks show fading last-seen memory.
Toxin effects: M, S and I arcs appear on the medallion when the selected cell has a current motor, sensory or irritant effect. The number is effect strength, not external toxin concentration. Motor effect reduces active thrust and turning by the displayed factor; current or contact can still move the cell. The Specimen drawer shows available active thrust after fuel and motor impairment, plus all three internal effects. Sensory impairment reduces eligible prey sensing and shortens target memory. Use Overlay filters to hide any effect. These physiology readings do not identify the toxin source to the cell.
Lines: White shows actual facing; gold shows intended steering; green shows active swim drive; blue shows passive current or drift. Colored rays point toward locally sensed bearings. Their curved ends show directional uncertainty. Above/below marks use ↑ and ↓ relative to the cell, not the camera. The Perception drawer has individual Overlay filters for each marker, chemical arc, physiology ring and line. Double tap the medallion to enlarge the same circular view at screen center; double tap again to restore it. The ⛶ button instead switches to a larger tracking overlay. That expanded overlay leaves the dish undimmed; only the medallion and its label backgrounds are opaque. Near the screen edge, the overlay stays fully visible and a thin tether marks the selected cell's actual screen position.
Classic Orbit physiology rings: ⚡ shows usable energy out of 100. ◕ shows digestive vacuole fullness relative to the cell’s capacity; nonfeeding cells have no vacuole ring. Three separate division orbits show M for purple body mass, E for orange fuel and A for blue age. Each orbit has its own diameter; the sense symbols sit on a larger outer orbit. Full rings do not guarantee division: local space, population cap and, for algae, net resource surplus still apply. These readings are observer analysis, not new cell senses.
Run an experiment
Catalog and placementSearch or filter cells by family, diet, habitat, rhythm, locomotion, chemistry and sexuality. Inspect a starter or saved genotype, then choose Place repeatedly and tap the dish. Done ends placement.
PresetsUse catalog dishes, chemical tests, motion trials and survival experiments. Loading a preset replaces the current dish; save one you want to keep.
Chemistry and reproductionEnvironment toggles control cues, toxins, algae communication, contact exchange, gametes and spores, and experimental food DNA. Presets can enable the features they demonstrate.
CRISPRLift a living cell by double tap or the inspector action. Expand the CRISPR drawer, edit a draft and Apply. Collapse it and drop the cell to resume. Manual edits preserve its identity and are recorded separately from natural mutation.
Read the result
Metabolic historyExample only: blue gain, dashed amber spend. The live graph uses actual dish samples. Inspector and graphsThe specimen drawer shows current action, fuel, environment, emissions, receptors, reproduction and detailed biology. Expand Metabolic History for gain, spend and growth. Settings → Population and Graph compare the living roster and trends.
Genes describe inherited capacity. Energy, exposure and detected chemical strength describe current condition. A visible field need not be sensed by a cell without a matching receptor.
Open this guide any time with the ? button in the header. “Don't show again” only disables automatic opening; it does not remove the guide.