An iPhone app for real-life hobbies

The hobby tracker that doesn't shame you.

Collect hobbies. Build a life with texture.

HobbyDex is a quiet iPhone app for people who want to actually start hobbies, not just bookmark them. Pick one, do one small quest, and watch a real practice grow week by week.

Download on the App Store How it works

Free to start. iPhone only. ~40 hobbies before Pro.

90+ hobbies to capture
3 evolutions per hobby
6 core traits to grow
HobbyDex capture quest screen for Painting: the First Paint Study quest with Photo and Written note requirements. HobbyDex hobby detail screen for Basketball at Level 4, showing growth traits and XP quests.
  • Pick from 98 real-world hobbies and start one today — the HobbyDex World Dex with habitats for Creative Arts, Active Life, Nature and Outdoors, and Home and Craft.
  • Know exactly what to do next — Basketball at Level 4 with a Passing Windows XP quest, growth traits, and a 3-day movement streak quest.
  • Get personalized nudges from your own activity — Momentum Check and Recommended Next insight cards suggesting Creative Writing as a fit.
  • Earn new titles as you go — the Chess evolution tree with The Pawn, The Bishop, and The King and Queen unlocking at later levels.
  • See where you rank across hobbies — Leaderboard with a Snapshot Seeker profile, hobby points, and a Photography Light Chaser title.
Featured now

HobbyDex now gives captured hobbies more personality on the home screen and in the Dex. Equip favorites to your Field Team, compare their combined power, then jump into Seasonal Picks when you want a timely next hunt.

The loop

Designed for momentum, not pressure.

HobbyDex borrows the satisfying rhythm of a collection game and strips it down for real life. No streaks shaming you. Just a clear next step, every day.

  1. 01 / Research

    Find what fits.

    Browse 90+ hobbies across creative, active, social, outdoor, craft, and learning categories. Pin the ones worth a second look.

  2. 02 / Capture

    Start with a quest.

    A small capture quest turns vague interest into one concrete thing you actually did. The hobby is yours now.

  3. 03 / Level

    Train with XP quests.

    Photo proof, checklists, and check-ins quietly build the practice. Six traits (Creativity, Focus, Vitality, Curiosity, Craft, Connection) grow as you go.

  4. 04 / Evolve

    Reach mastery.

    Three evolutions per hobby. The third is mastery. Earn it once; it stays in your Dex forever.

The Dex

A field guide to your weekends, with picks for right now.

Six categories, ninety-plus specimens, each with its own quests and evolutions. Captured ones live in your Dex; wild ones wait for the week you finally make time. Seasonal Picks pull together timely hobbies, like summer ideas built for longer days outside.

HobbyDex World Dex screen: 3 of 98 hobbies captured, with a Summer Hobbies Seasonal Picks card and habitat cards for Creative Arts, Active Life, Nature & Outdoors, and Home & Craft.

Your Dex is the home base. Captured specimens light up; wild ones wait. Every habitat tracks its own progress, so the next hobby to chase is always one tap away. Seasonal collections give you a ready-made shortlist when you want the app to point first.

Inside HobbyDex

Practice, made visible.

Daily AI Insights, a weekly Adventure Path, and trait-based progression turn scattered effort into a record you can flip back through.

HobbyDex daily AI Insight screen showing Reflection and Spotlight cards with a daily activity chart. One Insight a day, tuned to what you actually did this week.

Daily AI Insights

One short coaching card a day, tuned to what you actually played with this week. Save the good ones; skip the rest.

Weekly Adventure Path

One weekly goal worth 200 account XP. Stack hobbies you already care about into a rhythm you can keep.

HobbyDex Weekly Adventure Path: Be active 4 days (3/4), Complete quests on 3 days (2/3), Complete 2 streak quests (0/2), Capture or evolve 5 hobbies (Done).

Six core traits

Creativity, Focus, Vitality, Curiosity, Craft, Connection. Every quest contributes, so you can see your shape over time.

HobbyDex Hobby Traits view: Creativity 120 pts, Focus 1184 pts, Vitality 1475 pts (starred), Curiosity 739 pts, Craft 75 pts, Connection 175 pts. Total 3768 pts.

Quiet check-ins

Daily check-ins build the streaks. No notifications shouting at you, just a quiet record kept by you, for you.

Research

Mark what you're curious about.

The Research Board is where ideas live before they become quests. Tag a hobby as a Prime Target, drop something into In Research, or park it on the Backlog. Your Daily Insights tune themselves to what's actually on your radar.

Three honest states.

Prime Target ("on your radar now"), In Research ("gathering ideas"), Backlog ("interesting, but not the next hunt"). One tag at a time, no perfectionism required.

Insights notice.

What you research feeds the Daily Insight without ever leaving your phone in a recognizable form. Curiosity in; coaching out.

Move freely.

Promote a Backlog item to Prime Target the moment it clicks. Demote one without guilt. The board is a working draft, not a commitment.

HobbyDex Research in Progress screen with Drawing tagged Prime Target, Basketball / Calligraphy / Journaling tagged In Research, and Origami on the Backlog.
Community

Quiet competition, powered by your Field Team.

A leaderboard ranks players by account XP, earned across every hobby you capture, level, and evolve. Your Field Team gives your profile a compact roster, with each member's power coming from the trait points you've built. Add a few friends with a code if you want, or show up anonymous. No streak shaming, no engagement pressure.

HobbyDex Leaderboard ranking players by total points, with top three highlighted and an anonymous-hobbyist option.

Anonymous by default.

Sign in with Apple, Hide My Email, or hide your handle entirely. You decide how visible to be.

Ranked by account XP.

Built across every hobby you capture, level, and evolve, not by streaks or quest count. Effort over performance.

Add friends with a code.

Every account gets a short friend code. Share yours or enter theirs to send a request. Friends see each other's card and Field Team even when you're hidden from the leaderboard. Remove or block anyone, anytime.

Field Team power.

Equip captured hobbies as a small roster. Each member shows pwr from its trait points, and the team strength rolls them together.

Sits one tap away.

The leaderboard never pings you and never shames you. Glance when you want; ignore it the rest of the time.

Plans

Free is enough. Pro is more.

Start with forty hobbies and the first evolution. Go Pro when you want the full Dex, every evolution, and Insights without rewarded ads.

Free No account fee
  • ~40 hobbies in the Dex
  • First evolution per hobby
  • Capture quests, XP quests, check-ins
  • Weekly Adventure Path
  • One daily AI Insight (via rewarded ad)
Download on the App Store
Pro HobbyDex Pro $5.99 / month or $49.99 / year, save $22
  • Full Dex, 90+ hobbies
  • All three evolutions per hobby
  • Daily AI Insights without rewarded ads
  • Regenerate Insights within weekly cap
  • Priority support
Download on the App Store

Pricing managed by Apple and may vary by region. Cancel anytime in Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions.

Questions

The short version.

Do I need an iPhone?
Yes. HobbyDex is an iPhone app today, with no Android version and no web app. iPad works in iPhone-compatibility mode but isn't optimized yet.
Is HobbyDex free?
Yes, to start. The free tier includes about 40 hobbies and the first evolution per hobby. HobbyDex Pro unlocks the full Dex (90+ hobbies), all three evolutions, and daily Insights without rewarded ads. Pro is a subscription managed by Apple.
Will the app constantly ping me?
No. Daily check-ins and reminders are opt-in and quiet, and there are no streak-shaming notifications or "you're losing your run" warnings. The app can notify you when a friend sends or accepts a friend request, and you can turn each of those off in Settings.
Do I need an account?
Yes. Your account syncs your collection (Dex, levels, XP, completed quests, Research Board, settings, and cloud-backed daily Insights) so it carries across your devices. You can sign in with email or Sign in with Apple.
Where does my data live?
Your hobby progress and private app state sync securely to your cloud account, so signing in rebuilds your collection from your own data. Signing out or switching accounts clears the local account cache on that device. Quest proof photos stay on the device that took them. The full breakdown is on the privacy page.
How are AI Insights generated?
HobbyDex sends a redacted, high-level summary of your activity to OpenAI through a Firebase proxy and saves the returned card under your account.
Can I cancel Pro?
Yes, at any time, through your Apple ID subscription settings. Cancelling stops future charges; you keep Pro through the end of the current period.
What happens if I delete my account?
The in-app deletion flow removes your Firebase account, profile, leaderboard row, profile photo, synced progress and private app-state data, and cloud-backed Insight history, then erases account-scoped local app data on the device. App-store subscriptions still need to be cancelled separately.
Yours, everywhere

Your journey follows you. Your private moments stay yours.

Your hobby progress syncs across your devices, while quest proof photos are stored only on the phone that took them.

Full details on the privacy page.

Start your Dex this week.

HobbyDex is a small app with a long-term feel. Capture one hobby this week, and the rest follows.

Free to start. iPhone only. ~40 hobbies before Pro.

Download on the App Store
QR code to install HobbyDex on the App Store Scan to install

Questions? Email hobbydexsupport@gmail.com.