Questions

Him

What is Qurio?

A small, round, purple creature who lives on your iPhone. He talks, plays games, tends frogs and a garden — and he remembers you. Meeting him is on the product page.

Is he free?

He costs $2.99, once, on the App Store — and that single price is everything: every game, his whole world, his memory. No subscription, no ads, nothing else to buy inside the app, and no way to buy coins with money — coins are earned by playing.

Does he need the internet?

No. Talking, the games, his world and his memory all work with no connection at all. The internet is used only for the one-time optional brain download, the Apple Music search and 30-second previews while you teach him a dance, and Apple's music recognition when he listens to name a song.

Can he die or run away if I forget him?

No. He has hunger and energy, and taking care of him (and his pets) is part of the game — but a missed day is just a day. Nothing irreversible happens because you were busy.

Can I change his color or his body?

You pick his color when you first meet, and that's his body for life — he never grows or evolves. What changes is what he can do: new animations, skills and games, and morphs he performs (a ball, an egg, an arrow…) that always land back on his own body.

His memory

What does he actually remember?

What you tell him in conversation — things about your day, your people, your promises — plus what he learns: the dances you teach him, the games you mastered, the lessons. Each memory is a dated row on his Memory page.

What's “the receipt”?

Every memory he recalls shows where it came from: “You told me on Sep 21.”He is built never to claim he remembers something you didn't say — the date and source come with the memory, so you can always check him.

Can I delete what he remembers?

Yes — one row at a time (Memory page → Forget) or all of it (delete the app; everything lives on your phone). See privacy.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The App Store label is Data Not Collected: no account, no analytics, no ads, no cloud. What you tell him stays on your iPhone — the privacy policy states exactly what is stored, where, and how to remove it.

His brain, and the download

Why does he offer a 2.4 GB download?

It's his own brain: Gemma 4, Google's open-weights model, packaged to run entirely on your iPhone. It makes him noticeably livelier than the built-in default. It's optional, one-time, and checksum-verified — without it he uses Apple Intelligence, on-device too.

Where does the download come from?

Over HTTPS, and the app checks the file against a SHA-256 checksum before it ever loads it — a brain that fails the check is refused, never used.

Does the brain learn from me? Does it update itself?

No and no. The model is a fixed file; it is not fine-tuned on your words and it never changes unless you tap to fetch a new one. What grows is his memory — separate, readable, forgettable.

Which iPhones run him?

iPhones that run Apple Intelligence, on iOS 27 or later — iPhone 15 Pro and newer. He ships with iPhone Duo support.

Camera, microphone, music

What does the camera see?

Where your face is, so he can look at you — nothing else. Analysed on the phone, never recorded, never sent. You can refuse the permission and he'll just stop looking.

What does the microphone hear?

Beats. When you teach him a dance he listens for the rhythm of the song so his routine lands on it — live, on the phone, for timing only. No recording, no transcription, no voice input in this version. Naming a song uses Apple's own music recognition (Shazam): a fingerprint made on your phone is checked against Apple's catalog, and Apple handles the exchange — the details are on the privacy page.

Why Apple Music?

Teaching a dance starts with a song. He searches Apple Music and learns from the 30-second preview; your library is not read or changed. Any song works — the preview is the lesson's metronome.

Does he read my Health data?

Only if you ask him to measure a promise — and only the one thing you chose for it: a workout, last night's sleep or your mindful minutes (steps come from the motion sensor, not Health). It's read-only, on the phone, and forgetting the promise stops it. He can also save to Health when you say yes: a breathing session as mindful minutes, how it felt as a state of mind, and the water you log. Honor-system remains the default — measuring is always opt-in. The privacy page has every detail.

Together

Can two Qurios meet?

Not in this version. The protocol for it exists — one Qurio visiting a friend's network and bringing a learned dance home, with both owners' explicit say-so — but 1.0 keeps every phone its own private world.

Who made him?

SoftBacon Software, an independent AI research lab. Qurio is the companion built on our memory platform; this site is the rest of the work.

How do I get better at the games?

He'll show you: ••• → Show me how replays any lesson. The written versions live on the tutorials page.

What is Mycelium?

Mycelium is the memory platform from our lab that helps Qurio remember you. It's open source, and in this version your phone holds all his memories — nothing goes anywhere else. See it on GitHub.