Parents' Guide to

Tiny Zoo Friends

By Erin Bell, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Run-of-the-mill zoo sim puts heavy emphasis on purchases.

App iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android Free Simulation Games
Tiny Zoo Friends Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

  • Tiny Zoo Friends App: Screenshot #1
  • Tiny Zoo Friends App: Screenshot #2
  • Tiny Zoo Friends App: Screenshot #3

Community Reviews

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age 18+

Based on 2 parent reviews

SkyGuide
SkyGuide Adult
November 4, 2012
age 18+

Tiny Zoo Friends - Deceit By Design?

Tiny Zoo Friends charged us 18 times for in-app purchases we did not authorize. My wife and I authorized (entered our password to approve of) two in-app purchases of "zoo bucks", for a total of $6. To my surprise we were billed for twenty purchases, for over $70. I am still mystified as to how we were billed for purchases we did not authorize. Apple, to its great credit, has promptly given us a full refund (even refunding us for the purchases that we DID authorize - an unexpectedly generous resolution to our plea for help). In researching this program after the fact we ran across one family whose daughter ran up $1300 of in-app purchases over the weekend - Yikes! I do not object to the business model, and fully support in-app purchases as a way to pay developers for their work, BUT there is seemingly some quirk in the design of this program, whether done by the publisher intentionally or by accident, which allows children to merrily purchase away - ringing up the bill for potentially scary amounts of real-world cash. We have deleted this program, and will avoid (run away from!) any other apps by the publisher, TinyCo.

This title has:

Too much consumerism
ktumminello
ktumminello Parent of 7 and 14-year-old
February 28, 2012
age 18+

This company are a bunch of crooks!!!

Be careful of games from TinyCo. They advertise that their games are FREE but they allow kids to buy stuff once inside the game. My son had $187 in charges for playing the game for one day!!
See all 2 parent reviews

What’s It About?

In Tiny Zoo, players manage a virtual zoo by buying exhibits and animals to put in them. Players keep the zoo clean by clicking on garbage as it pops up, and can collect coins from exhibits to spend on expanding the zoo. Many exclusive items can only be purchased with premium currency. Players can also cross-breed animals to discover new species, although there's no element of experimentation since the game tells you exactly which two animals you need to breed to come up with a new one.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (5 ):

TINY ZOO doesn't offer anything that can't already be found in other zoo apps, except for an animal breeding component that costs an exorbitant amount of coins -- unless, of course, the player is willing to pay real-world cash to speed things up. All aspects of the game can be sped up by paying real money, and players who choose not to pay will run out of things to do pretty quickly. The in-game animations aren't very engaging, meaning players will quickly become bored as they wait for the various timers to count down so that they can amass more coins and experience points. Overall, Tiny Zoo is short on entertainment value and seems too focused on trying to get the player to fork over real money.

App Details

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