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Updated October 14, 2026

What is BitLife?

What is BitLife? Who makes it, when it came out, how a life plays, what is free and what costs money, the age rating, and why people like it.

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What is BitLife?

BitLife is a text-based life simulator for phones. You live one life from birth to death, one year at a time. Each year, you read what happens and choose what to do next.

Candywriter, a game studio in Miami, makes BitLife. The game came out on iOS on September 29, 2018, and on Android on February 5, 2019. It is free to play, with ads and optional purchases. We read our sources on October 14, 2026.

BitLife in short

QuestionAnswer
Who makes it?Candywriter, LLC, of Miami, Florida
When did it come out?iOS: September 29, 2018. Android: February 5, 2019
Where can you play it?iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple silicon Macs, Apple Vision, and Windows PCs through Google Play Games
What does it cost?Free, with ads and in-app purchases
Age rating18+ on the App Store, Mature 17+ on Google Play
LanguagesEnglish, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish (App Store list)

The App Store page shows a score of 4.8 from about 1.8 million ratings. Google Play shows more than 50 million downloads. These numbers change over time.

How do you play BitLife?

You start a random life or a custom life. The game tells you where you were born, who your parents are, and what they do for work. Then you press the Age button. Each press adds one year.

Four bars show your state: Happiness, Health, Smarts, and Looks. The game sets them at random when you are born. Your choices and events raise or lower them. High bars help you live longer and do better.

Between years, you choose what to do. As a child, you go to school at age 6 and can join clubs. At 18, you can go to university, get a job, or join the military. Adults can date, marry, have children, buy a house, commit crimes, or travel. Random events appear too, and many of them ask you to choose a reaction.

When your character dies, the game gives you a ribbon based on how you lived. The wiki counts 40 ribbons. You can then continue as one of your children. Candywriter also runs challenges a few times a month. Each challenge asks you to reach set goals in one life.

What is free in BitLife, and what costs money?

The whole core game is free. You can live full lives, have jobs, and earn ribbons without paying. The free game shows ads.

The App Store lists these purchases:

  • Bitizenship: a one-time upgrade. It removes ads and opens extra options. The wiki lists more generations, dark mode, prison gangs, hitmen, and changes to your appearance.
  • God Mode: lets you edit your character and the people around you. Read BitLife God Mode.
  • Boss Mode: a separate paid mode.
  • Expansion packs: Landlord, Investor, and C.U.L.T., sold one by one.
  • Remove Ads and Time Machine: smaller purchases.

The store also sells a Bitizenship and God Mode bundle. Prices differ by country and can change. Read is BitLife free for the details.

Is BitLife for kids?

No. The App Store rates BitLife 18+, and Google Play rates it Mature 17+. The text covers sex, drugs, alcohol, crime, and gambling. There are no graphic pictures, but you choose these actions yourself. Read BitLife age rating for the full list of reasons.

Why do people like BitLife?

  • Each life is different. Random stats and random events make a new story every time.
  • Your choices matter. School, work, love, and crime all change where your life goes.
  • You can play it safe, or try things you would never do in real life.
  • There is always a goal: a new ribbon, a challenge, or a better life for your child.
  • Candywriter keeps adding updates. The Pro Sports update in 2020 added sports careers, for example.

Candywriter also made two spin-offs, DogLife and CatLife. You can play BitLife on a computer too. Read BitLife on PC or BitLife unblocked.

Is there a game like BitLife with a real world?

If you like BitLife's text life, LifeSim is a free life sim in your browser set on a real map of Earth, where people talk back in your own words. It is English only and has no multiplayer. See games like BitLife, LifeSim vs BitLife, or the LifeSim life simulator.

Questions

Who created BitLife?

Candywriter, LLC, a game studio in Miami, Florida.

When did BitLife come out?

On iOS on September 29, 2018. The Android version followed on February 5, 2019.

Do challenges need the internet?

Yes. The wiki says you must be online to complete a challenge.

Can you keep playing after you die?

Yes, as one of your children. The wiki says players without Bitizenship get two generations, and Bitizens get no limit.

More BitLife guides

Sources

New to life sims? Read what a life simulator is.

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