Slowcial Media. Make Friends and Penpals. Watch your carrier pigeon travel in real time with your messages. Collect birds, train your flock, and stay in the moment.
Roost brings back old-school messaging with carrier pigeons, snail mail, and now handwritten letters. We call it Slowcial Media.
Write a letter in your own handwriting, choose a courier, and send it across the world. Your bird picks it up, flies to its destination, and delivers it when it gets there. No instant delivery. No read receipts ten seconds later. Just a little bird carrying your words, taking the time it takes.
Make pen pals around the world, play games with friends, collect birds, and build your own little rookery along the way.
YOUR HANDWRITING, YOUR LETTERS
Turn your handwriting into your own font and write letters that actually look like yours. Personalize your letters with animations and make something a little more special than another text bubble.
PEN PALS AROUND THE WORLD
Meet people from other countries, make new friends, and learn about life somewhere else. Send a letter halfway around the world and see who writes back. You never know who you'll meet.
REAL MAPS, REAL FLIGHTS
Watch your birds and your friends' birds fly across a real globe. Every delivery has a journey. See where your bird is, how far it's traveled, and when it's expected to arrive.
BUILD YOUR ROOKERY
Collect birds of every feather. Your favorite New York Pigeon, rare cardinals, mythical phoenixes, and plenty more. Each bird has its own speed and abilities. Feed them, train them, and watch your flock grow.
PLAY WITH FRIENDS
Challenge your friends to chess, Four in a Row, and other games while you wait for your letters to arrive. Play mini games to train your birds and help them fly faster.
FRIENDS, NOT FEEDS
No algorithms. No endless scrolling. Just your friends, your pen pals, and the birds carrying your words. Add friends by username, meet people from around the world, and stay in touch without feeling like you need to be on your phone all day.
NEW BIRDS & REWARDS
Collect daily rewards, discover new birds, and take part in special events. From limited-time birds to new ways to personalize your experience, there's always something happening in the rookery.
Roost is a place to slow down, make friends, and have a little fun along the way.
Send a letter. Let it fly. Go live your day.
Subscription EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Honestly? Revolutionary. Well above the status crow. I never thought I would leave a review about this app. I’ve had it for months now and I haven’t left one. It is a delightful app but, as stated previously, I do not leave reviews. Then why, you might ask, am I writing this review here? Pray tell, my good peoples, what do you think happened? There was an update, of course. Lo and behold, it is 3am and I am avoiding the dishes so I responded to my penpals and then did the update. Whilst doing so, I decide to read the patch notes, and do you know what glorious phrase I find there? “General pigeon maintenance” and truly I did not know that three words at the end of a patch on an app I use to send penpal letters via bird at the speed of bird would make me laugh so hard you could almost convince me I have asthma by the way I was coughing at the end. Do I know why it is funny? No. Will I now think of the words “general pigeon maintenance” every time my brain does something stupid and I have correct myself? Absolutely, yes I will. So thanks for that…and also this place to perch myself and sing my thoughts for a while! Love the app!! Can’t wait to see what heights it’ll soar to!
This is an amazing safe alternative for a snail mail penpal!
music63738383
It's also great for friends! How it works is basically you have a bunch of birds in your flock, you can send them to penpals and friends. Once the birds go to someone else, they can use your bird to send a message to anyone or you can recall your bird! I currently have a penpal in China, it's great! It takes like a week for it to deliver, it really feels like real postal. My specific address isn't shared and it feels very safe to talk to strangers. Very cool and much prefer this to "Pidge". there are actual real species of birds, you can also play mini games to upgrade these birds to fly faster. They have some snails and turtles and bats too! So many awesome features and it's free! Beautiful, unique app, I cannot praise it enough.
Great Idea, but Full of AI Garbage
Tyrannidae
This app is an incredible app from a purely functional standpoint. Watching my birds fly around and send messages to my pals is really endearing. I'm socially anxious, but the pen pals are set up to reduce a lot of the usual friction found in other pen pal apps (no photos, no real names, etc.), and the app seems like it'll be less popular to scammers due to the slow pace. I also appreciate how the pacing generally limits the number of times I'm checking for messages each day.However, and that's a BIG "however", this app is chock full of AI images. Every bird, every stamp for visiting a new country, etc. Has been AI generated. You can pay real money for these birds, and now the dev has the gall to charge $50 USD for a "supporter pack". $50. For an app full of "art" they probably spent close to nothing on. I hope the money they raise goes to replacing the assets with ones made by a real artist.As a consumer and artist, I would happily prefer fewer birds with handmade art than hundreds of AI slop birds and snails with feet. Please consider hiring an artist.
Cute concept, but some details bug me a bit
Reviewer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think this app is super cute! I enjoy collecting birds, and it’s neat they fly to people at different speeds!There are a few things about this app that irk me, though:- When trying to send a first message to penpals, I’ve repeatedly run into a bug that deletes everything I’ve written. I suppose it’s my fault for trusting that I can write messages straight into the *messaging app*, rather than drafting them elsewhere.- I dislike the system for finding penpals. Randomly showing 3 people and refreshing for new ones frankly reminds me of gambling. I wish it were possible to select penpals more intentionally and filter based on shared interests/location/etc. Refreshing over and over to find penpals I’m interested in makes me feel exhausted and fed up. I also dislike having to choose which of the three I like most while knowing that the other two will disappear.
A whole new look. A lot more under the feathers + any fixes (scratchpad colors, recallable birds, auto-select courier, clutter, and more)
- Misc fixes for berries and new letter UI (you can now edit your handwriting your settings)
- Slowly rolling out your own custom room for where to take care of your little birdies
- Redesigned Shop for better/more clear sections
- Fix for users that lose connection randomly and app does not recover
- GIF Picker Fix
- Pen-pal visibility fix
- Sending... bug fix where it shows perpetual sending
- New art for our bird pals from the Art Challenge!
This is one of our biggest updates yet. We’ve redesigned Roost throughout, introduced new themes, improved battery efficiency, and worked through lots of the little frustrations you’ve helped us find.
• A complete redesign
Explore refreshed Messages, Flock, Rookery, Map, and Profile screens, along with redesigned bird details, shop pages, settings, and more. New layouts and clearer controls make your birds, letters, and friendships easier to keep up with.
• Themes that follow your day
Light mode is here! Choose Light, Night, or your device’s appearance, or let Roost change with your local time. Watch the sky move gradually through dawn, day, dusk, twilight, and night, with softly drifting clouds.
• Battery and performance improvements
We’ve reduced unnecessary loading. We’ve also improved loading and caching, including passport stamps, to make everyday browsing feel smoother.
• Quicker sending and a more organized inbox
Choose a default courier, see which bird will carry your message before sending, and set what happens when your usual courier is away. The refreshed inbox brings waiting activity into focus, adds sorting options, and makes hidden conversations easier to restore.
• A refreshed bird Codex
Explore redesigned collection progress, filters, and field-guide pages, with clearer distinctions between birds you’ve discovered and adopted. New discovery reveals give your collection’s milestones a little more celebration.
• Better protection for unfinished messages
Improved draft recovery helps you pick up where you left off after an interruption, including supported photo and drawing drafts.
• Training fixes that matter
Training eggs are now spent when you press Start, so opening a game to look around won’t cost you an egg. We’ve also improved reward submission and recovery, and corrected daily XP tracking.
• More control over sound and feel
Updated Sound & Haptics settings let you tailor feedback for message sends, bird care, and games. We’ve also refined feedback throughout the app and improved behavior with reduced-motion settings.
Plus fixes and polish across pen pals, Nest invitations, message arrivals, larger text, and navigation.
Thank you for every bug report, suggestion, and bird you’ve sent. You’ve helped shape this update. We’re excited for you to explore it.
Version 1.5.59
The developer, Logan Mendelsohn, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Purchases
Location
Contact Info
User Content
Identifiers
Usage Data
Other Data
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Purchases
Location
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Logan Mendelsohn
Size
209.2 MB
Category
Social Networking
Compatibility
Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 15.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.