This clever app turns the MacBook Pro’s TouchBar into a virtual pet

As a journalist that strives always to be taken seriously, I often opt to cover the news of the day that truly matters the most.

In this instance, I’ve finally uncovered a truly useful purpose for Apple’s MacBook Pro Touch Bar. While I once was once optimistic about the thin strip of touchscreen featured above the physical keyboard in the MacBook, at this point it’s clear Apple’s lofty ambitions for the interface haven’t really panned out — at least not until now.

If you’re a child of the late 80s to early 90s like myself, you likely have fond memories of virtual pets. Touch Bar Pet, a work-in-progress virtual pet created by developer Grace Avery (@gracecondition), aims to bring back the concept of a virtual pet, but in Apple’s pricey MacBook Pro.

twitter did someone want a touchbar tamagotchi? pic.twitter.com/Z44uxbOtge

— Grace (@gracecondition) November 18, 2019

‘Version 0.5’ of Touch Bar Pet includes several features pulled directly from one of the most iconic virtual pets, the Tamagotchi. For example, the pet starts as a child and grows into an adult, all while requiring you to feed it, clean up after it and of course, pet it. Just make sure you don’t pet it while it’s napping or it’ll get grumpy.

To feed your digital pet, you tap on the Touch Bar to drop it food. The same actions clean up its poop, while tapping on the creature allows you to pet it. TouchBar Pet is compatible with macOS 10.14 and higher. Avery says there are plans to add more features to the virtual pet in future updates.

The major downside to the all-important Touch Bar virtual pet experience is the app’s window needs to be open and visible for it to run. This means I was unable to clean-up virtual poop while writing this story, which truly is a shame. Hopefully, this issue gets fixed in the future.

If you want to test out the true purpose of Apple’s Touch Bar, you can download Touch Bar pet at this link.

Source: @gracecondition