Walk to lift it
Your city starts under pale fog. During a walk, every step lifts it within about 40 metres. It only lifts during a walk, so “Start a walk” means something, and your battery says thanks.
PROBE 03 — WALKING GAME
Walk the city. Lift the fog.
Canis is a walking game for your iPhone. Your city starts under fog, and every street you walk with Volf, a Blue Heeler, lifts it. It's for people who want to walk more, including people who'd love a dog to walk with but don't have one. Everything stays on your phone: no account, no server.
In testing
App Store: not yet
iPhone
Tap a street to walk Volf
Built from the real app: its map style, Volf's own pixel sprites, and the fog, rebuilt for this page with sample places and numbers. A street is +40 XP, a place +100 XP, and the fog lifts about 40 metres around you while you walk.
Map: Zürich old town. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.
LEVEL 01 · WHAT CANIS DOES
Fog on the map. Dog at your side.
Canis turns the streets you already walk into a map you uncover. The more of your city you walk, the less fog is left.
XP for the new
A street you walk for the first time is 40 XP. Museums, parks, zoos, cafés, bakeries, libraries, theatres, universities and stadiums within 1.5 km wait under the fog as red ? pins, and are 100 XP when you find one. A new level every 1,000 XP.
A Blue Heeler for company
Volf trots beside you on the map in pixel art. Give him a name, a harness colour and a world to stand in, and tap him for a hop and a hello.
Per walk, not per day
Steps and distance are counted from the moment you press Start, with breaks taken out. GPS wobble is filtered out, so standing still doesn't add metres.
Goals and reminders
A daily goal for steps and one for distance, in km, miles, metres or feet. Reminders are notifications made on your phone: a daily walk, a nudge after a few days off, goal reached, a weekly recap.
Watches and weather
Canis reads walks and steps from Apple Health, where watch and fitness apps share what they record. It never writes to Health. A small weather chip shows the weather where you are, with a walk tip from the dog.
LEVEL 02 · INSIDE THE APP
The real screens. Tap through.
These are screens from the Canis app itself, filled with sample data. Pick one, and scroll inside the phone when a screen is long.
Everything in these screens, including the names, places and numbers, is sample data. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap; weather by Apple Weather.
LEVEL 03 · YOUR DAILY GOALS
Set it. Walk to it.
Pick a daily goal for steps and one for distance, from three presets or your own number, in the units you like. The rings on the right follow your goals.
DAILY GOAL · STEPS
DISTANCE IN
DAILY GOAL · DISTANCE
TODAY
STEPS
DISTANCE
STREETS
- Steps a day: 6,000, 8,000 or 10,000, or your own from 2,000 to 30,000 in steps of 500.
- Distance a day: 3, 5 or 8 km, or 2, 3 or 5 miles, or your own from 1 to 20 km (or 0.5 to 12 miles).
- New streets: a ring against 5 a day.
Units are Auto by default, which follows your iPhone's region (the UK and US get miles and feet), or you choose kilometres and metres, or miles and feet. Switching moves a preset to the matching preset in the new units (5 km becomes 3 mi), and a custom goal keeps its distance. The look is the app's own; the numbers are a sample day.
LEVEL 04 · VOLF'S WORLD
Pick a world. Say hi.
Six worlds for the stage behind Volf, picked in Profile and used on the title screen and in Customize, and six harness colours. Try them, and tap Volf.
HARNESSLIME
VOLF'S WORLD
- Six worlds: Evening town, Sunny park, Night city, On the Moon, Snow day and Plain paper.
- Volf is a Blue Heeler with a harness you can recolour: lime, crazy red, orange, yellow, teal or blue.
The app's own art. Volf's sprites and the worlds are drawn the way the app draws them; the harness is recoloured on this page the way the app recolours it. Picking here doesn't change anything anywhere.
LEVEL 05 · WHO KNOWS WHERE YOU WALK
No server. No account.
Canis keeps everything, your walks, the fog you've lifted, streets, places, XP and settings, in one file on your iPhone. Here is what still talks to the internet, and to whom.
Pick a step to follow your data, or tap a stop below to see what it knows.
- You walk. Your iPhone lifts the fog, counts your steps and distance and keeps everything in one file on the phone. No account, and no Make It Crazy server.
- The map. Map pictures come from OpenFreeMap, which sees which part of the map is on screen.
- Names and weather. Apple supplies street and place names and the weather, and receives your position for that.
- Your watch. Watch apps share with Apple Health on your phone. Canis only reads it.
The full details, including who receives what and how to remove it, are in the Canis privacy policy.
LEVEL 06 · HELP
Questions, and deleting it all.
I read every message: support.canis@makeitcrazy.com. Answers to more questions are on the support page. Please never send passwords or full card or bank numbers.
When can I play?
Canis is in testing through Apple's TestFlight, on iPhone with iOS 17 or later. If you'd like to try it, email me and I'll send you an invitation. The App Store comes after testing.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no account and no Canis server. Canis asks for your name when you start, only so Volf can greet you. Your game is copied to your own iCloud, so it comes back after a reinstall or on a new iPhone with the same Apple ID.
Why does Canis want my location?
To lift the fog where you walk and to count your walk. It asks for “While Using” only, not “Always”. During a walk it keeps going with the screen off, and iOS shows its blue location pill. Canis needs it to play, so the first screens ask before you start. You can change the permission any time in iPhone Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Canis.
The fog doesn't lift when I just open the app
That's on purpose. Fog only lifts during a walk, which saves battery and makes “Start a walk” mean something. The first time you open Canis it uncovers 45 metres around you.
My steps don't match Apple Health or my watch
Steps per walk are counted by your iPhone's motion chip from the moment you press Start, with breaks taken out, so they can differ from a watch or from the day's total. The number next to Volf on the map counts only today's walks with Canis; the Journal's ring shows the whole day. If your iPhone can't count steps (Motion & Fitness is off, for example), Canis estimates them from the distance at about 0.72 metres a step.
Which watches work?
On iPhone, watch and fitness apps share what they record with Apple Health, and Canis reads it from there: steps, walking distance, and walking and hiking workouts with their routes from the last 7 days. A route from your watch lifts the fog just like a Canis walk (unless it overlaps one that Canis recorded). Profile › Watches & trackers lists the sources it sees. Canis only reads Apple Health and never writes to it.
Where do the map, the names and the weather come from?
Map pictures: OpenFreeMap, using OpenStreetMap data (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Street and place names: Apple Maps search. Weather: Apple Weather, refreshed at most every 30 minutes or after 5 km. Names appear in English, and names in another script are shown in Latin letters.
Is it safe to play while walking?
Look up. Canis keeps working with the screen off, so you don't need to stare at it. Cross roads with your eyes on the road, choose routes that are safe and open to you, and respect private land. Canis shows places under the fog, but you never have to go to any of them.
Delete your data
Canis keeps your data on your phone and I hold none of it, so there is nothing to ask me to erase. You remove it yourself:
- Delete all data in Canis. Profile › Your map › Delete all data erases your walks, fog, streets, places, XP, names and settings on that iPhone and the copy in your iCloud, and Canis starts again from the title screen.
- Or delete the app. Touch and hold Canis on your Home Screen, then Remove App › Delete App. That removes the file with your walks, fog, streets, places, XP and settings. Do it on each of your devices. The copy in your iCloud stays until you delete it in iPhone Settings › your name › iCloud › Manage Account Storage.
- Take back what you allowed. In iPhone Settings: Privacy & Security › Location Services › Canis (Never), Health › Data Access & Devices › Canis (off), Privacy & Security › Motion & Fitness, and Notifications › Canis.
- Old backups. If you back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer, an earlier backup may still hold Canis's data until a newer backup replaces it. In iPhone Settings › your name › iCloud › Manage Account Storage › Backups you can delete old backups.
LEVEL 07 · STATUS REPORT
Where Canis is right now.
The first version (0.1) is written: the map and fog, the game rules, Volf, goals, reminders and the look.
Built and running on a real iPhone (19 October). Fixes from the first walks are going in.
Testing with a small group, through Apple's TestFlight. Ask at support.canis@makeitcrazy.com to join.
The store name is still to be confirmed with Apple; the app on your Home Screen is called Canis.
- Stage
- In testing (TestFlight).
- App Store
- Not yet. After testing.
- Support
- Questions · support.canis@makeitcrazy.com · Privacy · Terms
- Works on
- iPhone, iOS 17 or later.
- Made for
- People who want to walk more, including people who'd like a dog to walk with but don't have one.
- Made by
- Daria Zabiiaka, Make It Crazy.
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