Ask the harbour.
Every question we get, from every direction: new to idle games, fresh from Melvor or RuneScape, counting the cost, or reading the privacy policy first. Short answer first, the detail if you want it.
74 questions
Pick your angle
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New here What it is, who makes it, and whether it is for you 9 questions -
Getting it The beta, the pre-order, and every device 8 questions -
Money What it costs, what is free, and what is not for sale 10 questions -
How it plays Offline progress, trades, fights, pets and the endgame 14 questions -
From Melvor or RuneScape How it compares, and what the trades are called here 7 questions -
Devices & saves Apple Watch to Vision Pro, Android, PC, and where your save lives 11 questions -
Privacy What leaves your device, and what never does 5 questions -
Languages & access Sixteen languages, and a game you can play by ear 3 questions -
What's next Updates, suggestions, mods, multiplayer 7 questions
Nothing matches that yet. Ask it in the Discord and it may land here.
New here
What it is, who makes it, and whether it is for you
What is Tideward?
Tideward is an unhurried idle RPG for every Apple device: you tend a small coastal world through 28 trades, and it keeps working for up to 24 hours while the app is closed.
Pick something to do, fishing, forging, fighting, and your keeper does it. Close the app and the work carries on. Come back to the haul. It is built in the RuneScape-to-Melvor skilling tradition, made by one developer, with no ads and no subscription.
When does Tideward come out?
Tideward 1.0 launches on Thursday, February 11, 2027, on the App Store and on Google Play; the App Store pre-order is open now, and the free betas on TestFlight and Google Play are playable today.
A pre-order downloads itself on launch morning. Android launches the same day; the PC version has no date yet. Where it launches, country by country.
Is Tideward free?
The download is free and goes a good way in; the full game is one $9.99 unlock you buy once, from launch day, and the beta is free until then.
I have never played an idle RPG. Will I get it?
Yes: you choose what your keeper does, they do it, and the game keeps going when you close it, so there is nothing to master before it pays off.
A short, skippable tutorial walks you through gathering, crafting and a first fight. After that the Keeper's Watch hands new keepers a slate of duties, and every duty brings a pet.
Is it a clicker?
No. Nothing in Tideward needs tapping to progress; you pick an action and the bars fill on their own.
The interesting decisions are which action and when to switch. A few trades offer an optional hand, an input that pays a little more while you are there, and leaving it alone costs nothing.
How long is a typical session?
Anywhere from 90 seconds to 30 minutes: open it, set a task, close it, get on with your day.
Who makes Tideward?
Manu Games LLC, a one-person indie studio in Waynesville, North Carolina, founded by Seth in 2026; Tideward is its first game.
Is Tideward the same game as Manu Idle?
Yes. The game was called Manu Idle until May 2026, when it was renamed Tideward; same game, same characters.
What does the name Tideward mean?
It is a coined word, "toward the tide": the patience of a lighthouse keeper and a small coastal world that runs whether you are watching or not.
Getting it
The beta, the pre-order, and every device
How do I download Tideward?
Pre-order it on the App Store to get it on launch day, or join the free TestFlight beta through tideward.app/install/ to play right now.
The pre-order is at the App Store. The beta needs Apple's free TestFlight app; the install guide walks through every device.
How do I get into the beta?
Open tideward.app/install/ on your Apple device for the TestFlight invite and step-by-step instructions for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro and Apple Watch.
Is the beta open?
Yes. The public beta is open through TestFlight on Apple devices and through Google Play's open beta on Android.
New builds land in the Discord first, and that is where you report bugs and talk to me.
Can I pre-order Tideward?
Yes. The App Store pre-order is free, nothing is charged on launch day, and the game downloads itself on February 11, 2027.
The free TestFlight beta stays open until then, and the two do not conflict, so you can do both.
Is Tideward available in my country?
The free TestFlight beta works wherever TestFlight does; whether you can pre-order depends on your country's App Store, and which countries open next is on the roadmap.
Do I install it on each Apple device separately?
Yes, one install per device, but your character follows you across all of them through iCloud.
How often does Tideward update?
Beta builds ship roughly every week, and TestFlight offers each one as it lands.
How do I hear about launch without joining the beta?
Join the launch list at tideward.app/updates/: a few emails in total, only at the big moments.
Money
What it costs, what is free, and what is not for sale
How much does Tideward cost?
Tideward is a free download with one $9.99 unlock for the full game, paid once, covering iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro and Apple Watch.
Beyond the unlock you can buy cosmetics if you want them: a few profile icons and a card background. They are decoration and never touch a number in the game. Every purchase is direct and one-time: you see exactly what it is, you pay once, and it is yours for good. No ads, no subscription, no loot boxes, no premium currency. Everything you bought keeps working.
What if I don't want to pay?
Then play the free part: the download is free, goes a good way in, and gives everyone the full 24-hour offline window at full speed.
Anything that belongs to the unlock is marked as such before you tap it, so you are never charged by surprise and never left guessing where the line is.
Is the $9.99 a subscription?
No. It is one payment, once: nothing renews, nothing expires, and there is no higher tier above it.
Do I pay again on my Mac, iPad or Apple Watch?
No. One purchase covers every Apple device on the same Apple ID, and Restore Purchases in Settings re-reads it at no charge.
Does Family Sharing cover Tideward?
The full-game unlock, yes; the cosmetics, no, they stay with the Apple ID that bought them.
Do I pay anything before launch?
No. Pre-ordering is free, the beta is free, and unlocking the full game inside the beta is free too.
A purchase inside the beta is an Apple test purchase: the screen shows a price, but no money is taken and it does not carry over to the App Store version.
Do beta testers get the full game free at launch?
One bug report or suggestion during the beta earns a code for the full unlock at launch.
Send one bug report or suggestion during the beta and you get a code for the full unlock at launch. One code per person. Codes work in every country where Tideward is on the App Store. Claim yours by replying on your report's Discord thread or messaging us on Discord by May 12, 2027, and redeem it before the expiry date shown with it. A code never depends on a rating or review.
How many people have a code locked in so far is on The Tide Table, along with the reports still waiting for someone to claim them.
Can I buy anything that makes my character stronger?
No. Nothing sold in Tideward makes your character stronger, faster or luckier, or helps on a leaderboard.
You can buy things that change how your character looks. You can never buy anything that changes how they perform. There is no currency to buy, nothing random to roll for, and nothing consumable.
Why does one card background cost $100?
It is a gilded, coins-everywhere flourish for people who want exactly that; it changes nothing in the game, nobody needs it, and it is the only item at that price.
Are there ads in Tideward?
No. No banners, no interstitials, no "watch a video to double your reward". None.
How it plays
Offline progress, trades, fights, pets and the endgame
How does offline progress work in Tideward?
Close the app and Tideward works out everything your keeper would have done, at full speed, for up to 24 hours, combat included.
There is no offline throttle, no ad-watch button to "unlock" your time, and no premium tier that doubles it. Time away pays the same base rate a live round does; the visitors who call while a trade runs live are the only thing that needs you there.
Can I play Tideward with no internet?
Yes. The game and its offline-progress math run entirely on your device; the internet is only used to sync between your own devices.
Does my keeper keep fighting while I am away?
Yes. Offline combat rolls accuracy, damage, food and prayer exactly as live play does, and if your keeper would have fallen, the clock stops at that moment.
How do I know a fight is safe to leave running?
The Harbormaster's Forecast dry-runs the fight over the full offline window and tells you whether you hold or fall, and what the haul should be.
It runs the same code that resolves the real offline fight, so it cannot drift out of step with the game. Most idle RPGs send you to a third-party simulator for this; here it is a screen.
Can offline progress go past 24 hours?
No. The cap is 24 hours for everyone; some buffs raise what you earn inside the window, but nothing extends it.
What are visitors?
While a trade runs live, a visitor calls about every nine minutes and waits for a glance; nothing expires. Leave them be and the trade pays what it always did.
In Fishing, Woodcutting, Mining and Cooking, half of them are the ferryman, who rows your keeper to his islet for a game: The Fight, The Tall Tree, The Wall or The Galley Rush. A win pays 15%, 30% or 50% more of the trade's goods for four minutes, XP by your score, the game's haul and a pet roll. A loss, or leaving early, pays nothing from the game, and the trade keeps running underneath. The other visitors bring a gift: a lamp of the trade's XP, a cache of its goods, mastery XP, or now and then a windfall, the six-times haul with its pet draws. Away, and live between visitors, a pet rolls 15% under its full rate in every trade visitors call at, and every visitor you answer rolls the rest. Visitors took the place of the hold, tap and pick play on six trades in 1.1.2.
How many trades are there, and do I have to train them all?
There are 28 trades, 8 combat, 7 gathering, 9 artisan and 4 wayfaring, and you never have to train one you do not want to.
What does Vitality do?
Vitality is your keeper's hit-point pool, the trade that decides how long you stay standing; RuneScape and Melvor players know it as Hitpoints.
Every combat action gives a little Vitality XP, so it levels along with whatever you fight with.
Can I watch the fights?
Yes. Since 1.1.0 your keeper and the foe trade blows in a low-poly 3D scene, with a model for every monster and an arena for every area.
All 688 wearable pieces are modelled, so your keeper wears what they have on. Settings, Feel, Fight Scene turns it off, and the scene steps aside by itself in Low Power Mode and with Reduce Motion on.
Can I design my character?
Yes. Pick a build, hair, a coat and their colours when you make a keeper, and every keeper you already have can be redesigned from Settings, Feel.
1.1.1 added twelve haircuts, a Top row with a blouse or a laced bodice, short sleeves, and a skirt.
Are there pets in Tideward?
Yes, 57 of them, every one earned in play and never sold; a pet's bonus is on for good the moment it joins you.
Every gathering, crafting and combat trade has its own, bosses and dungeons drop more, the Hearth keeps a few residents, and a trade pet can turn up during offline progress too.
Are there game modes or challenge runs?
Yes. Five ways to bind a run, and they stack, so a self-imposed rule is something you build rather than pick off a list.
Feats in the completion log track them, and the mode a keeper was made in stays with them for life.
Is there an endgame?
Yes. The Foundering, the Kingtide and the Tolling crown the ladder, each one clearable rather than merely survivable.
Does Tideward have achievements and leaderboards?
Yes, through Game Center: achievements with hidden surprises, opt-in seasonal leaderboards and Challenges, sharing only what you choose.
From Melvor or RuneScape
How it compares, and what the trades are called here
How does Tideward compare to Melvor Idle?
Same lineage, different bet: Melvor is deeper today and plays almost anywhere, while Tideward is native on all six Apple devices from one purchase and runs its 24-hour offline window on your device with no account.
Both are built on the RuneScape skilling tradition: many trades that level on their own, gear and drops, and progress that keeps running while the game is closed. Where we stand against Melvor Idle 2, area by area, is on the roadmap.
Is Tideward Melvor Idle 2?
No. Melvor Idle 2 is a different game from a different studio; Tideward is made by Manu Games and you can play it on Apple devices today.
When does Melvor Idle 2 come out?
Melvor Idle 2 enters Steam Early Access on November 17, 2026 (announced October 29), and mobile comes after Early Access.
The free demo from Steam Next Fest is still up until then, and demo saves carry over. We keep a dated, sourced tracker of every statement the developer has made.
Does Melvor Idle work offline?
Yes: Melvor Idle simulates up to 24 hours away when you reopen it; Tideward uses the same generous window but computes it on your device, with no account or connection needed.
Is RuneScape an idle game?
Not quite: Old School RuneScape is an always-online MMO whose skills only advance while you are logged in, which is exactly the gap idle games like Melvor Idle and Tideward fill.
What are the RuneScape skills called in Tideward?
Fifteen trades carry new names, Hitpoints is Vitality, Slayer is Quarry, Prayer is Vigil, Thieving is Pilfering, Smithing is Forging, and the decoder below has the rest.
The mechanics of every renamed trade are unchanged; each skill page notes its former name.
Is Tideward made by Jagex or the Melvor team?
No. Tideward is an independent game by Manu Games LLC and is not affiliated with Jagex, RuneScape or Melvor Idle.
The trade decoder
Fifteen trades carry new names. Same jobs, different signs over the door.
Devices & saves
Apple Watch to Vision Pro, Android, PC, and where your save lives
What devices does Tideward run on?
Eight platforms from one developer: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro and Apple Watch, Android in open beta on Google Play, and a Windows PC version in development.
Apple devices need iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS or watchOS 26 or newer. There is no web version.
Can I play Tideward on a Mac?
Yes. The Mac version is a native Apple Silicon app, not an iPad port, and it is happy running in a corner of your screen while you work.
What can I do on Apple Watch?
Fight a real fight on the wrist, with both swing timers, your familiar and the heal on the button, plus quarry tasks, your offline haul and the Watchfire.
The Watchfire is a watch-only hunt that burns with no phone in range and can never cost you a character or a coin. Complications and Smart Stack are included.
How do you play on Apple TV?
With the Siri Remote through tvOS's focus engine, or a game controller: extended gamepads are supported and the shoulder buttons step the combat deck.
What is Tideward like on Vision Pro?
Native, and Watch in Your Space opens the fight, or the trade you are working, as a diorama you can place anywhere, resize and turn.
The keeper creator stands your keeper about three feet tall beside the window, and Pet in the Room (off by default) lets a pet wander the floor in front of you.
Is Tideward on Android?
Yes, in a free open beta on Google Play: a native Android app for phones and tablets (Android 10 or newer). It launches on February 11, 2027, the same day as on the App Store, with the same free download and one $9.99 unlock.
Is Tideward on PC or Steam?
A Windows PC version for Steam is in development with a beta on its way; it has no date, price or store page yet.
Can I move my save between iPhone, Android and PC?
No. Apple devices share one save through iCloud, but nothing moves between Apple, Android and PC, and a purchase on one store does not unlock another.
Does my progress sync across my Apple devices?
Yes, automatically through iCloud: sign in with the same Apple ID and your save follows you, with no account to create.
Do I lose my character if I delete the app?
No. Your character lives in your private iCloud, so reinstalling, or moving to a new device, brings it straight back.
Are there widgets and notifications?
Yes: home-screen widgets in every size on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and notifications you choose, held back during your quiet hours.
Privacy
What leaves your device, and what never does
What data does Tideward collect?
Nothing in the background: no analytics, no third-party crash reporter, no advertising ID and no telemetry leaves your device.
The one exception is a report you send yourself. A bug report or suggestion from inside the game carries what you wrote plus the device details and diagnostic log you choose to include, and it is posted publicly to the Tideward Discord. Crash reports, if you opt in through iOS Settings, go to Apple.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no Tideward account; on Apple devices your save rides on your own Apple ID.
Where is my save stored?
On your devices and in your private iCloud container, encrypted by Apple in transit and at rest; nobody at Manu Games can read it.
Can I delete my data?
Yes. Settings, Delete iCloud Data for Tideward removes your saves, and there is nothing on our servers to ask about.
Does this website track me?
Not you personally: tideward.app counts page views in aggregate with cookieless Cloudflare Web Analytics, sets no tracking cookies, shows no consent banner and runs no advertising tags. Our host, Cloudflare, may set a security cookie to block bots.
Languages & access
Sixteen languages, and a game you can play by ear
What languages does Tideward support?
Sixteen: English, Arabic, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Filipino, French, German, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.
They shipped as careful first passes, and native-speaker proofreading is the next bar, on the roadmap.
How accessible is Tideward?
More than the genre norm: the whole game answers under VoiceOver, Dynamic Type reaches the largest sizes, and nothing you need is behind a timed input.
A speech budget keeps a busy fight from talking over itself. State is never shown by colour alone. Reduce Motion, Reduce Transparency, Increase Contrast and Smart Invert are all respected, and the game plays with one finger. Visitors wait for a glance and nothing expires, and the ferryman's islet games are optional: a loss, or leaving early, pays nothing from the game, and the trade keeps running underneath. If something is unusable for you, say so on Discord and it goes to the front.
Can I turn the 3D and the motion off?
Yes. Settings, Feel, Fight Scene switches the 3D off, and it steps aside by itself with Reduce Motion on or in Low Power Mode.
What's next
Updates, suggestions, mods, multiplayer
Is there a roadmap?
Yes: the public roadmap leads with what is being built right now, then launch, then the direction after it.
Will updates cost money?
No. The work on the roadmap lands as free updates; no update will charge you to keep playing, and nothing you own stops working.
How do I suggest a feature or report a bug?
In the game (Settings, Report a Bug or Request a Feature) or in the Discord forums; every report is read, and fixes go out in the next build.
Every suggestion in the Discord gets a public status, from heard to shipped.
Is there a prize for finding bugs?
Yes. The Tide Table counts every bug report that leads to a fix, and each month the top finder wins something from the shop.
A find is a bug report that led to a change in the game. The more finds a month brings in from everyone together, the bigger the prize, and when enough people take part, second and third place win too. The standings, the prize ladder and the official rules are on The Tide Table.
Will there be mods?
No. App Store apps cannot load third-party code, so a mod loader is not something being held back; it is something the platform does not allow.
What is built in instead is what people usually reach for a mod to get: the Harbormaster's Forecast in place of a combat simulator, visible drop rates and item sources in place of a wiki tab, and Shortcuts for automation.
Will Tideward have multiplayer?
No. Tideward stays single-player and private by design; a multiplayer game is penciled in for roughly early 2028 as a separate app, an intention and not a promise.
The social features that exist come from Game Center, which is Apple's and opt-in. None of it needs an account of ours.
Is Tideward made with AI?
Seth wrote the first two years of Tideward's code by hand and builds with AI tools now.
Still wondering?
The fastest answer is on Discord, usually within a few hours. Good questions end up on this page.
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