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Aging and Life Span Settings
October 29, 2026 at 02:37 AM
Correct image subjects, captions and unusable or branded illustrations.
Aging in inZOI is automatic. Zois progress through nine life stages; the approximate durations in the table below sum to 82.5 in-game days, with the Senior stage varying in length. Stage transitions are described as instant, with body and available activities changing at age-up. The exact Child-to-Adolescent sequence in the older stage account remains unverified. The calendar added in v0.7.0 displays birthdays; use it to plan age-related events. Players have several tools to control aging speed: separate toggles for player and NPC Zois, a day length slider that stretches or compresses real time, simulation speed controls, and cheat commands that freeze aging entirely or prevent death.
The approximate durations listed below sum to 82.5 in-game days. Treat this as the estimate produced by this table, not a guaranteed lifespan: the Senior stage varies. Changing the real-time day length changes the elapsed hours, not the table's in-game day counts.
Image | Life Stage | Duration (Days) | Cumulative | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newborn | 1 | 1 | Can enter the household through pregnancy and other family-building routes; baby age groups were added in v0.10.0 to Create a Zoi |
Toddler | 2 | 3 | Follows Newborn in natural aging; baby age groups are available in Create a Zoi since v0.10.0 | |
| Child | 7 | 10 | |
| Adolescent | 6 | 16 | Attends middle school; not selectable in Create a Zoi |
| Teenager | 4.5 | 20.5 | Attends high school; can drive and die |
| Young Adult | 9 | 29.5 | Full career, university, marriage, pregnancy access |
| Adult | 20 | 49.5 | Longest stage; full system access |
| Middle-Aged | 16 | 65.5 | Full career access; no unique unlocks |
| Senior | ~17 | ~82.5 | Variable length; natural death from old age possible at any point |
Each life stage introduces or restricts specific gameplay features. The table below shows what becomes available at each transition.
Life Stage | Unlocks and Abilities |
|---|---|
Traits assigned, family relationships formed, friendships possible | |
Toddler | Skills begin developing, limited movement and interactions |
Child | Values continue developing after babyhood; elementary school, smartphone access, expanded interactions, random events; Ambitions selectable since v0.10.0 |
Adolescent | Middle school; acts as a transitional stage between Child and Teenager |
Teenager | High school, driving, can die from non-natural causes, business relationships; Ambitions since v0.9.0 |
Young Adult | Adult Ambitions, Desired Lives, university, full-time and part-time jobs, romantic relationships, pregnancy |
Adult | University graduation, all systems available |
Middle-Aged | No new unlocks; retains full Adult capabilities |
Senior | Automatic retirement from careers; natural death from old age possible |
Not all life stages are available in the Create a Zoi character editor. The earlier baby restrictions changed in v0.10.0:
Age group | Details |
|---|---|
Newborn and Toddler | Baby age groups were added to Create a Zoi in v0.10.0. Natural aging still takes a Newborn into the Toddler stage; the original one-day estimate is listed above. |
Adolescent | This transitional stage between Child and Teenager is not selectable. Adolescents only appear when a Child ages up. |
The original six directly selectable stages were Child, Teenager, Young Adult, Adult, Middle-Aged, and Senior. Baby age groups were added in v0.10.0 rather than remaining restricted to births in Live Mode.
When a Zoi transitions between life stages, their physical appearance updates instantly. Body proportions, height, facial features, and skin texture all change in a single moment to reflect the new age bracket. Children grow taller when they become adolescents, teenagers develop more adult proportions upon becoming young adults, and seniors develop wrinkles and may show white or gray hair. There is no gradual transition; the body updates all at once. This instant change mirrors how games like The Sims handle aging up, though having nine stages (compared to fewer in many life simulators) makes each individual transition less jarring.
School attendance is tied directly to life stages. Each school-age Zoi is automatically enrolled in the appropriate institution:
Life Stage | School | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Child | Elementary School | 7 in-game days of attendance; develops foundational skills |
Adolescent | Middle School | 5 in-game days; transitional education |
Teenager | High School | 4 in-game days; last mandatory education stage |
Young Adult+ | Optional; school, career and business can coexist since v0.8.0 if schedules do not overlap |
School schedules follow standard work hours. Zois leave home approximately 1 hour before their school day starts and return after classes end. Skipping school repeatedly can have negative consequences, similar to missing work in a career.
Aging settings are found in Game Menu > Options > Simulation. Two separate toggles control aging independently:
Setting | What It Controls |
|---|---|
Aging (My Zois) | Enables or disables aging for your actively played household |
Aging (Other Zois) | Enables or disables aging for all NPC Zois in the city |
Both settings use arrow buttons to toggle between Enabled and Disabled. These options were added in the April 4, 2025 hotfix during Early Access. Before this patch, there was no way to disable aging through normal settings. The two toggles are independent, which enables several useful strategies:
Setting | Details |
|---|---|
Freeze your household, age the city | Disable aging for My Zois while keeping Other Zois enabled. Your family stays at their current stage indefinitely while the rest of the city continues to age naturally, keeping the world dynamic. |
Freeze everything | Disable both toggles to stop all aging citywide. Useful for sandbox play where you want unlimited time without any Zoi aging up or dying. |
Age only your household | Enable aging for My Zois but disable it for Other Zois. Your family progresses through life stages while neighbors remain fixed. Useful if you want to experience the full lifecycle without the city population shifting around you. |
The Length of Day setting controls how many real-world minutes equal one in-game day. It is found in the same Simulation tab as the aging toggles.
Setting | Real Time per In-Game Day | Real hours for the table's approximate 82.5-day lifespan |
|---|---|---|
Default | 48 minutes | ~66 hours |
Longer selectable option | 96 minutes | ~132 hours |
Slowest | 24 hours | ~1,980 hours |
Changing day length affects all time-based systems, not just aging. Career schedules, school attendance, seasonal transitions, and need decay rates all speed up or slow down with the day length. Shorter days mean Zois age faster but also have less real time to complete daily activities like going to work or leveling skills. Longer days give more breathing room per stage but mean each activity takes proportionally longer in real time.
Separate from day length, the simulation speed can be adjusted from 1x to 4x using the controls in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Higher speeds make time pass faster within the current day length setting.
Speed | Description |
|---|---|
1x | Normal speed. |
2x to 4x | Progressively faster; useful for waiting through work hours or sleep. |
5x and above | Disables Zoi movement and autonomy. Only use for skipping large chunks of time. |
Pause (0) | Fully pauses the simulation. Zois freeze in place and no time passes. |
When all household members are asleep, the game automatically advances at 30x speed (added in v0.3.0), fast-forwarding through the night until someone wakes up.
As of the April 1, 2025 hotfix (v0.1.3), only Zois in the Senior life stage can die naturally from old age. Before this change, natural death could occur at any adult life stage based on probabilistic calculations. The developers adjusted this because they felt it was important for players to have time to bond with their characters and fully immerse themselves in their stories.
This rule applies only to natural death from aging. Non-natural deaths (fire, drowning, electrocution, starvation, sleep deprivation, car accidents, falling) can still happen at any life stage from Teenager onward. Children cannot die; if both parents die, children are sent to the Child Protection Agency.
Two cheat commands provide additional aging control. Open the console with Ctrl+Shift+C (cheats must be enabled first):
Command | Effect |
|---|---|
stopAging true | Freezes all Zois at their current life stage; no one ages up |
stopAging false | Re-enables normal aging |
immortalZoi true | Prevents death entirely (both natural and non-natural) |
immortalZoi false | Re-enables death |
The stopAging cheat affects all Zois globally, unlike the settings toggles which separate player and NPC Zois. The immortalZoi cheat goes further by preventing all forms of death, not just age-related death. To change a specific Zoi's age directly, use the cheat console to access the age-change tool. This lets you set any playable Zoi or NPC to a different life stage, though it requires cheats to be enabled.
Limitation | Details |
|---|---|
No per-stage duration control | You cannot customize how long each individual life stage lasts. The day length slider scales all stages proportionally. |
Birthday tracking | Since v0.7.0, the calendar displays birthdays. This provides an age-related date to plan around without requiring an exact numeric age counter. |
Birthday system | The 2026 Roadmap previewed birthday celebrations; they shipped in v0.7.0. Zois advance after blowing out birthday candles or spending a birthday alone. |
Instant transitions | Aging up is instantaneous. There is no gradual physical change; the Zoi's body updates all at once when the stage changes. |
The 2026 Roadmap included several aging-related improvements under the "Fundamentals First" initiative. The table distinguishes released features from the remaining roadmap items:
Feature | Details |
|---|---|
Birthday system | Released in v0.7.0: calendar birthdays and age advancement after blowing out candles or spending a birthday alone. |
Per-family story progression | Adjustable intensity toggles for how quickly families develop. |
Childcare urges | New timed urges for newborn, toddler, and child Zois were added in v0.7.0, creating new parenting situations. |
Expanded baby features | High chairs and baby food shipped in v0.9.0. Strollers, changing tables, bathtubs and bouncers remain separate roadmap items in this list; do not infer their release from the high-chair addition. |
If you want a long-lived Zoi without disabling aging, set the day length to the maximum (24 hours per in-game day). Each life stage will last many real-world days.
Disable aging selectively: freeze your household while letting NPCs age. This keeps the world dynamic while giving you unlimited time with your main characters.
Plan skill development around stage durations. Children have 7 days to max child skills. Teenagers have only 4 days before becoming Young Adults.
The Senior stage is unpredictable. Save frequently once a Zoi reaches Senior age, as death can happen at any time.
If you want the full lifecycle experience, start with a pregnant couple. The child will age through every stage naturally.
Use the stopAging cheat for temporary pauses during important moments. You can re-enable aging afterward with stopAging false.
