Phone Apps

Overview

The smartphone is the central menu hub in Starsand Island. Press Tab on keyboard or Y on controller to open it. Instead of a traditional pause menu, the game presents a grid of app icons that provide access to progression tracking, collections, quests, relationships, customisation, and more.

The phone is available from the very start of the game with several core apps pre-installed. Additional apps unlock automatically as you complete quests and reach milestones in the Island Life progression system. You cannot manually add or remove apps. They appear when their unlock conditions are met.

All apps at a glance

Island Life

The Island Life app is the most important app on the phone. It presents a series of milestone-based ranks that guide your progression across the entire game. Each rank contains a set of tasks that must be completed in strict sequential order you cannot skip ahead.

Completing ranks unlocks major gameplay features and awards Starsand Points, Coins, recipes, blueprints, and furniture. Key unlocks tied to Island Life ranks include:

Important: Actions performed before a task becomes active may not count retroactively. Complete Island Life tasks in order as they appear.

StarNote

The StarNote app is the game's achievement and leveling system. It provides a reward track with two types of tasks:

• Daily tasks refresh each day, smaller rewards. Examples: catch a fish, mine a rock, water crops.

• One-time tasks larger rewards, completed once. Examples: craft an axe, meet a specific NPC, open 5 treasure chests, befriend 10 animals.

Progressing through the reward track earns Starsand Points (the premium currency used in the Workpedia) and cosmetic items including clothing, hairstyles, furniture blueprints, and decorations. Leveling goes up to at least Level 45, with each level awarding 20-80 Starsand Points plus cosmetic unlocks.

Important: After earning enough progress to level up, you must manually claim it in the StarNote app. Check daily for refreshed tasks. Even low-effort daily tasks add up over time.

Workpedia

The Workpedia is the profession skill and perk upgrade system. It unlocks when you become an Apprentice in any profession (after completing a profession's introductory quest from a mentor). Spend Starsand Points to unlock perks that make your work faster and more efficient.

Five professions each have their own perk tree. Profession tiers progress through: Apprentice, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, and Expert.

Prioritise Recuperate (Crafter) early for free stamina recovery from sitting, and Effortless Tilling (Farmer) to save energy while farming.

Social

The Social app tracks all NPCs you have met and your current relationship status with each of them. It displays each NPC's profile including physical characteristics and Affection level.

Gift preferences are automatically recorded as you discover them: loved items and disliked items appear in the app, but neutral preferences are not tracked, you must remember those manually.

Relationship milestones unlock features at each heart level:

Check the Social app before gifting to see what items an NPC likes. A loved gift gives 15 Affection Points, a liked gift gives 10, and talking daily gives 5.

Islandpedia

The Islandpedia is a comprehensive item catalog that logs every item you gather, craft, cook, catch, buy, or grow. It tracks collections across categories including Cuisine, Bio Research, Crafting, Plants, Gatherables, and Home Items.

Stamp Collection

The Stamp Collection is a sub-menu at the bottom of the Islandpedia that many players miss entirely. As you hit collection milestones within each category, you earn stamps that can be redeemed for rewards:

Rewards do not auto-claim. Check the Stamp Collection regularly. Many players leave thousands of Coins uncollected because they never scroll down to the stamp menu.

Camera

The Camera app is a full-featured photo mode. Access it three ways: press P on keyboard, LB + Left on controller, or open it from the phone menu.

Three camera modes are available:

Camera settings include zoom, tilt, time of day, brightness, contrast, saturation, and vignette. At 2 Hearts Affection with an NPC, you can invite them to take group photos. Tourist NPCs (colourful visitors who spawn around the island) sometimes request photos, rewarding you with fish bait, flowers, seeds, and other items.

Photographing landmarks and adding them to your album earns Starsand Points. The Camera is also required for photography-based event quests like those in the Chinese New Year Festival.

Journal

The Journal is the quest log. Press J on keyboard or open it from the phone. It displays all active quests with their current objectives. Your currently tracked quest appears below the minimap on the HUD.

You can change which quest is tracked (or track nothing at all) through the Journal. It includes main story quests, profession quests, NPC requests, and Community Center Bulletin Board tasks.

Map

The Map app displays the full island map. Press M on keyboard or open it from the phone. It shows points of interest, NPC locations, shop positions, bus stop icons, and a Mentors tab listing your profession mentors and their locations.

Buy Land

The Buy Land app provides a top-down view of your farm and surrounding tiles, allowing you to purchase additional land plots. It unlocks after completing the Island Life tasks through the Skillful Star rank, reach Junior level in any profession and complete 5 Bulletin Board requests.

Your starter farm (Hopeland) is surrounded by 8 purchasable tiles. Each tile functions identically to your main plot. You can build, plant, and place objects on it.

Plan your layout before buying, choose tiles that connect cleanly to existing builds.

Garage

The Garage app lets you instantly summon any vehicle or mount you own to your current location. Press R on keyboard for a quick-summon shortcut. The app unlocks when you obtain your first vehicle, typically the Skateboard, given by Zerine during the early "Secret of Crafting" quest.

You never need to remember where you parked. Vehicles can be summoned anywhere on the island. Sources include crafting (blueprints from Neona's G-Power Bike shop), purchases, quest rewards, and rentals from Pastelle's Green Pasture Ranch (15-30 Coins per hour for animal mounts).

Wardrobe

The Wardrobe app lets you change outfits on the fly. Hats, tops, bottoms, full sets, and accessories. It unlocks after completing the Apprentice Rancher quest: collect Rabbit Fluff from your rabbits and give it to Lunelle at Ethereal Styles. She rewards you with an outfit and unlocks both the Wardrobe and Makeup apps simultaneously.

Makeup

The Makeup app lets you adjust your hairstyle, hair colour, eye colour, eyebrows, and other facial features anywhere, anytime. It unlocks at the same time as the Wardrobe app, after giving Rabbit Fluff to Lunelle. Visit Serena's Bloom Atelier in Maple Reed for additional cosmetic options.

Emote

The Emote app unlocks character emotes and expressions. It becomes available at Island Life Rank 3 (First Decorations) after placing 6 interior items in your home. Emotes can be used during social interactions, photo mode, and multiplayer sessions.

Keyboard shortcuts

The Mailbox (not a phone app)

The Mailbox is sometimes confused with a phone app, but it is a physical object located outside your house. Interact with it by pressing F. It delivers daily letters containing free blueprints, event reminders, NPC messages, and gifts.

Key items delivered via mail include the Bug Bait, Meat Bait, Veggie Bait, Rabbit Feed, and Ripening Fertilizer I blueprints. Delphin sends the Veggie Bait blueprint on Day 3, and Solara sends letters about upcoming events and new NPC arrivals. At Heart Level 1+, NPCs may send gifts via mail. As relationships progress, love interests may send letters and special invitations.

Make checking your mailbox a daily habit. Many crucial blueprints arrive via mail and are easy to miss if you skip days.

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