Hooked Inc: Fishing Games by Lion Studios is the idle fishing game most people start with: swipe to catch fish, hire a crew that keeps fishing while you're away, upgrade boats and unlock new seas. If you've run out of oceans or just want a change, these ten games like Hooked Inc keep the same loop of catching, earning and upgrading, and a few of them trade the idle income for slower, hands-on fishing.
We make Fish & Chill, so it's first on this list. Judge it like the rest, and know that it is not an idle game. Every other game here comes from other developers, and nobody paid to be included. Each one is built around fish or fishing, plays on iPhone and was on sale in the US App Store in November 2026.
The other side of Hooked Inc: there's no crew and no income while you're away, every fish is one you hooked and reeled in yourself. The lake follows your real clock, and each of the 20 species bites at its own hours. You upgrade the line from 10 to 200 m and baits from bread to glowworm. No ads, no energy timers, works offline, and on Apple Watch you reel with the Digital Crown.
The closest match to Hooked Inc, down to its name. You hire anglers, train them and give them better gear, upgrade the fish box to earn more per trip, and swap a small boat for ships that reach deeper water. Later you open a seafood restaurant to sell your catch.
Tap to catch fish and help Captain Raymond and his daughter Poppy save their family fishing company from a big rival brand. You recruit captains who work while you're away, unlock boats with names like The Codfather, and fish weekly events set in Rome, Egypt and the Caribbean.
A classic fishing tycoon loop: catch fish, upgrade your boat and your fisherman, move on to new waters. Optional VIP subscriptions remove interstitial ads and add daily rewards. The last update was in February 2025, so expect fewer new events than in the others.
Drop your line as deep as it goes, then catch as many fish as you can on the way up. Upgrades let you dive deeper and carry more, and an old fisherman keeps earning for you while you're away. With more than 450,000 ratings, it's one of the most played fishing games on the App Store.
Hooked Inc ends at the catch, Seafood Inc starts there. Your boats bring fish in, a crane loads them onto conveyor belts, and you build and upgrade the machines that process and pack them. A good pick if the business side of Hooked Inc was your favorite part.
Idle without the fishing: you tap to fill an underwater world with fish, whales, dolphins and sharks, and watch it grow on its own. Calm music and slow progress make it more of a wind-down game than a race to the next upgrade.
A relaxed catch-and-collect fishing game: 34 spots across 12 worlds, hundreds of species and rare elemental variants for your aquarium museum. You fight each fish yourself and spend coins on better rods, reels and bait. Its App Store page says there are no energy timers. Only in English.
A small, meditative fishing game with soft visuals and calm music. You sail to new destinations, collect more than 50 fish, upgrade boats and grow your home island. The same collect-and-upgrade loop as Hooked Inc, at a much slower pace.
A fishing adventure with a real plot, from Odencat, the studio behind Bear's Restaurant. You wake up on a tropical island in a strange afterlife, learn to fish, finish quests and find more than 100 species while the mystery unfolds.
If you want Hooked Inc with new boats and seas, start with Fishing Frenzy, Idle Fishing Story or Idle Fish 2. For the business side, Seafood Inc. For quick, arcade-style runs, Go Fish!. For an idle game that's just about watching fish, Tap Tap Fish – AbyssRium.
If what you liked was the fishing more than the numbers going up, Fishing Break, Tides, Fishing Paradiso and Fish & Chill let you catch each fish yourself.
Ratings: US App Store, November 2026.
On iPhone: Fishing Frenzy: Idle Hooked Inc, Idle Fishing Story and Idle Fish 2 for the same idle fishing tycoon loop, Go Fish! for quick dives with upgrades, and Seafood Inc for running a fish factory. For calmer fishing you play yourself, Tides, Fishing Break and Fish & Chill.
Hooked Inc: Fishing Games is published by Lion Studios. It's free on the App Store, with in-app purchases.
Hooked Inc, Fishing Frenzy, Idle Fishing Story and Go Fish! all say on their App Store pages that your crew, captains or fisherman keep earning while you're not playing.
Fish & Chill has no ads and no energy timers, and works offline. It isn't idle, though: you catch every fish yourself. In Idle Fish 2 and Go Fish!, paid VIP subscriptions remove the ads.
No, its App Store page lists no Apple Watch app. If you want to fish on your wrist, Fish & Chill runs fully on Apple Watch, and you reel with the Digital Crown.