Flappy Bird’s own creator took it down. Dong Nguyen, a developer in Vietnam, removed the game from the App Store and Google Play on February 10, 2014, at the peak of its popularity, saying it had become too addictive. The name came back in 2024 as a reboot by a group called the Flappy Bird Foundation. Nguyen has publicly said he has nothing to do with it.
Flappy Bird timeline #
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| May 24, 2013 | Flappy Bird is released on iOS by Nguyen’s studio, .GEARS |
| January 2014 | It climbs to the top of the free charts in the US and Chinese App Stores |
| January 30, 2014 | The Android version is released |
| Early February 2014 | Nguyen tells The Verge it earns around $50,000 a day from ads |
| February 10, 2014 | Nguyen removes it from both stores |
| August 2014 | Flappy Birds Family arrives on Amazon Fire TV, and .GEARS releases Swing Copters |
| January 2024 | Nguyen’s US trademark is terminated after another company claims he abandoned it |
| September 12, 2024 | The Flappy Bird Foundation announces the game’s return |
| September 15, 2024 | Nguyen posts that he has no connection to the new game |
| 2025 | The reboot reaches Android, first through the Epic Games Store and later Google Play |
Dates come from Flappy Bird’s Wikipedia entry and TechCrunch’s report on the reboot.
How did Flappy Bird get so big? #
For its first eight months Flappy Bird was nobody’s favorite game. It was a small, free app with ads, a tapping bird and green pipes. Then in January 2014 it exploded, helped along by YouTubers filming themselves losing their minds over it. PewDiePie’s video is the one most often credited.
The game was perfectly built for that moment. It took five seconds to understand and a lifetime to master. Every run was short enough to film, every failure was funny to watch, and a screenshot of your high score made a ready-made brag. Scores in the teens felt like an achievement, and a score over 100 felt like a legend. People passed the game around the way they pass around a meme.
The money followed. In an interview with The Verge in early February 2014, Nguyen said the game was earning around $50,000 a day from its in-game ads.
Why did Dong Nguyen take Flappy Bird down? #
Nguyen said the game had become too addictive and that the guilt was affecting his sleep. He was also a private person suddenly at the center of intense media attention, including stories questioning where his ideas came from. On February 8, 2014 he warned on Twitter that he would take the game down in 22 hours, and he did.
Pulling a game earning that much baffled people, and phones that still had Flappy Bird installed turned up on auction sites for eye-watering prices. Nguyen’s reasoning never changed, though. He had made a game to be played for a few minutes, and people were playing it for hours.
The clone flood #
With the original gone, copies poured in. At the peak, more than 60 Flappy Bird clones were showing up on the App Store every day, and Apple and Google began rejecting new games with “Flappy” in the title. The craze passed and the naming wave calmed down, but the genre never left. Tap-to-fly games are still everywhere, and the space is crowded enough that Flappy Kittens is called Flappy Cat on Google Play but had to use a different name on the App Store, where “Flappy Cat” was taken.
Did Flappy Bird copy another game? #
Critics pointed to Piou Piou vs. Cactus, a 2011 game by a French developer known as Kek, which had a similar tap-to-fly bird. According to Kek, Nguyen said he didn’t think he knew about the earlier game. The green pipes also drew comparisons to Super Mario Bros. Kek later joined the 2024 revival, and the Foundation says it holds the rights to both Flappy Bird and Piou Piou vs. Cactus.
Is the new Flappy Bird the real one? #
Legally it holds the name. Creatively, it isn’t Nguyen’s game. The US trademark lapsed after Gametech Holdings argued to the US Patent and Trademark Office that Nguyen had abandoned it, and his claim was terminated when he didn’t respond. Gametech sold the rights to the Flappy Bird Foundation, which announced the return in September 2024. Three days later Nguyen made his first post on X since 2017, saying he had no relation to the new game, that he “did not sell anything,” and that he doesn’t support crypto.
That last point mattered. The reboot first launched on Telegram, and hidden pages on its website mentioned plans involving the Solana blockchain. The backlash was loud. When the game reached Android in 2025 it had dropped the crypto and offered a Classic mode close to the original, a new Quest mode, and new characters such as a robot bird and a penguin. If you’re on iPhone, check the App Store in your region for the current status.
What happened to Dong Nguyen? #
He kept making games, quietly. .GEARS released Swing Copters in August 2014, a tap-to-switch-direction game even harder than Flappy Bird, and a sequel, Swing Copters 2, is on Google Play. Otherwise he has stayed out of public view. His September 2024 post about the reboot was his first public statement in years.
What to play if you miss Flappy Bird #
The original is gone for good, but the formula isn’t. Flappy Kittens is the closest cozy take: tap to flap through the gaps, collect fish treats, build combos up to ×8, and spend your fish on 14 cats and 8 worlds. It plays offline and is free with ads, and the three rarest cats can only be earned by skill, not bought. For more options, see our list of games like Flappy Bird. If you’re rusty, start with our Flappy Bird tips.
Frequently asked questions #
Can you still download the original Flappy Bird? #
No. It hasn’t been on the App Store or Google Play since February 10, 2014. Anything called Flappy Bird you can download today is either the Flappy Bird Foundation’s reboot or a clone.
How much money did Flappy Bird make? #
Nguyen told The Verge it was earning around $50,000 a day from ads at its peak in early 2014. Its total earnings have never been published, so any lifetime figure you see online is an estimate.
Who owns Flappy Bird now? #
The Flappy Bird Foundation holds the trademark, bought from Gametech Holdings after Nguyen’s US trademark was ruled abandoned. Nguyen isn’t involved and has said he didn’t sell the game.
Why is Flappy Bird so hard? #
Heavy gravity, a sharp flap, tiny gaps and no second chances. We explain each part in why Flappy Bird is so hard.