Anybody remember iGoogle? Kind of a customizable home page for your web browser. I used it until they shut it down, and I even spent a few hours designing a Volvox iGoogle theme (when I should have been writing my thesis):

I think three or four people used it; Google would only tell me “less than 100.” Nevertheless, if you feel the need for some Volvox in your life but you don’t have a handy supply of AF-6 medium, lighted incubator, and dissecting scope, there’s still a way:

We have a good news for all VOLVOX fans. You can grow VOLVOX on your smartphone!

Healing VOLVOX +LiveWallpaper for Android puts simulated Volvox on your phone. I don’t know about the whole “Healing” bit, but it is kind of calming to watch them swim around. They’re a bit like virtual pets, swimming around, growing and developing over time. The reproductive cells turn into daughter colonies, which (presumably) break out and grow into adults. I haven’t watched long enough to see them hatch, but I started with two and now I have ten, so something must have happened. I also don’t know if the daughter colonies undergo inversion…that would be serious attention to detail.

Healing VOLVOX +LiveWallpaper by Matsuzawa Takayuki and Deng Xiaolin

— How To Play —

First, please touch the screen gently.
Then small VOLVOX is born.
It is your first partner.

If you feel lonely, try to touch more.
But you must be carefull that Volvox is very frail.
If you touch Volox, it will fade away

So we have provided a safety feature here.
Please touch the screen for a long time.
Then push the “switch mode” button and change to “Watch Mode”
In this mode, Volvox is protected.

It has the feeling of an imperfect translation, but it gets the idea across. Here’s my favorite part:

We have developed “Healing VOLVOX” to convey the goodness of VOLVOX.
We think you will like them, and just tell us anything to make it better.

“To convey the goodness of VOLVOX” is probably the best justification for an app, ever.