The Sims 4 Guides

The Sims 4 How to Age Up Your Sims: A Complete Guide

how to age up sims

As we all know, The Sims 4 has several different life stages that players can play through. In addition to that, you can also change the length of each life stage or turn it off completely.

Now, there will be times when you want to age up your Sim and not have to wait for them to just age up. So we are going to guide you through all the ways that you can age up your Sims!

Sims 4 How To Age Up

The Sims 4 How To Age Up Your Sims

Before we jump into all the different ways you can age up your Sims, let’s look at the game’s current life stages and lifespans.

Current Life Stages

There are currently eight different life stages that you can experience in The Sims 4. Each of these comes in different lengths that you can play through them.

  • Baby
  • Infant
  • Toddler
  • Child
  • Teenager
  • Young Adult
  • Adult
  • Elder

Setting Lifespans

There are several options when it comes to playing each of the previously mentioned life stages too. Players have four options to choose from.

  • Short
  • Normal
  • Long

You can also choose to turn auto ageing off for both played and unplayed households. These settings can be found in:

Game Options > Gameplay > Auto Age (Played Households) / Auto Age (Unplayed Households) / Sim Lifespan

Wondering where to find out how many days your Sim has left before they age up? Simply head over to your Simology Panel. Above where your Sims’ name is, you can hover over it and it will display how many days remain until they age up next. The number of days will vary depending on what life span you have chosen.

simology

How Long Does Each Lifespan Last?

When the Infants were added to The Sims 4 Base Game earlier in the year, the length of each life stage. While the changes weren’t huge, all of the lengths of each life stage had some slight updates.

Here is a closer look at how long each life stage lasts in days depending on if you are playing on short, normal or long lifespans.

BabyInfantToddlerChildTeen Young
Adult
Adult Elder
Short0.52.53.5710.514217
Normal1571421284214
Long42028568411216856

New Update Life Span for Sims in The Sims 4 shown in Sim DaysInformation by Kimbasprite.

Ageing Up Your Sims

Now that we have taken a brief look at the different life stages and life spans, it is time to find out how to age up your Sims. Here are all the options you have in The Sims 4 on How To Age Up.

Automatically

Providing you are playing with ageing in some form, you can just let your Sims age up automatically. Once they hit the end of that current live stage, your Sim will age up automatically. Just keep your eyes peeled on your notification panel for when it is about to happen!

Upon ageing up, you’ll be presented with a pop-up informing you of your Sim ageing up. Depending on the age of your Sim, you’ll be able to select additional traits/aspirations.

Age up pop up

Birthday Cake

Cake! Everybody or every Sim loves cake! Regardless of the flavour, you can age up your Sims by using the Birthday Cake. Simply, get your Sim to either Make A Wish or Blow Out Candles for them to age up!

Just don’t forget to cook the cake and add the candles first!

TS4 x64 milkeeme milkbeam 2023 11 01 15 57 41
You can ask older Sims to help younger Sims blow out their birthday candles

Host a Birthday Party

Although a Birthday Party doesn’t essentially age up your Sim, it’s still fun to host a birthday party with cake and celebrate the occasion.

You can host either a goaled or non-goaled Birthday Party and receive prompts for tasks that need to be completed during the party.

birthdaypartyeventscreen

To host a birthday party, follow these easy steps:

  • Head to your phone and select Plan a Social Event or select the Calendar and add an event
  • Select Birthday Party from the list of available events
  • Choose your Birthday Sim, Guests, Cater, Mixologist and Entertainer
  • Select your Birthday Party Location and start time
  • Get ready to party!
TS4 x64 milkeeme milkbeam 2023 11 01 15 00 44
All Ready for a Birthday Celebration!

More Ways to Age Up (or Down) Your Sims

These methods are not the only way you can age up your Sims. There are a few more ways you can do so. While most are relatively harmless, there is one particular method to be careful with if you gift it to an Elder Sim!

Babies & Bassinets

While Sims can age up in a variety of ways, we all know that Babies in The Sims 4 can be a little difficult. To age up a Sim Baby, simply click on the bassinet and select Age Up!

Flower Arrangements

If your Sim is into flower arrangements, they can gift other Sims a particular bouquet which will cause your Sim to age up. Now you might be asking how. Well, this particular arrangement features the death flower. Just, be careful who you give it to!

TS4 x64 milkeeme milkbeam 2023 11 06 14 07 59
Just be careful who you gift the bouquet to.

Potions

Potions can be purchased via the Rewards Store. This can be found in the Aspirations Panel for your Sim. Using your Satisfaction Points you can purchase the following potion.

  • Potion of Youth – Drink this to turn the clock back on your Sims’ current age. Costs 1,500 Satisfaction Points

It’s important to note that drinking this potion will only take your Sim back to the start of their current life stage and not change it.

  • Essence of Life – Essentially the same result as the potion of youth however, a Sim must be eaten by a Cow Plant to obtain this potion.
TS4 x64 milkeeme milkbeam 2023 11 06 13 51 47
A Scientist Sim Hard At Work at FutureSims Lab

Scientist Career

For players who own The Sims 4 Get To Work, the Scientist Career may well come in handy for you. Once you reach level 10 as a Scientist, you’ll be able to create the Age-away Serum. Much like the Potion of Youth and Essence of Life, it will take your Sim back to day 1 of that particular life stage.

Fun Fact: The cloning machine is a great way to make duplicates of potions and ingredients!

Cheats

Don’t want to host a birthday cake or search for a potion? Then you can always cheat your Sims age.

Firstly, make sure you have testingcheats enabled and you can then use the following cheats

  • sims.age_up – Ages the Sim down to the next life stage. Will kill Elder Sims. May require a Sim ID. We don’t recommend using this. It’s easier and less buggy to use cas.fulleditmode and age a Sim up in CAS.
  • sims.age_down – Ages the Sim down to the previous life stage. May require a Sim ID. We don’t recommend using this. It’s easier and less buggy to use cas.fulleditmode and age a Sim down in CAS.
  • cas.fulleditmode – Allows you to change physical features, traits, and gender settings of pre-existing Sims in CAS. This cheat must be used before entering CAS.

Fun Facts

Did you know that if your Sims become stressed, it can make them age faster? Also, did you know that pregnant Sims do not age?

That is everything you need to know about how to age up (or down) your Sims in The Sims 4!


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About the author

Krista

Hey, I'm Krista! Long time Simmer and Sims Community Staff.

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