Want to grow your vault population in Fallout Shelter? If you’re unlocking new rooms and filling up production floors, you’ll need new dwellers, and fast.
Knowing how to get more Dwellers in Fallout Shelter is key to expanding your vault. This guide covers all the ways to add new residents, including breeding, radio signals, lunchboxes and wasteland rescues.
Fallout Shelter is available on multiple platforms, but this guide is written with mobile players in mind – whether you’re on Android or iOS.
1. Breeding Dwellers in Living Quarters
The most reliable and easy way to get new Dwellers is by pairing a male and female Dweller in the Living Quarters.
How it works:
Assign one male and one female to the same Living Quarters room
After some flirting, they’ll run off together.
The female becomes pregnant and gives birth after 3 hours.
The child grows into an adult Dweller after another 3 hours.
Related: Read our full breeding guide for more tips on efficient breeding.
2. Use the Radio Studio to Attract New Dwellers
The Radio Studio becomes available once you unlock it after the 20 dweller population milestone.
How it works:
Assign high-Charisma dwellers to the Radio Room.
They will begin broadcasting signals into the wasteland
After a few hours, a random Dweller may arrive at your vault door. This can be completely at random.
Radio-recruited Dwellers often have better starting SPECIAL stats than newborns, and they don’t take time to grow up.
Tip: Upgrade the Radio Studio and use better outfits to increase your chances and reduce wait times. Charisma boosting outfits such as nightwear are a good choice.
3. Get Dwellers from Lunchboxes
Lunchboxes can reward you with legendary, rare, or common dwellers instantly.
Earn lunchboxes by completing objectives, daily rewards, or purchases.
Legendary dwellers such as Preston Garvey, Eulogy Jones, or Sarah Lyons come fully equipped and trained.
This is the fastest way to get powerful dwellers, but it’s not always free.
Related: How to Get More Lunchboxes in Fallout Shelter
4. Rescue Dwellers on Quests (Occasionally)
Some quests, particularly special event or storyline quests, may reward you with rescued Dwellers.
Look for objectives that mention “rescue” or “find”
These Dwellers are added to your vault once the quest is complete
While not common, it’s a fun and thematic way to add to your population, especially during holiday or limited-time content.
Mobile players can take advantage of the Fallout TV series questline, which offers popular dwellers from the show, like Lucy, The Ghoul, and Maximus, as rewards. You can also receive the Snip-Snip Mr. Handy featured in the series.
Monitoring Population Growth
It’s tempting to max out your population quickly, but growing too fast can overwhelm your resources.
Keep in mind:
Each new dweller increases demand for food, water, and power.
Vault incidents (like fires or radroach attacks) scale with population.
Ensure the Living Quarters is upgraded in advance to prevent reaching dweller caps.
Summary
Growing your vault population isn’t just about numbers, it’s about balance. Use breeding and radio recruitment to expand steadily, open lunchboxes for strong dwellers, and make sure your vault can support every new resident you welcome.
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