Comparison

Shift Light Puzzle vs Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Shift Light Puzzle

Rotate tiles to connect power, connectors, and bulbs and make them glow. This puzzle game offers thousands of levels with increasing complexity, including color mixing and wrapping mechanics. Enjoy a relaxing yet challenging experience with a visually appealing interface and sound effects.

Highlights
  • Rotate tiles to connect circuits
  • Light up all bulbs to win
  • 3,500+ challenging levels
  • Color mixing and wrapping modes
  • Multiple board sizes
  • Detailed stats tracking
Read full description

The objective of Shift is to light the bulbs by shifting tiles on the game board. Simply tap the power, connector and bulb tiles to complete a link. The level is won when all bulbs are glowing! Blending colors, larger boards and mix & wrap play guarantee exciting and challenging game play. Game Content - 3,500 levels (more on the way) - 10 board sizes ranging from 5x5 to 14x14 - Detailed stats tracking Challenge Modes - Regular: play single colors - Mix: mix colors to form new ones - Wrap: play colors from one side of the board to the opposite side Design - Vibrant yet intuitive colors - Simple and visual appealing user interface - Fun bubbly sound effects - Play at your own pace This sponsored app is available free on the App Store. For support and answers to frequently asked questions, head over to http://www.shiftlightpuzzle.com/support.html. Shift Light Puzzle is built in the USA by the team at Solebon LLC (http://www.solebon.com).

About

Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles

This logic puzzle game challenges you to fill a grid with stars, ensuring no two stars touch, even diagonally. It offers daily and weekly challenges with varying difficulty levels and tracks your progress.

Highlights
  • Daily puzzle challenges
  • Leaderboards for competitive play
  • Weekly challenges for advanced players
  • Multiple difficulty levels
  • Puzzle packs for beginners
  • Solving strategy guide
  • Player stats and progress tracking
Features
Read full description

Hoshi (星, Japanese for star) is a free and competitive Star Battle game with daily challenges. Star Battle, also known as "Two Not Touch", is a classic pen-and-paper logic puzzle published in newspapers and puzzle magazines worldwide. If you enjoy playing tricky puzzles and brain-teasing games and seek a new challenge, then you should give Hoshi a try. If you have never played the Star Battle logic game before, don’t worry the rules are straight forward: Similar to other logic puzzles you have a grid that you need to fill. In a normal 2 star “Two Not Touch” game each row, column, and region must have exactly 2 stars. Stars are not allowed to touch, even not diagonally. Hoshi includes Star Battles with 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 stars, but games with more stars are yet to come ;) Hoshi offers you: - Everyday we release a new number game (daily puzzle challenge) - Track your solving time and compete against other players (leaderboards) - There is also a weekly challenge for geniuses (3 star plus games) - There are 5 different difficulties (easy to diabolical) - Packs with hand-selected logic puzzle (e.g. for beginners) - Guide with solving strategies - Profile with stats about your skill level & progress Coming soon: - Add your friends and play with them a numbers puzzle - Star Battle games with more than 5 stars Privacy policy: https://guriddo.app/hoshi/legal/privacy Terms of use: https://guriddo.app/hoshi/legal/tos

Screenshots

Shift Light Puzzle4 screens
Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles at every 2 weeks against Shift Light Puzzle's every 6 months. Shift Light Puzzle's advantage is review sentiment (76% vs 59%). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Shift Light Puzzle sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.79 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Shift Light Puzzle against 4.8 for Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 794 and 272 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Shift Light Puzzle's written reviews are positive against 59% of Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shift Light Puzzle ships an update every 6 months, Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Shift Light Puzzle versus Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShift Light PuzzleStar Battle Hoshi Puzzles
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (794 ratings)4.8 (272 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews — better59.1% of reviews
Number of ratings794 — better272
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.6
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB75 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperSolebon LLCSimon Schuster

Customer experience

Shift Light Puzzle

All ratings793 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral3.8%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral14.7%
Negative8.8%

Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles

All ratings271 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral3.7%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews44 reviews
Positive59.1%
Neutral11.4%
Negative29.5%

Bugs and requests

Shift Light Puzzle

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashing on certain devices
  • Inability to save progress

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to specify difficulty level
  • Sync progress across devices
  • Hints or solutions for advanced levels
  • Customizable background music/sounds

Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Shift Light Puzzle

One-time1
  • PREMIUM UPGRADE$4.99
10 purchases

Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles

Subscriptions3
  • Supporter (Weekly)$0.797 Days
  • Supporter (Monthly)$2.491 Month
  • Supporter (Annual)$14.991 Year
One-time7
  • Beginner Pack 3$1.99
  • Beginner Pack 5$1.99
  • Beginner Pack 4$1.99
Show 4 more
  • Advanced Pack 4$2.99
  • Advanced Pack 2$2.99
  • Advanced Pack 3$2.99
  • Expert Pack 2$2.99

Questions

Is Shift Light Puzzle free?
Shift Light Puzzle is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles free?
Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Shift Light Puzzle or Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles?
Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles is rated higher. Shift Light Puzzle averages 4.7 out of 5 from 794 ratings, while Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles averages 4.8 from 272 ratings.
Do Shift Light Puzzle or Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles have ads?
Both Shift Light Puzzle and Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles show ads.
Which is updated more often, Shift Light Puzzle or Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles?
Shift Light Puzzle ships an update every 6 months, and Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles every 2 weeks. Most recently, Shift Light Puzzle was updated on November 1, 2026 and Star Battle Hoshi Puzzles on November 7, 2026.

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