Osmo Numbers Classic vs CrushStations
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Osmo Numbers Classic
Engage children in hands-on math play by adding, counting, and multiplying tiles to pop number bubbles. This interactive game fosters a creative and explorative mindset towards mathematics, making learning fun and engaging in a vibrant underwater world.
- Add, count, and multiply tiles
- Pop number bubbles
- Collect over 90 unique fish
- Learn math creatively
- Develop problem-solving skills
- Hands-on play experience
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Add, count & multiply tiles to pop the number bubbles. Popping enough will free fish & unleash a lightning storm! Learn to be the numbers master. **One of 2016’s most intuitive product designs.** - Fast Company Award "...once again, Osmo has built something wonderfully creative and interactive." - Venture Beat "Osmo Numbers takes the fear out of figures." - Forbes "…revamp the unimaginative worksheets educators use to teach math" - TechCrunch When kids understand there are many ways to solve a problem, math becomes creative & fun. By having no wrong answers, we replace fear of math with an explorative mindset. Your kids will play in this beautiful engaging underwater world for ages, collecting over 90 fish of all kinds, from Rainbow to Frankenfish! *Requires the Osmo Base and Numbers tiles, found at www.playosmo.com * Please see our device compatibility list here: https://support.playosmo.com/hc/articles/115010156067 About Osmo Osmo is using the screen to create a new healthy, hands-on learning experience that promotes creativity, problem-solving and social interaction. We do this with our reflective artificial intelligent technology.
CrushStations
This game trains working memory, a key executive function, by challenging players to remember creature colors and types to rescue them from an octopus. It's designed to improve cognitive skills linked to academic success.
- Working memory training
- Executive function development
- Creature memory challenges
- Educational game design
- Research-backed gameplay
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CrushStations is a game designed to train working memory, a subskill of executive functions. Working memory involves holding information in mind and mentally working with it (Diamond, 2013). Players need to remember the color and type of creatures to free them and keep them out of reach of the hungry octopus. How does this support learning? Executive functions refer to a set of top-down, goal-oriented cognitive processes that enable people to control, monitor and plan behaviors and emotions. Miyake and Friedman’s model supports a unity-and-diversity view of EF in that it incorporates the three distinct but related components of EF: inhibitory control, task-switching and updating (Miyake et al., 2000). What is the research evidence? Our research suggests that CrushStations is an effective way to train working memory. The study supporting this claim will be published soon. Research has found that EF is related to performance in literacy and math along with long-term gains in school performance and academic readiness (Blair & Razza, 2007; Brock, Rimm-Kaufman, Nathanson, & Grimm, 2009; St Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006; Welsh, Nix, Blair, Bierman, & Nelson, 2010) and that disparities in EF among preschool children from low-income versus high-income homes may contribute to the achievement gap (Blair & Razza, 2007; Noble, McCandliss, & Farah, 2007). This game is part of the Smart Suite, created by New York University’s CREATE lab in collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara, and The Graduate Center, CUNY. The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A150417 to the University of California, Santa Barbara. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: CrushStations at 4.5 against Osmo Numbers Classic's 4.0. CrushStations also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). Osmo Numbers Classic's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (264 vs 11). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
CrushStations holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Osmo Numbers Classic has 264 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 55% of Osmo Numbers Classic's written reviews are positive against 50% of CrushStations's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Osmo Numbers Classic ships an update every 2 months, CrushStations every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Osmo Numbers Classic | CrushStations |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (264 ratings) | 4.5 (11 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 55.0% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 264 — better | 11 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 13 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 185 MB | 294 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tangible Play | New York University |
Customer experience
Osmo Numbers Classic
CrushStations
Bugs and requests
Osmo Numbers Classic
Reported bugs
10 issues- Apps not loading
- Never-ending loading screen
- App crashes
- Cannot access camera
- Doesn't recognize tiles properly
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- Profile and progress not saving
- Multiplication level displays addition
- Combos not detected often
- Game freezes
- App unusable due to camera access issues
Requested features
10 requests- Add more levels
- Include verbal number prompts
- Simpler starting point for younger kids
- More varied gameplay types
- Add an exit button for games
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- More challenging levels
- Allow profile and progress saving
- Fix multiplication portion issues
- Add visual cues for words
- Revert to older design
CrushStations
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Osmo Numbers Classic
No in-app purchases
CrushStations
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Osmo Numbers Classic free?
Is CrushStations free?
Which has better reviews, Osmo Numbers Classic or CrushStations?
Do Osmo Numbers Classic or CrushStations have ads?
Which is updated more often, Osmo Numbers Classic or CrushStations?
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