Comparison

Listen vs Osmo World

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

Head to head
About

Listen

This game trains your hearing by presenting sound cues that you must respond to correctly to navigate obstacles and absorb energy. It uses adaptive algorithms to adjust difficulty to your individual performance level, based on principles of perceptual learning and auditory neuroscience.

Highlights
  • Auditory training game
  • Perceptual learning principles
  • Reward-based framework
  • Adaptive difficulty algorithms
  • Sound cue response
  • Brain fitness
Features
Read full description

Listen is an auditory training game produced by the University of California Riverside (UCR) Brain Game Center for Mental Fitness and Well-being; A research unit focused on brain fitness methods and applications. Listen integrates principles of perceptual learning and auditory neuroscience in a reward-based game framework that reinforces program adherence and maintains training efficacy. In the game experience, players find themselves in control of a wisp that must navigate through perilous obstacles by responding appropriately to specific sound cues in order to absorb energy from objects in the environment. The sound cues are based upon language primitives and sound features that selectively drive neurons in the auditory cortex of the brain. While at first the sounds are easy to discriminate, the game’s adaptive algorithms measure each players’ ability to discern the sounds and trains players at their individual threshold of performance. Give it a listen and train your hearing.

About

Osmo World

This app serves as a central hub for a collection of educational games designed to foster creativity, problem-solving, and social interaction in children. It allows users to launch into various Osmo games and collect virtual rewards.

Highlights
  • Launch Osmo games
  • Explore game library
  • Win collectible stickers
  • Hands-on learning
  • Promotes creativity
  • Encourages problem-solving
  • Fosters social interaction
Read full description

This is the home for Osmo! Launch into Osmo to explore all your favorite Osmo games, and win collectible stickers along the way. Osmo is connecting over 1 million kids around the world to a new healthy, hands-on learning experience that promotes creativity, problem-solving, and social interaction. Find out more at www.playosmo.com

Screenshots

Listen4 screens
Osmo World4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Osmo World at 3.9 against Listen's 3.1. Osmo World also leads on ratings volume (1.4K vs 12). Listen's advantage is monetization model (free vs ad-supported) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Osmo World holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Osmo World has 1.4K ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 44% of Listen's written reviews are positive against 42% of Osmo World's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Listen ships an update every 6 weeks, Osmo World every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Listen versus Osmo World: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterListenOsmo World
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.1 (12 ratings)3.9 (1.4K ratings) — better
Positive reviews44.4% of reviews — better42.3% of reviews
Number of ratings121.4K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size129 MB347 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNortheastern University Information ServicesTangible Play

Customer experience

Listen

All ratings12 ratings
Positive58.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative41.7%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive44.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative55.6%

Osmo World

All ratings1,348 ratings
Positive69.7%
Neutral5.9%
Negative24.4%
Written reviews156 reviews
Positive42.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative49.4%

Bugs and requests

Listen

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Osmo World

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes or freezes
  • Camera recognition problems
  • Saved progress/data loss
  • Incompatibility with certain iPad models

Requested features

4 requests
  • More game content and updates
  • Improved account/progress syncing
  • Simplified setup and onboarding
  • Better support for newer hardware

In-app purchases

None

Listen

No in-app purchases

None

Osmo World

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Listen free?
Listen is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Osmo World free?
Osmo World is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Listen or Osmo World?
Osmo World is rated higher. Listen averages 3.1 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while Osmo World averages 3.9 from 1.4K ratings.
Do Listen or Osmo World have ads?
Neither Listen nor Osmo World shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Listen or Osmo World?
Listen ships an update every 6 weeks, and Osmo World every 2 months. Most recently, Listen was updated on November 1, 2026 and Osmo World on October 25, 2026.

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