Sandcastles... vs UTM Remote Virtual Machines
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sandcastles...
Build intricate sandcastles on a virtual beach. Enjoy a relaxing experience with realistic sea sounds and unlimited sand. Unlock additional castle styles through in-app purchases.
- Build sandcastles
- Unlimited sand
- Seaside sounds
- Additional castle styles
- Intuitive interface
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Conjure castles from the sand, watch the sea consume them. Features: • A simple, intuitive interface. • Unlimited sand. • Pleasant seaside sounds. A bundle of six additional styles of sandcastle is available as an In-App Purchase.
UTM Remote Virtual Machines
Access and control your virtual machines from your iOS device. Stream Windows, Ubuntu, and other operating systems running on your Mac remotely. This app requires UTM for Mac to function.
- Stream virtual machines remotely
- Supports Windows, Ubuntu, and more
- Control VMs from iOS device
- Requires UTM for Mac
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Run Windows®, Ubuntu®, and other operating systems remotely from your Mac running UTM UTM Remote allows you to stream your virtual machines from your Mac to your iOS device. Requires UTM for Mac to use.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: UTM Remote Virtual Machines at none against Sandcastles...'s 1. UTM Remote Virtual Machines also leads on rating (3.7 vs 3.3). Sandcastles...'s advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (253 vs 52). On price, review sentiment, ads and device support 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. Sandcastles... sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. UTM Remote Virtual Machines asks for nothing beyond the download.
UTM Remote Virtual Machines holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 253 and 52 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 45% of Sandcastles...'s written reviews are positive against 38% of UTM Remote Virtual Machines's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Sandcastles... ships an update every 5 days, UTM Remote Virtual Machines every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sandcastles... | UTM Remote Virtual Machines |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (253 ratings) | 3.7 (52 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 45.2% of reviews — better | 37.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 253 — better | 52 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 370 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vectorpark | Turing Software, LLC |
Customer experience
Sandcastles...
UTM Remote Virtual Machines
User reviews
Sandcastles...
From 253 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🌊 Relaxing and calming experience
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🎨 Beautiful visuals and animations
- 🧘♀️ Helps with mindfulness and meditation
Room to improve
- 🕰️ Waves come too quickly, not enough time to build
- 💰 Paid options for additional castle styles are overpriced
- 🤔 Unclear purpose or goal, lacks depth
- 🙄 Repetitive and boring for some users
UTM Remote Virtual Machines
From 52 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Solves JIT problem on Mac
- 👍 Nice for running OS on phone
- 👍 Works like a charm (with fiddling)
- 👍 Genial tool
- 👍 Great solution for remote VMs on iPad
Room to improve
- ❌ Doesn't work on Linux PCs
- ❌ Doesn't work on non-x86/x64 VMs
- ❌ App didn't work on opening
- ❌ Not detected my MacBook Air M2
- ❌ Confusing interface and crashes often
Bugs and requests
Sandcastles...
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional lag or performance issues
- Inconsistent wave behavior, sometimes gets stuck
Requested features
4 requests- Allow users to control the wave timing
- Introduce more variety in castle designs and building options
- Add gameplay elements like challenges or scoring
- Expand the app with new environments beyond just the beach
UTM Remote Virtual Machines
Reported bugs
5 issues- App didn't work on opening
- Connection error on startup
- Crashes often
- Network error
- Unable to create VMs on iPadOS 17.5
Requested features
6 requests- Add a Linux port as a flatpak
- Support for ARM-based VMs
- Trackpad/Mouse support
- Make UTM SE available on App Store
- iOS support for UTM
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- Better documentation
In-app purchases
Sandcastles...
- All Sandcastle Styles$1.99
UTM Remote Virtual Machines
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Sandcastles... free?
Is UTM Remote Virtual Machines free?
Which has better reviews, Sandcastles... or UTM Remote Virtual Machines?
Do Sandcastles... or UTM Remote Virtual Machines have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sandcastles... or UTM Remote Virtual Machines?
Other comparisons
