# Elemental Box vs Life

The clearest difference is ads: Life at none against Elemental Box's shown. Life also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 72%) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). Elemental Box's advantage is ratings volume (65 vs 3) and rating (4.2 vs 4.0). On price and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Elemental Box holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Elemental Box has 65 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 72% of Elemental Box's written reviews are positive against 100% of Life's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Elemental Box ships an update every 4 months, Life every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Elemental Box | Life |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.2 (65 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/elemental-box/id1269914616/reviews)** | [4.0 (3 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/life-the-game/id1617641490/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **65** | 3 |
| Positive reviews | 72.1% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | **Every 2 months** |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | **Free** |
| Size | 4 MB | 2 MB |
| Requires iOS | **13.0** | 15.6 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [DAN-BALL](https://appshunter.io/developer/348592290) | [Jan P. Barnholt](https://appshunter.io/developer/470499844) |

## What reviewers say

### Elemental Box

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/elemental-box/id1269914616)

Engage in a sandbox game focused on realistic physical simulations. Experiment with various shapes and materials to observe their unique interactions and transformations. This app offers a creative space for exploration and discovery through physics.

**Highlights:** Physical simulation, Material interaction, Shape manipulation, Sandbox gameplay, Real-time physics

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


### Life

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/life-the-game/id1617641490)

Explore Conway's Game of Life, a cellular automaton where simple patterns evolve into complex structures or disappear. Discover over 90 included patterns, analyze their evolution with built-in statistics, and rewind to observe changes. Export your creations as images or RLE files.

**Highlights:** Conway's Game of Life simulation, Catalog of 90+ patterns, Cycle detection and statistics, Rewind feature for evolution, Image and RLE export, Pattern exploration and combination

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Elemental Box free?

Elemental Box is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Life free?

Life is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Elemental Box or Life?

Elemental Box is rated higher. Elemental Box averages 4.2 out of 5 from 65 ratings, while Life averages 4.0 from 3 ratings.

### Do Elemental Box or Life have ads?

Elemental Box shows ads; Life does not.

### Which is updated more often, Elemental Box or Life?

Elemental Box ships an update every 4 months, and Life every 2 months. Most recently, Elemental Box was updated on November 6, 2026 and Life on November 3, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*