Bird Alone vs Mellow Mine Sweeping
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bird Alone
Nurture a lonely bird through daily conversations, creative activities, and life's big questions. This award-winning app offers a unique companion experience, exploring themes of friendship, growth, and existence.
- Daily conversations and questions
- Creative expression (drawing, poetry, music)
- Nurture a virtual bird companion
- Explore themes of life and existence
- Unlock new content daily
- Experience changing seasons and time
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◆ Apple Design Award Winner 2021 ◆ Become best friends with the loneliest bird in the world. A journey of growth and loss with a best friend. Talk about life, make music, draw pictures and write poetry. Start each day answering your new friend's questions about life, death and the meaning of existence. Guide the bird through daily life as it confronts the same worries as the rest of us. ◆ What's your favourite colour? ◆ Where are all my friends? ◆ Do you ever think about death? What will your best friend ask you today? ◆ Draw a picture for the Art Gallery ◆ Write a poem together for the Book of Poetry ◆ Unlock today's plant for the Musical Garden ◆ Rub its belly Watch each day turn to night Ponder the changing seasons Face the heaviness of growing old with a best friend. Maybe this bird won't be so lonely after all. * Minimum required device: iPhone 6S or similar * Content warning: Bird Alone contains themes and discussion of death. User discretion is advised for those sensitive to this topic.
Mellow Mine Sweeping
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Some people need a small distraction to stay focused. Not a full game, not social media. Just something to half-play while the TV's on or a podcast is going. That's what this is. Mellow Mine Sweeping is minesweeper. One board, one mode, no levels to unlock, no streaks to maintain. You play, you win or you hit a mine, you start again. That's the whole loop. This app is completely free. No ads, no tracking, no subscription. If you want to chip in, there's a tip option in the menu. It covers the App Store fee first, and anything extra goes to my brother, who made the icons. How it works: Classic minesweeper rules. 10 columns wide. The row count adjusts to your screen so the grid always fills the space exactly. No scrolling. No zooming. Your first tap is always safe. Mines are placed after you tap, avoiding your first cell and its neighbours. No 50/50 guessing. Every board is generated to be solvable with logic all the way through. Tap a revealed number that has the right number of adjacent flags and it clears the remaining neighbours automatically. That's chord reveal, and it's the fastest way to move through a game once you're comfortable flagging. Winning: You win by revealing all the safe cells. Flagging mines is optional. Do it however you want. Scores: Your top 10 times are saved on your device. No account, no syncing, no leaderboard. After a top-10 finish you can add a note about where you were or what you were watching. That's it. Design: Warm, dark palette. Readable at minimum brightness. No sounds, no distracting animations. Custom pixel-art icons. The whole thing is designed to feel quiet.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mellow Mine Sweeping at none against Bird Alone's 3. Bird Alone's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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
Both are free to download. Bird Alone sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Mellow Mine Sweeping asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bird Alone ships an update every 3 weeks, Mellow Mine Sweeping every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bird Alone | Mellow Mine Sweeping |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (11K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 80.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 11K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 409 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | George Batchelor | Emma Sandberg |
Bugs and requests
Bird Alone
Reported bugs
2 issues- App crashes on older devices
- Issues with loading and navigation
Requested features
4 requests- Option to keep the bird alive permanently
- More customization options for the bird
- Expanded daily activities and interactions
- Ability to restart or continue after the bird's passing
Mellow Mine Sweeping
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bird Alone
- Cup of Coffee$2.99
- Bird Alone full version$2.99
- New Socks$8.99
Mellow Mine Sweeping
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Bird Alone free?
Is Mellow Mine Sweeping free?
Do Bird Alone or Mellow Mine Sweeping have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bird Alone or Mellow Mine Sweeping?
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