Comparison

Backbone vs builds.gg

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

Head to head
About

Backbone

Transform your iPhone or iPad into a powerful gaming console. Play a wide range of games and services, record and share epic gameplay moments, and connect with friends for seamless multiplayer experiences. Discover and launch your favorite controller-supported games from a single app.

Highlights
  • Play any game or service supporting controllers
  • Record, edit, and share gameplay clips
  • Automatic highlight detection
  • Friend notifications and in-app voice chat
  • Centralized game launcher
Features
Read full description

Backbone turns your iPhone and iPad Mini into the ultimate gaming device. ■ Play any game or service that supports game controllers. The Backbone One controller works with services like PS Remote Play, Xbox Game Pass (xCloud), Apple Arcade, Xbox Remote Play, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna. It also works with games like Call of Duty: Mobile, Minecraft and Genshin Impact. Press the Backbone Button to bring up the app and launch into your favorite games that support controllers from one place. ■ Record, edit, and share epic gaming clips Backbone One has a built-in Capture button that allows you to easily screen record or screenshot gameplay and share directly to social platforms like Instagram Stories and iMessage, all directly from your mobile device. ■ Never miss a moment Hold the Capture Button to bookmark a moment when recording. Forgot to bookmark? Once a video is captured, Backbone’s app helps you identify your most action-packed moments automatically, allowing you to show off your best moments and highlights with ease. ■ Party with your friends With Backbone’s Rich Presence feature, you can get push notifications when your friends start playing games on Backbone, making it easy to join the action in real-time. Once you see a friend online, you can link up for voice chat inside the app and move from game to game, seamlessly. To learn more, download the app or visit https://backbone.com/ A Backbone+ subscription is required for some features within the app. Any feedback? Use the in-app feedback tool, ping us at support@playbackbone.com or tweet us @backbone Terms of Use: https://backbone.com/terms/

About

builds.gg

Connect with a global community of PC enthusiasts to showcase your custom builds, create detailed build logs, and find inspiration. Discover new ideas by searching for specific hardware or themes, and participate in contests for prizes.

Highlights
  • Showcase PC builds
  • Create build logs
  • Extensive hardware database
  • Advanced search for inspiration
  • Follow favorite builds and builders
  • Contests and prizes
Features
Read full description

Builds.gg is an online community for PC builders from across the globe. Created by some of the world's most prolific PC builders, builds.gg connects people with a common passion for everything PC and PC technology related. Our website is tailor-made for the PC builder. Focused on the community aspect of PC building, builds.gg is the place for enthusiasts to show off their PC builds with an audience of like-minded builders. Users can easy upload pictures of their builds, as well as create build logs to show users how they put their builds together. Our extensive hardware database also makes quick work of entering the hardware used in each build. For builders looking for inspiration, builds.gg can help with our advanced search functionality. Search for builds containing specific hardware parts, or look for builds that follow a particular theme or color scheme. Users can follow their favorite builds and builders, and receive notifications when new updates are made. With builds.gg, PC builders have a central hub on the Internet to find new ideas for upcoming builds. To give back the community, builds.gg works with industry leaders to offer contests and prizes for builders to enter. Take part in monthly competitions by entering your builds, and even win prizes just for voting on your favorite builds. With builds.gg, we strive to grow this vibrant community, and foster even more interest in the world of PC building.

Screenshots

Backbone4 screens
builds.gg4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Backbone at 4.8 against builds.gg's 3.2. Backbone also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (102K vs 5). builds.gg's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 16) and review sentiment (67% vs 51%). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Backbone sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. builds.gg asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Backbone holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Backbone has 102K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 51% of Backbone's written reviews are positive against 67% of builds.gg's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Backbone ships an update every 3 weeks, builds.gg every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Backbone versus builds.gg: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBackbonebuilds.gg
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (102K ratings) — better3.2 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews51.1% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings102K — better5
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#60 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size422 MB16 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperBackbone Labs, Inc. (US)Trekade Media Limited

Customer experience

Backbone

All ratings101,995 ratings
Positive95.4%
Neutral1.8%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews932 reviews
Positive51.1%
Neutral8.6%
Negative40.3%

builds.gg

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

Backbone

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Random disconnections during gameplay
  • App crashes and freezes
  • Issues with controller button mapping
  • Incompatibility with certain games

Requested features

4 requests
  • Allow use without subscription
  • Add more customization options
  • Improve compatibility with various phone models
  • Integrate with more cloud gaming services

builds.gg

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

14 purchases

Backbone

Subscriptions14
  • Backbone+7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Backbone+$3.991 Month
  • Backbone+$7.991 Month
Show 11 more
  • Backbone+1 Month trial2 variants$29.991 Year
  • Backbone+1 Year trial$29.991 Year
  • Backbone+1 Year trial2 variants$39.991 Year
  • Backbone+1 Month trial$39.991 Year
  • Backbone+3 Months trial$39.991 Year
  • Backbone+7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Backbone+14 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Backbone+3 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Backbone+ 41 Year trial$39.991 Year
  • Backbone+14 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Backbone+7 Days trial$49.991 Year
None

builds.gg

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Backbone free?
Backbone is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is builds.gg free?
builds.gg is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Backbone or builds.gg?
Backbone is rated higher. Backbone averages 4.8 out of 5 from 102K ratings, while builds.gg averages 3.2 from 5 ratings.
Do Backbone or builds.gg have ads?
Neither Backbone nor builds.gg shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Backbone or builds.gg?
Backbone ships an update every 3 weeks, and builds.gg every 5 months. Most recently, Backbone was updated on October 24, 2026 and builds.gg on October 16, 2026.

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