Comparison

Pebble Climbing vs Retro Flash

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

Head to head
About

Pebble Climbing

This app gamifies your climbing experience by providing personalized grade pyramids to help you improve. Track your progress, discover new climbs, and connect with friends. It also offers workout plans and session tracking for gyms and outdoor adventures.

Highlights
  • Gamified grade pyramids for improvement
  • Friend activity feed
  • Outdoor guidebook with user-added climbs
  • Gym session tracking
  • User-created workout and circuit plans
  • Personalized climb recommendations
  • Climbing progress analysis charts
Features
Read full description

Gamify your climbing with Pebble! Pebble helps you improve your climbing by giving you a grade pyramid to complete each week. Finish the pyramid and move up a level. If you don't, you'll get 2 more tries before you drop back down a level. Each level is tailored to your abilities and helps direct you to climbs that are appropriate for you. In addition to the gamification, Pebble offers these other features: • Follow your friends in the FEED to see their sends and media or your gym to see when a new area has been reset or if any events are happening soon. • Find climbs for your next trip in the OUTDOOR GUIDEBOOK or give back by adding climbs that you've sent to the guidebook through the app in a wiki-style. • Track your nightly sessions at the local CLIMBING GYM if they've joined Pebble or even if they haven't. • Find climbing-specific WORKOUTS & CIRCUITS that other users have created to do specifically at your gym, your local crag, or at home. • Get RECOMMENDATIONS based on your current climbing ability and what climbs you need to send to reach the next grade. • ANALYZE your climbing and training using our charts to see your progress and plan your next sessions. • SCHEDULE workouts and sessions and track your successful completion automatically.

About

Retro Flash

This app helps climbers maximize their spray wall training with unique tools for setting various problems and supports multiple grading systems. It fosters a community for climbers to share and improve their training.

Highlights
  • Spray wall problem setting
  • Supports symmetrical, partly symmetrical, adjustable, and private walls
  • Circuit and competition boulder creation
  • Fontainebleau, Dankyu, and Hueco grading systems
  • Customizable grading systems
  • Wall upgrades for new possibilities
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Retro Flash and the Arcade Bouldering Community! Retro Flash is the Ultimate Spray Wall App, designed with every member of the climbing community in mind! We have created a lot of unique tools to ensure that everyone has everything they need to get the most out of their spray walls! For example, we support symmetrical, partly symmetrical, adjustable and private walls! Set all kinds of problems on your wall, like circuits or even competition boulders! With our wall upgrades, we upgrade your walls to the next level, opening up a lot of new possibilities! Now, you can even upgrade your walls by yourself!! Retro Flash supports the Fontainebleau, Dankyu and Hueco grading systems. You can also define your own grading systems or even deactivate grading! Download Retro Flash now and become a part of our growing community!

Screenshots

Pebble Climbing4 screens
Retro Flash4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Retro Flash at 84% against Pebble Climbing's 47%. Retro Flash also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.3) and ratings volume (226 vs 55). Pebble Climbing's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Retro Flash sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Pebble Climbing asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Retro Flash holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 55 and 226 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of Pebble Climbing's written reviews are positive against 84% of Retro Flash's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pebble Climbing ships an update every 8 days, Retro Flash every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pebble Climbing versus Retro Flash: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPebble ClimbingRetro Flash
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (55 ratings)4.7 (226 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.7% of reviews84.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings55226 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.615.6
Further details — not scored
Size158 MB162 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPebble Climbing, LLCArcade Bouldering UG (haftungsbeschrnkt)

Customer experience

Pebble Climbing

All ratings55 ratings
Positive76.4%
Neutral10.9%
Negative12.7%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive46.7%
Neutral26.7%
Negative26.7%

Retro Flash

All ratings226 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral3.5%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive84.4%
Neutral6.3%
Negative9.4%

Bugs and requests

Pebble Climbing

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Retro Flash

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Cannot see sends anymore
  • All boulders set to unclimbed for all users
  • Statistics are gone
  • Won't let me reset wall
  • Won't let me delete walls
Show 3 more
  • Won't let me add a new wall on a new account
  • Camera button to add a photo doesn't do anything
  • Can't change the angle of the wall

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add a tick list of all climbs done
  • Show number and distribution of grades
  • Copy route feature for minor adjustments
  • Ability to edit names or grades of existing boulders

In-app purchases

None

Pebble Climbing

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Retro Flash

One-time8
  • Unlock Rules for Circles$4.99
  • Home Wall Year Pass$4.99
  • 1 Month Upgrade Pass$8.99
Show 5 more
  • Additional Wall$9.99
  • Gym Year Pass Tier 1$14.99
  • Add Gym$14.99
  • Gym Year Pass Tier 2$29.99
  • 6 Months Upgrade Pass$44.99

Questions

Is Pebble Climbing free?
Pebble Climbing is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Retro Flash free?
Retro Flash is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pebble Climbing or Retro Flash?
Retro Flash is rated higher. Pebble Climbing averages 4.3 out of 5 from 55 ratings, while Retro Flash averages 4.7 from 226 ratings.
Do Pebble Climbing or Retro Flash have ads?
Neither Pebble Climbing nor Retro Flash shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pebble Climbing or Retro Flash?
Pebble Climbing ships an update every 8 days, and Retro Flash every 3 weeks. Most recently, Pebble Climbing was updated on September 17, 2026 and Retro Flash on September 23, 2026.

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