Comparison

Merge Matters vs Design Diary

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

Head to head
About

Merge Matters

Embark on a home restoration journey to uncover clues about a husband's mysterious disappearance. Clean, reorganize, and fix broken items in a villa and garden, while merging objects to create useful tools. Decorate and renovate to help a family reunite.

Highlights
  • Uncover shocking revelations
  • Drag and merge objects
  • Mansion and garden redecor
  • Home renovation gameplay
  • Interior design challenges
  • Story-driven progression
Features
Read full description

The story of Emily from Merge Matters is a mysterious one. Emily, her husband Oscar, and their 6-months old son Oliver were enjoying family life, until something weird happened. The couple received a letter with no return address, which was followed by Oscar’s disappearance. Now, Emily and her son are all alone in her villa. To find clues about her husband’s disappearance, she has to carry out home restoration and fix everything that’s broken. They just moved in recently, so there is a lot to repair! In an effort to help Emily find her husband, you have to clean up the building, reorganize it, and fix broken things, from faucets and electricity to furniture. Throughout the game, you will meet Emily’s parents, bankers, and detectives. New evidence regarding Oscar’s disappearance will unravel as the game progresses. Restore the house and find new evidence to help Emily reconnect with her husband. Merge Matters is a great new addition to merge games! Explore Emily’s property while finding her husband and playing home design games. Features: UNCOVER – Find shocking revelations about Oscar’s disappearance and mysterious objects in the house. There is always new evidence to discover and more rooms to organize. Use magic of merge and participate in games to help Emily flip her frown upside down! DRAG & MERGE – Objects that seem useless now may come in handy later. Collect objects and turn them into useful tools by merging them. Use these objects to repair the house. MANSION AND GARDEN REDECOR – Oscar and Emily just bought their dream home in their town. It’s a perfect match for them! Well, almost. With Oscar gone, the cleaning and decorating falls on Emily. Show off your exquisite taste and help the heroine decorate her new house. Make sure the furniture is matching, or go crazy and combine different styles. Give the mansion a complete makeover in our home renovation game and discover Emily’s sweet garden! KICK BACK AND PLAY – Enjoy the game and all the entertainment it comes with, but prepare for some twists and turns ahead in Merge Matters! LEARN HOW TO PLAY IN MINUTES – You don’t need a manual; just download the app and get to playing! The gameplay is straight-forward and self-explanatory, you have our word. PLAY FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT – Take a break from school or work and to relax and play Merge Matters for 5 minutes. If you have a free afternoon, enjoy hours of gameplay with no breaks! It is up to you how much time you can dedicate. Emily is just embarking on her journey of home renovation when tragedy strikes and she has to find her missing husband. Help Emily on her quest and enjoy hours of decorating games in the redecor game Merge Matters. It will never cease to surprise you! Renovate Emily's mansion so that one day she could say "My home is amazing!" Make all your interior design dreams come true with Merge Matters’ renovation games. Decorate Emily’s home, give it a makeover, help her fix broken objects with the magic of merge and find Oscar!

About

Design Diary

Design beautiful homes and solve engaging match-3 puzzles in this free offline game. Help characters renovate various spaces, from courtyards to coffee bars, unlocking new areas and furniture as you progress through hundreds of addictive levels.

Highlights
  • Creative home design
  • Fascinating storylines
  • Hundreds of match-3 puzzles
  • Multiple houses and areas to decorate
  • Unlockable 3D furniture
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

Friendship? Design? Puzzles? Find all you want in Design Diary! Design a home while solving match-3 puzzles with this new free puzzle game! Help Claire and Alice renovate all kinds of houses to make them top house designers! Swipe colors, beat fun matching levels, unlock fantastic episodes, exploring and decorating more hidden areas along the way! Various home decorating challenges await! From a quiet courtyard to a beautiful terrace, a neat living room to a cozy bedroom, and even a romantic wedding to an elegant coffee bar. What are you waiting for? Come and start the makeover for free! FEATURES Creative Home Design Gameplay: • Simply tap to decorate houses at your fingertips! • Renovate, decorate and customize everything in your favorite style! Fascinating Storylines & Characters: • Live an absorbing story while decorating the home! • Meet and interact with dozens of fantastic characters! Tons of Match-3 Puzzles: • A unique and fun match-3 game for both masters and new players! • Get ready to challenge hundreds of addictive matching levels - fun never ends! Multiple Houses & Areas: • Explore and decorate new areas, including the coffee bar, courtyard, terrace, and more! • Complete each room's design to win loads of free coins and boosters! And What's More: • Incredible boosters and powerful combos! • Thousands of 3D furniture are waiting for you to unlock! • 100% free and no wifi needed! Play without internet anytime and anywhere! Design Diary is a free offline game, combining home decor, renovation, house design and classic matching puzzles. Any questions? Contact us at designdiary@bigcool.com. We value your feedback! Ready to decorate and renovate a home? Download now and show us your house designer talents!

Screenshots

Merge Matters4 screens
Design Diary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Merge Matters at 39K against Design Diary's 431. Design Diary's advantage is review sentiment (69% vs 49%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Merge Matters sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Design Diary sells 26 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Design Diary holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Merge Matters has 39K ratings behind it against 431, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of Merge Matters's written reviews are positive against 69% of Design Diary's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Merge Matters ships an update every 2 weeks, Design Diary every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Merge Matters versus Design Diary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMerge MattersDesign Diary
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (39K ratings)4.8 (431 ratings) — better
Positive reviews49.0% of reviews69.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings39K — better431
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.012.0
Further details — not scored
Size210 MB275 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGreenPixel LtdHangzhou Mengku Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Merge Matters

All ratings38,514 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral8.1%
Negative2.4%
Written reviews917 reviews
Positive49.0%
Neutral17.6%
Negative33.5%

Design Diary

All ratings431 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.8%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive69.2%
Neutral11.5%
Negative19.2%

User reviews

Merge Matters

From 39K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Enjoyable gameplay
  • 🚀 Smooth performance
  • 💡 Unique merge mechanics
  • 🎨 Beautiful graphics

Room to improve

  • ⏱️ Slow energy recharge
  • 🔍 Unclear progression
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases
  • 🔁 Repetitive tasks
  • 🤯 Overwhelming item variety

Design Diary

From 431 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Stunning graphics and beautiful visual design
  • 😊 Relaxing and enjoyable gameplay experience
  • 🏠 Fun house/room decoration mechanics
  • ⭐ Levels are not overly difficult early on
  • 💰 Optional spending - progression possible without paying

Room to improve

  • 📺 Excessive forced ads after every level
  • 😤 Ads are extremely long (100+ seconds) and intrusive
  • 📈 Difficulty spike dramatically increases after level 100-170
  • 💸 Becomes pay-to-win at higher levels
  • 🎨 Decorative items are too childish/pre-teen oriented

Bugs and requests

Merge Matters

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes after watching ads
  • Disappearing progress
  • Inconsistent item drops

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to disable ads
  • Faster energy recharge
  • More intuitive progression system
  • Ability to reset progress

Design Diary

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Game progress lost on device change or glitches
  • Levels become impossible to complete without paid boosters
  • Accessibility issues for players with special needs

Requested features

7 requests
  • Game progress save/cloud backup system
  • More mature decoration styles for adult players
  • Continued expansion of merge game storyline
  • More frequent content updates and new features
  • Better explanation of in-game currency usage
Show 2 more
  • Optional ads instead of forced ads
  • Additional bonus rewards at higher difficulty levels

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Merge Matters

One-time10
  • Personal Offer 1$0.99
  • Fistful of gems$1.99
  • Fistful of gems with discount$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Personal Offer 3$2.99
  • Stack of gems$4.99
  • Personal Offer 4$4.99
  • New Year Ticket$4.99
  • Personal Offer 6$7.99
  • Pile of gems$9.99
  • Large pile of gems$19.99
26 purchases

Design Diary

One-time26
  • 1000 Coins$0.99
  • Special Offer$0.99
  • Christmas Sale$1.99
Show 23 more
  • Flash Sale$1.99
  • Mysterious Gift$1.99
  • Starter Pack$1.99
  • 2 Hours Unlimited Lives$1.99
  • Piggy Bank$2.99
  • 5000 Coins$3.99
  • Mysterious Gift$3.99
  • Special Offer$4.99
  • Flash Sale$4.99
  • Pro Pack$4.99
  • Piggy Bank$5.99
  • Mysterious Gift$6.99
  • Piggy Bank$7.99
  • Harvest Sale$7.99
  • Mega Pack$9.99
  • Piggy Bank$9.99
  • Mysterious Gift$12.99
  • Energy Pack$12.99
  • Special Offer$15.99
  • Super Pack$19.99
  • Mysterious Gift$29.99
  • Master Pack$39.99
  • Legendary Pack$79.99

Questions

Is Merge Matters free?
Merge Matters is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Design Diary free?
Design Diary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Merge Matters or Design Diary?
Design Diary is rated higher. Merge Matters averages 4.6 out of 5 from 39K ratings, while Design Diary averages 4.8 from 431 ratings.
Do Merge Matters or Design Diary have ads?
Both Merge Matters and Design Diary show ads.
Which is updated more often, Merge Matters or Design Diary?
Merge Matters ships an update every 2 weeks, and Design Diary every 3 weeks. Most recently, Merge Matters was updated on September 23, 2026 and Design Diary on September 19, 2026.

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