Comparison

SandBox vs Grainfall

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

Head to head
About

SandBox

Explore a particle physics playground with full rotation and a wide variety of elements. Combine different substances to create fascinating interactions and discover new reactions. This app offers a relaxing and creative experience for users of all ages.

Highlights
  • Full rotation capabilities
  • Wide range of interactive elements
  • Create new reactions and elements
  • Realistic and satisfying particles
  • Thermal vision mode
Features
Read full description

Immerse yourself in the complete particle sandbox experience with full rotation capabilities. Explore a wide range of different elements and watch as they interact with each other to create fascinating results. Features: • Specialists understand that the sandbox is the perfect place to unleash your creativity. • Teachers recognize that the sandbox is an ideal tool for teaching about item reactions and how to create new elements. • Play sand with thermal vision, reminiscent of the popular game Garry's Mod (gmod). • This innovative and awesome concept is loads of fun with the sandbox, and I can't wait to upgrade! • The particles in the sandbox are very realistic, satisfying, and relaxing. Combine elements to create new reactions and even blow up floating sandbox or ragdoll sandbox 2 for even more excitement!

About

Grainfall

Experiment with a physics sandbox where materials interact realistically. Create complex reactions, record your creations as videos, and share them with friends. Enjoy a free simulation with optional pro features for more materials and customization.

Highlights
  • Realistic material interactions
  • Video recording and export
  • Offline play
  • Shareable worlds
  • Tilt gravity control
  • Multiple material types
Read full description

Grainfall is a falling sand toy. Pick a material, drag across the screen, and watch it react with whatever is already there. Sand piles up and slides back down. Dig a hole and water will find it. Oil floats on top of water, and oil burns. Plants drink from standing water and creep toward it. Fire spreads, leaves ash behind, and boils water into steam that drifts up, cools off, and comes back down as rain. There is no score and nothing to unlock by playing. What you get is twelve materials that all react to each other, and the fun is working out how. Build a glass tank and fill it with acid, since glass is the one thing acid cannot chew through. Pour lava into water and it sets into stone. Light one end of a gunpowder trail and follow it along. Hit record at any point and Grainfall turns what happened into a video, with sound built from the same events you just watched. Save a world and it keeps a picture of itself in your list. Send one to a friend as a small file and it opens straight into their copy. FREE • Sand, water, oil, plant, fire and wall • The full simulation, running at 60fps • Record and export video, with a small watermark in the corner • Your world saves itself and is waiting when you come back PRO - One time purchase • Six more materials: acid, glass, lava, ice, gunpowder, fireworks • Video export with the watermark gone • Save as many worlds as you want, name them, load them back • Send worlds to friends as .grain files • Four color themes • Tilt gravity, so leaning your phone pours everything sideways A FEW THINGS WORTH TRYING • Float oil on water and drop in a single flame • Fill a glass tank with acid • Pour lava into the sea and watch the steam come off it • Light a gunpowder trail at one end • Set off enough fireworks that the falling sparks catch your plants Every material makes its own sound. No account, no ads, nothing collected, and it all works offline.

Screenshots

SandBox4 screens
Grainfall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SandBox at none against Grainfall's 1. SandBox also leads on ratings volume (46K vs 1). Grainfall's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). On price, 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. Grainfall sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. SandBox asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Grainfall holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SandBox has 46K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
SandBox versus Grainfall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSandBoxGrainfall
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (46K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews36.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings46K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 months—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size219 MB23 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTINYSOFTJohn Haas

Bugs and requests

SandBox

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Level 50 is impossible to complete
  • Certain materials like rock have glitches
  • App crashes and freezes

Requested features

4 requests
  • More materials and elements
  • Ability to save and load creations
  • Larger sandbox area
  • More realistic physics and behaviors

Grainfall

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

SandBox

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Grainfall

One-time1
  • Grainfall Pro$0.99

Questions

Is SandBox free?
SandBox is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Grainfall free?
Grainfall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SandBox or Grainfall?
Grainfall is rated higher. SandBox averages 4.6 out of 5 from 46K ratings, while Grainfall averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do SandBox or Grainfall have ads?
SandBox shows ads; Grainfall does not.

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