BuyNothing vs Waterfall AR
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BuyNothing
Connect with your local community to give, receive, share, lend, and borrow items. This app fosters a gift economy, building connections through sharing, inspired by the BuyNothing® Project.
- Give and receive items locally
- Lend and borrow goods
- Hyper-local community sharing
- Gift economy model
- Build community connections
- Express gratitude
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We offer people a way to give, receive, share, lend, borrow and express gratitude through a hyper-local gift economy model in which people can share wherever they are and true wealth is measured by the web of connections formed between people through sharing. From the founders of the BuyNothing® Project. Terms of Use: https://buynothingproject.org/terms
Waterfall AR
Create and place 3D art in the real world for others to discover and experience. Explore creations nearby or randomly from users worldwide. Leave your unique mark on the physical environment.
- Create 3D art attached to the physical world
- Discover nearby AR creations
- Explore random AR drops globally
- Leave your mark with unique creations
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Waterfall AR provides a way to create in 3D and attach it to the physical world for everyone to experience. Take advantage of features like: - "Shuffle" allows you to see random drops created by other users, no matter where they were created - "Discover" allows you to find a drop in the world close to you (within 5km) and walk toward it - "Create" allows you to create your own drops in the world for others to see
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Waterfall AR at 100% against BuyNothing's 27%. Waterfall AR also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and in-app purchases (none vs 8). BuyNothing's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (2.1K vs 8). 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
Both are free to download. BuyNothing sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Waterfall AR asks for nothing beyond the download.
Waterfall AR holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BuyNothing has 2.1K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 27% of BuyNothing's written reviews are positive against 100% of Waterfall AR's.
BuyNothing ships an update every 2 weeks, Waterfall AR every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BuyNothing | Waterfall AR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (2.1K ratings) | 5.0 (8 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 26.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.1K — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #181 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 76 MB | 373 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Buy Nothing Project, Inc. | Untethered IO, Inc. |
Customer experience
BuyNothing
Waterfall AR
Bugs and requests
BuyNothing
Reported bugs
5 issues- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Login issues and inability to reset passwords
- Inconsistent location settings and radius
- Unreliable notifications and messaging
- Inability to edit or update posts
Requested features
5 requests- Search function to find specific posts
- Ability to edit and update posts
- Improved organization and sorting of posts
- Syncing across multiple devices
- More robust moderation and community tools
Waterfall AR
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
BuyNothing
- Buy Nothing Subscription$3.991 Month
- Buy Nothing Pro$3.991 Month
- Sustaining Member$5.491 Month
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- Sustaining Member$6.991 Month
- Buy Nothing Pro$38.491 Year
- Buy Nothing Subscription$38.491 Year
- Sustaining Member$54.991 Year
- Sustaining Member$69.991 Year
Waterfall AR
No in-app purchases
