Sandbox AR vs LaunchPad Discovery
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sandbox AR
Create, build, and explore immersive virtual worlds using augmented reality. This app allows users to scale creations to life-size and share them with others. It's designed to bring interactive technology into educational settings.
- Create, build, and explore in AR
- Life-size scale exploration
- Share creations via QR code
- Capture snapshots and videos
- Teacher audio descriptions (DE:X subscribers)
- Link to curated resources (DE:X subscribers)
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--- Multi award-winning augmented reality maker app --- - BETT Awards 2023 Best AR/VR ! - GESS Awards 2023 Best Digital XR / VR / AI Product - spaces4learning New Product Award 2022 ! -- What is Sandbox? -- Experience, build, and explore in AR with Discovery Education Sandbox. Designed as a companion to the award-winning Discovery Education Experience learning platform, bring immersive technology and content into the classroom. Choose from hundreds of models and create a virtual world to experience and share with fellow students and teachers. Use life size mode to scale up and walk inside your own creation! -- Features -- • Create, build and explore in augmented reality. • Explore creations in life-size scale! • Share your sandboxes with other users with a simple QR code. • Capture snapshots and videos of your sandbox. -- Enhanced features for DE:X subscribers -- As a Discovery Education Experience or Espresso subscriber, access additional features to add teacher audio descriptions to sandboxes and add links to your own curated resources on Experience or Espresso. Integrate with studio boards and access future additional model packs.
LaunchPad Discovery
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The LaunchPad App is an SEL tool created in conjunction with the Rewriting Futures Discovery Series. Our goal is to build deeper relationships with students and our communities.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sandbox AR at every 2 months against LaunchPad Discovery's every 36 months. LaunchPad Discovery's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Sandbox AR ships an update every 2 months, LaunchPad Discovery every 36 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sandbox AR | LaunchPad Discovery |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (16 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 16 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 36 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.6 GB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Discovery Education Inc. | Clear Design Group LLC |
In-app purchases
Sandbox AR
No in-app purchases
LaunchPad Discovery
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Sandbox AR free?
Is LaunchPad Discovery free?
Do Sandbox AR or LaunchPad Discovery have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sandbox AR or LaunchPad Discovery?
Other comparisons
