Sandbox AR vs 3D
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.
3D
Transform real-world objects into virtual 3D models for educational purposes. Capture artwork, artifacts, and everyday items to view in augmented reality or share digitally with others.
- Scan real-world objects into 3D models
- Create virtual replicas
- View scans in augmented reality
- Share 3D creations
- Integrates with Merge EDU
- Add labels and descriptions
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With Scanner, you can turn real-world objects into virtual 3D creations. Whether it’s an art project, a fossil, a historic artifact from your community, or a cherished family heirloom, scanning these objects lets you preserve and explore them in a whole new way. See your scans come to life by editing them in Object Builder. Study every detail, share them with others, or even hold on a Merge Cube. Every scan becomes a digital keepsake, ready to explore, learn from, or use as inspiration for your next creation.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sandbox AR at every 2 months against 3D's every 5 months. Sandbox AR also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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.
3D holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 9 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Sandbox AR ships an update every 2 months, 3D every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on July 28, 2026 and August 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sandbox AR | 3D |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (11 ratings) | 4.9 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.6 GB | 594 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Discovery Education Inc. | Merge Apps |
Customer experience
Sandbox AR
3D
In-app purchases
Sandbox AR
No in-app purchases
3D
No in-app purchases








