Comparison

Shift vs Strata

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

Head to head
About

Shift

A relaxing block puzzle game where you group blocks by color and adapt to shifting mechanics. Plan your moves to clear groups and earn points, with increasing speed and arrow effects adding challenge. Enjoy casual play or aim for high scores in multiple game modes.

Highlights
  • Block grouping by color
  • Shifting block mechanics
  • Increasing game speed
  • Arrow effect challenges
  • Original soundtrack
  • Unlockable achievements
Features
Read full description

Drop blocks. Shift colors. Speed up. This new block-based puzzle game challenges you to group blocks together, while planning ahead to shift and adapt your stack to upcoming blocks and arrows. Create a group of five or more blocks and the group will clear and you'll earn points. Arrows attached to blocks will cause nearby blocks to change. Adapt your strategy to the constantly changing arrow effects, and the increasing speed of the game. Enjoy casually playing Shift while zoning out and enjoying its original sounds and soundtrack, or try to get a new high score in regular play or time trial modes. With beautiful animations and a relaxing pace, this is the perfect game for a long plane ride or an afternoon on the couch. It's free to play, and has plenty of unlockable achievements. Check back for more updates in the future!

About

Strata

Features
Read full description

Minesweeper. Unboxed. The rules haven't changed. The grid has. Strata generates a new irregularly shaped board every time you play. No rectangles. No predictable patterns. Narrow corridors, isolated pockets, organic contours -- each puzzle is terrain you've never seen before. Same deduction. Same flags. Same satisfying cascade when you nail a zero-cell. But the geometry forces you to think again. BUILT FOR YOUR THUMBS Grids are deliberately small with large touch targets. No pinch-to-zoom. No panning. No squinting at tiny cells. The entire puzzle fits on one screen, playable one-handed. THREE DIFFICULTY TIERS Easy: Wide, forgiving shapes. 20-30 cells. Room to breathe. Medium: Corridors appear. Neighbor counts drop. 35-50 cells. Hard: Narrow bridges, peninsulas, 2-neighbor cells. 55-75 cells. Guessing happens. THE SHAPE IS THE GAME Irregular grids disrupt the patterns you've internalized from thousands of rectangular games. A cell with 3 neighbors instead of 8 changes everything. Peninsulas isolate information. Narrow bridges create chokepoints. The shape is the puzzle. WHAT YOU GET - Procedurally generated irregular grids - Classic minesweeper rules (tap to reveal, long-press to flag) - First-tap safety on every board - Per-difficulty stats: win rate, best time, streaks - Game state saves automatically - Haptic feedback tuned to each action - Dark mode by default WHAT YOU DON'T GET No tutorials. No hints. No ads. No accounts. No cloud. No in-app purchases. No internet required. Ever. A puzzle game for people who already know minesweeper.

Screenshots

Shift3 screens
Strata4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Strata at none against Shift's 1. Strata also leads on ads (none vs shown). Shift's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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. Shift sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Strata asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shift ships an update every 3 weeks, Strata every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Shift versus Strata: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShiftStrata
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (16 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings16 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTravis BogosianMatthew Kearney

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Shift

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$2.99
None

Strata

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Shift free?
Shift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Strata free?
Strata is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Shift or Strata have ads?
Shift shows ads; Strata does not.
Which is updated more often, Shift or Strata?
Shift ships an update every 3 weeks, and Strata every 4 months. Most recently, Shift was updated on October 2, 2026 and Strata on October 22, 2026.

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