iCave vs PapiRiver
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iCave
Navigate a progressively shrinking cave, dodging obstacles to survive. Control your flight by touching and holding the screen to ascend, releasing to descend. Test your reflexes across three distinct difficulty levels.
- Endless cave navigation
- Touch and hold flight control
- Obstacle avoidance
- Three difficulty levels
- High score tracking
Read full descriptionHide full description
Fly through an ever decreasing cave avoiding the obsticles in your way. How long can you last? To fly, touch and hold the screen to fly up, release and gravity will take its hold. Three levels of difficulty.
PapiRiver
Navigate Mr. Papi down a winding river by tilting your device. Avoid hitting the riverbanks to prevent being pushed back. The closer you get to the bottom edge, the higher your score.
- Tilt controls
- River navigation
- Score multiplier
- Avoid obstacles
- Endless runner style
Read full descriptionHide full description
PapiRiver is a scroll action game. Mr.Papi (red ball guy) is going down a river. Tilt your iPhone to left and right to lead him along the river! If he hits the bank of the river, he is pushed back. The game ends if he goes out of the upper edge of the screen. Note that you can get more score when he gets closer to the bottom edge of the screen.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: PapiRiver at every 6 months against iCave's every 64 months. PapiRiver also leads on ratings volume (15 vs 3). iCave's advantage is review sentiment (79% vs 56%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
iCave holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PapiRiver has 15 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of iCave's written reviews are positive against 56% of PapiRiver's.
iCave ships an update every 64 months, PapiRiver every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iCave | PapiRiver |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.8 (15 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.8% of reviews — better | 55.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 15 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 64 months | Every 6 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 71 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andy Qua | Yohei Iwasaki |
Customer experience
iCave
PapiRiver
Bugs and requests
iCave
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
PapiRiver
Reported bugs
3 issues- Frequent crashes and freezes
- Compatibility issues with newer devices
- Inconsistent performance and responsiveness
Requested features
4 requests- More game modes and levels
- Ability to save and track high scores
- Customization options for the character and environment
- Integration with social features and leaderboards
In-app purchases
iCave
No in-app purchases
PapiRiver
No in-app purchases
