Comparison

Pipes vs Shift Light Puzzle

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

Head to head
About

Pipes

Connect pipe segments by rotating them to form a continuous flow. This addictive puzzle game offers a variety of board sizes and challenging options. Features like piece locking and auto-save enhance the gameplay experience.

Highlights
  • Randomly generated puzzles
  • Multiple board sizes
  • Wraparound option
  • Piece locking feature
  • Auto save and resume
  • Online leaderboard
Read full description

Rotate the pipe segments to connect all the pieces. Easy to learn and very addictive. Features: - Randomly generated puzzles - never the same game twice - Multiple board sizes ranging from "Training Wheels" (4x4) to "Mega Insane" (56x70) * - Introductory tutorial - Wraparound option (also known as "without walls" or "endless") * - "One color" option - when enabled, all pipes are blue, making it harder to tell which ones are connected * - Piece locking feature to help with large boards - Zoom and scroll using familiar pinch and drag gestures - Auto save and resume - never lose your place, even if someone calls in the middle of your game - Timer (can be disabled if you want a more relaxing game) - Online leaderboard - compare your best times to other players around the world * - Offline "personal best times" - try to beat your best times - Introductory tutorial - Piece locking feature to help with large boards - Every puzzle can be solved - Wraparound option (also known as "without walls" or "endless") - "One color" option - when enabled, all pipes are blue, making it harder to tell which ones are connected - Online leaderboard - compare your best times to other players around the world * Requires in-app purchase, or previous app purchase from 1.0 or 2.0 versions

About

Shift Light Puzzle

Rotate tiles to connect power, connectors, and bulbs and make them glow. This puzzle game offers thousands of levels with increasing complexity, including color mixing and wrapping mechanics. Enjoy a relaxing yet challenging experience with a visually appealing interface and sound effects.

Highlights
  • Rotate tiles to connect circuits
  • Light up all bulbs to win
  • 3,500+ challenging levels
  • Color mixing and wrapping modes
  • Multiple board sizes
  • Detailed stats tracking
Read full description

The objective of Shift is to light the bulbs by shifting tiles on the game board. Simply tap the power, connector and bulb tiles to complete a link. The level is won when all bulbs are glowing! Blending colors, larger boards and mix & wrap play guarantee exciting and challenging game play. Game Content - 3,500 levels (more on the way) - 10 board sizes ranging from 5x5 to 14x14 - Detailed stats tracking Challenge Modes - Regular: play single colors - Mix: mix colors to form new ones - Wrap: play colors from one side of the board to the opposite side Design - Vibrant yet intuitive colors - Simple and visual appealing user interface - Fun bubbly sound effects - Play at your own pace This sponsored app is available free on the App Store. For support and answers to frequently asked questions, head over to http://www.shiftlightpuzzle.com/support.html. Shift Light Puzzle is built in the USA by the team at Solebon LLC (http://www.solebon.com).

Screenshots

Pipes3 screens
Shift Light Puzzle4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Pipes at none against Shift Light Puzzle's shown. Pipes also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 months) and review sentiment (90% vs 76%). Shift Light Puzzle's advantage is ratings volume (793 vs 155) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pipes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Shift Light Puzzle sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Pipes against 4.7 for Shift Light Puzzle. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shift Light Puzzle has 793 ratings behind it against 155, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of Pipes's written reviews are positive against 76% of Shift Light Puzzle's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pipes ships an update every 3 weeks, Shift Light Puzzle every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pipes versus Shift Light Puzzle: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPipesShift Light Puzzle
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (155 ratings) — better4.7 (793 ratings)
Positive reviews90.2% of reviews — better76.5% of reviews
Number of ratings155793 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB59 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperMichael KerleySolebon LLC

Customer experience

Pipes

All ratings155 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral1.9%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews102 reviews
Positive90.2%
Neutral4.9%
Negative4.9%

Shift Light Puzzle

All ratings793 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral3.8%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral14.7%
Negative8.8%

User reviews

Pipes

From 155 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and addictive gameplay
  • 👍 No ads, pure gameplay
  • 👍 Good for passing time
  • 👍 Offline functionality
  • 👍 Low battery usage

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Not very responsive
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes
  • 🐛 Game freezes on larger phones
  • 🐛 Screen sensitivity issues on larger phones
  • 🐛 Rotating animation is annoying

Shift Light Puzzle

From 793 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Engaging and challenging
  • 💡 Innovative puzzle game
  • 🚀 Fun and addictive
  • 👍 Enjoyable and gentle
  • 👍 Simple and intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and compatibility issues
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 👎 Difficulty progression issues
  • 👎 Lack of audio options

Bugs and requests

Pipes

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Not very responsive
  • Game crashes to Home Screen with recent updates
  • Newest version fails to complete correctly
  • No longer comes up with the “complete ok” prompt
  • No longer has the “new game prompt immediately available to start a new game with the same parameters as the last one
Show 4 more
  • Rotating animation is annoying and slows gameplay
  • Game won't launch anymore with latest iOS update
  • Game freezes on the outside tiles on bigger phones
  • Screen is too sensitive on larger phones, turning one tile accidentally turns more

Requested features

10 requests
  • Add more levels for gameplay
  • Ability to change pipe color
  • Remove timer option
  • HD version
  • Support for Retina display
Show 5 more
  • Support for extra screen size of iPhone 5 and iPad
  • Option to change color from blue
  • Counter for remaining leaks
  • Different way of seeing leaks
  • Update with super insane levels

Shift Light Puzzle

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashing on certain devices
  • Inability to save progress

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to specify difficulty level
  • Sync progress across devices
  • Hints or solutions for advanced levels
  • Customizable background music/sounds

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pipes

One-time1
  • Unlock Full Game$0.99
1 purchases

Shift Light Puzzle

One-time1
  • PREMIUM UPGRADE$4.99

Questions

Is Pipes free?
Pipes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shift Light Puzzle free?
Shift Light Puzzle is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pipes or Shift Light Puzzle?
Pipes is rated higher. Pipes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 155 ratings, while Shift Light Puzzle averages 4.7 from 793 ratings.
Do Pipes or Shift Light Puzzle have ads?
Shift Light Puzzle shows ads; Pipes does not.
Which is updated more often, Pipes or Shift Light Puzzle?
Pipes ships an update every 3 weeks, and Shift Light Puzzle every 6 months. Most recently, Pipes was updated on October 15, 2026 and Shift Light Puzzle on October 16, 2026.

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