Comparison

Tractor Beam vs Popcorn Hands

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

Head to head
About

Tractor Beam

Pilot a ship through an asteroid field using only a tractor beam. Slingshot your vessel and use the beam to manipulate asteroids, creating a unique and challenging arcade experience. Enjoy dynamic music or play your own.

Highlights
  • Tractor beam mechanics
  • Asteroid field navigation
  • Multi-touch gameplay
  • Procedurally generated music
  • Portrait and landscape modes
  • Three difficulty levels
Features
Read full description

Your engines are down. Use your tractor beams to move. "Some of the most fun we've had with $0.99 on the iPhone and we still can't put it down" - Slide To Play Tractor beam is a powerfully simple and addictive arcade game inspired by the classics. Unarmed and out of fuel, to survive you must slingshot your ship through an asteroid field using only your tractor beam. But the beam will also send the asteroids on a collision course with your ship, making for a unique challenge as you press onward to earn points. Tractor Beam can be played in either portrait or landscape orientation, and multi-touch gameplay allows for more than one beam and complex strategies. The procedurally generated background music is never the same twice, or choose to listen to your own music from within the iPod application. - Classic arcade look and feel - Multi-touch gameplay - Three levels of difficulty - Dynamic music is created on-the-fly - Allows for music from other applications

About

Popcorn Hands

Engage in a unique popcorn-themed action and shooting minigame. Tap to launch kernels, heat them up, and flick finished popcorn into cups. Aim for high scores and collect 16 rank titles to become a popcorn master.

Highlights
  • Tap to launch corn kernels
  • Heat and pop kernels in a pan
  • Flick popcorn into cups
  • Collect 16 rank titles
  • Aim for high scores
  • Collect letters for bonus coins
Features
Read full description

Presenting a brand-new game genre: a popcorn action & shooting minigame! Tap the screen repeatedly to rapidly launch corn kernels into the pan! Collect the 16 rank titles and earn acclaim as a popcorn master! How to Play - Tap the top of the screen to create corn kernels. - As kernels hit the frying pan, they will start to heat up and pop. - Once you run out of kernels or the frying pan becomes full, flick the bottom of the screen to toss the finished popcorn into a cup. - The onscreen popcorn will be cleared out and your kernels replenished, allowing you to start creating popcorn again. - Aim for your best high score and collect new ranks: Let's Popcorn! Shoot for a high score! - Popped kernels give 10 points - Two popcorn pieces hitting in mid-air gives 1 point - Tap the coin or flame-up items for 100 points - Collect popcorn in the paper cup to earn 1 point per piece - Collect the letters released from UFOs to spell P-O-P-C-O-R-N. Once you collect them all, all onscreen popcorn will turn into coins

Screenshots

Tractor Beam3 screens
Popcorn Hands4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Tractor Beam at 82% against Popcorn Hands's 0%. Tractor Beam also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.0) and ads (none vs shown). Popcorn Hands's advantage is price (Free vs $0.99). On update cadence, in-app purchases and device support 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

Popcorn Hands is free to download; Tractor Beam costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Tractor Beam holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Tractor Beam's written reviews are positive against 0% of Popcorn Hands's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tractor Beam ships an update every 6 months, Popcorn Hands every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Tractor Beam versus Popcorn Hands: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTractor BeamPopcorn Hands
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better3.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews82.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings6 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperManufacturing ContentMasakazu Yonehara

Customer experience

Tractor Beam

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews61 reviews
Positive82.0%
Neutral9.8%
Negative8.2%

Popcorn Hands

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

None

Tractor Beam

No in-app purchases

None

Popcorn Hands

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tractor Beam free?
Tractor Beam costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Popcorn Hands free?
Popcorn Hands is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Tractor Beam or Popcorn Hands?
Tractor Beam is rated higher. Tractor Beam averages 5.0 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Popcorn Hands averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Tractor Beam or Popcorn Hands have ads?
Popcorn Hands shows ads; Tractor Beam does not.
Which is updated more often, Tractor Beam or Popcorn Hands?
Tractor Beam ships an update every 6 months, and Popcorn Hands every 3 months. Most recently, Tractor Beam was updated on October 16, 2026 and Popcorn Hands on October 15, 2026.

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