Mountain Project vs Retro Flash
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mountain Project
Discover and navigate to outdoor climbing areas, and find specific routes with detailed filters. Access route beta, photos, and topos offline, and view climbing area statistics. Connect with other climbers in the forum, track your progress, and create to-do lists.
- Find and navigate to climbing areas
- Sort routes by discipline, difficulty, and rating
- Search 155,000+ climbing routes offline
- Download route beta, photos, and topos for offline use
- View climbing area route statistics and critical info
- Connect with climbers in the forum
- Track attempts, sends, and create to-do lists
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Beyond the Guidebook: The Definitive Rock Climbing Resource. • Find outdoor climbing areas near you, and navigate to them, using the map. This super-handy new feature is one of our personal faves. • The much requested route finder: Easily sort routes by discipline, difficulty, star ranking and more. If a 4-star M9 is your thing, we'll help you find it. • Search our entire database of 155,000+ climbing routes, even offline. • Download route beta, photos, and topos state by state for offline use — because the best crags often have the worst reception. • View a climbing area’s route stats (how many 5.11s are there?) and critical info (when is the raptor closure again?) in a single glance. • Chat, ask questions, or put out a call for partners in our forum. • Rate routes and photos, keep track of attempts & sends, or make a to-do list • It's free to download and free of advertising too. Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Retro Flash
This app helps climbers maximize their spray wall training with unique tools for setting various problems and supports multiple grading systems. It fosters a community for climbers to share and improve their training.
- Spray wall problem setting
- Supports symmetrical, partly symmetrical, adjustable, and private walls
- Circuit and competition boulder creation
- Fontainebleau, Dankyu, and Hueco grading systems
- Customizable grading systems
- Wall upgrades for new possibilities
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Welcome to Retro Flash and the Arcade Bouldering Community! Retro Flash is the Ultimate Spray Wall App, designed with every member of the climbing community in mind! We have created a lot of unique tools to ensure that everyone has everything they need to get the most out of their spray walls! For example, we support symmetrical, partly symmetrical, adjustable and private walls! Set all kinds of problems on your wall, like circuits or even competition boulders! With our wall upgrades, we upgrade your walls to the next level, opening up a lot of new possibilities! Now, you can even upgrade your walls by yourself!! Retro Flash supports the Fontainebleau, Dankyu and Hueco grading systems. You can also define your own grading systems or even deactivate grading! Download Retro Flash now and become a part of our growing community!
Screenshots
Verdict
Mountain Project and Retro Flash both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 84% of Retro Flash's written reviews are positive against 41% of Mountain Project's. Mountain Project's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and ratings volume (4.6K vs 226). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Retro Flash sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Mountain Project asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Mountain Project against 4.7 for Retro Flash. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mountain Project has 4.6K ratings behind it against 226, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 41% of Mountain Project's written reviews are positive against 84% of Retro Flash's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mountain Project | Retro Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (4.6K ratings) | 4.7 (226 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 41.1% of reviews | 84.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.6K — better | 226 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 162 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adventure Projects Inc. | Arcade Bouldering UG (haftungsbeschrnkt) |
Customer experience
Mountain Project
Retro Flash
User reviews
Mountain Project
From 4.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🗺️ Extensive database of climbing routes
- 📚 Detailed route information and beta
- 🗺️ Offline access to downloaded areas
- 👥 Helpful community contributions
- 📸 Useful photos and visuals
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🗺️ Inaccurate or outdated map information
- 🔍 Inefficient search and navigation
- 💰 Excessive advertising and promotion of other apps
- 📝 Inability to add comments or photos from the app
Retro Flash
From 226 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
- 💰 Free to use, affordable one-time fees
- 🏠 Perfect for home walls
- 👥 Great community feature
- 🚀 Fast and functional
Room to improve
- 👎 Horrid UI
- 🐛 Massive bugs and data loss
- 🛠️ App is useless when buggy
- ❓ Unclear target audience
- 🧭 Navigation can be challenging
Bugs and requests
Mountain Project
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes when opening routes or areas
- Map not showing all available climbs
- Incorrect date recording for ticks
- Inability to delete downloaded areas
- Login issues and account sync problems
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to add/update routes and areas
- Implement better offline map functionality
- Improve search and filtering options
- Add user profile and route tracking features
- Enhance community engagement tools
Retro Flash
Reported bugs
8 issues- Cannot see sends anymore
- All boulders set to unclimbed for all users
- Statistics are gone
- Won't let me reset wall
- Won't let me delete walls
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Won't let me add a new wall on a new account
- Camera button to add a photo doesn't do anything
- Can't change the angle of the wall
Requested features
4 requests- Add a tick list of all climbs done
- Show number and distribution of grades
- Copy route feature for minor adjustments
- Ability to edit names or grades of existing boulders
In-app purchases
Mountain Project
No in-app purchases
Retro Flash
- Unlock Rules for Circles$4.99
- Home Wall Year Pass$4.99
- 1 Month Upgrade Pass$8.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Additional Wall$9.99
- Gym Year Pass Tier 1$14.99
- Add Gym$14.99
- Gym Year Pass Tier 2$29.99
- 6 Months Upgrade Pass$44.99
Questions
Is Mountain Project free?
Is Retro Flash free?
Which has better reviews, Mountain Project or Retro Flash?
Do Mountain Project or Retro Flash have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mountain Project or Retro Flash?
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