Comparison

Memory vs card piles

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

Head to head
About

Memory

Sharpen your memory with this classic card-matching game. It offers various modes like Time Attack and multiplayer, plus educational activities for learning letters, numbers, and languages. Customize your game with different themes and card backs.

Highlights
  • Time Attack mode
  • 2 Player modes (local & online)
  • Educational activities (letters, numbers, languages)
  • Customizable themes and card backs
  • 25 levels of difficulty
  • 10 card packs with diverse themes
  • Game Center integration for competition
Features
Read full description

Discover or rediscover the joy of playing Memory with "Memory • Classic", a captivating memory game for iPhone and iPad. Designed for players of all ages, "Memory • Classic" is the ideal iOS game to sharpen your memory, whether alone or with family. — 4.0.0 — • Time Attack The clock starts at 30 seconds and every pair adds a few more. Clear the board to earn 5 extra seconds before a bigger board is dealt, while your score keeps adding up. The run ends when time runs out. • 2 Players Take turns on the same device. Find a pair and you play again; miss and the turn passes. Points count as usual — the highest total wins. • 2 Players Online The same rules as 2 Players, live against another player through Game Center. • Educational Choose an activity to practice letters, words, numbers, memory or another language. A pair can join cards that look or sound different but mean the same thing — a picture and its word, lower- and uppercase letters, or two languages. Ready-made activities set up the cards for you; Custom lets you choose the image, text, voice and language on each side. • Choose your look — Original Wood • Stellar Odyssey • Coral Reef • Kraft Atelier You can change it any time in Settings. • Card backs — Colors • Decorations • Layouts • Enhanced animations Game Features: - 25 Levels of Difficulty: Suitable for everyone, from beginners to experts, with five degrees of difficulty, each comprising five levels. - 10 Card Packs: Stimulate your memory by matching cards featuring magnificent animals, sports, letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers, common words, and much more. - Addictive Gameplay: With 25 levels and ten varied card packs, no two games are the same. - Enter the Competition: Like challenges? Compete with friends and family through Game Center, climb the global rankings to see where you stand, and track your progress.

About

card piles

Experience the classic 21-card trick directly on your mobile device. Simply remember your card, select its pile, and watch as the app reveals your chosen card through clever logic.

Highlights
  • Classic 21-card trick gameplay
  • Intuitive pile selection
  • Card reveal logic
  • Single-player experience
  • Mobile-optimized interface
Read full description

Think of a card. Don't touch it. Just tell card piles which pile it's in, three times, and watch it hand your card back to you. card piles is the classic Twenty-One Card Trick, rebuilt for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It's a pocket magic trick for performing on friends, and a patient teacher if you'd rather learn how the trick works. PERFORM IT • Deal a grid of cards and let your spectator pick one in their head. • They tap the pile their card is in. Repeat three times. • Their card is revealed at the center of the layout. It works every time. LEARN IT • Turn on "Differentiate cards in play" to dim the cards the trick has already ruled out, and watch the possibilities shrink round by round. • A round counter and plain instructions keep the pace. MAKE IT YOURS • Seven layouts, from a quick 3 × 5 to a sprawling 5 × 13. • A standard 52-card deck, or a 70-card deck of shapes for the biggest layouts. • Twelve accent colors. Light, dark, or follow your system. EVERYWHERE • Native on iPhone, iPad and Mac, with keyboard shortcuts on the Mac. • VoiceOver labels on every card and pile. • No account to create and no ads. Inspired by the Twenty-One Card Trick, with the math worked out so it converges on every layout size.

Screenshots

Memory4 screens
card piles2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Memory at Free against card piles's $1.99. Memory also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 14 months) and ratings volume (10K vs 1). card piles's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On 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

Memory is free to download; card piles costs $1.99 up front. Memory sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. card piles asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

card piles holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Memory has 10K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Memory ships an update every 2 weeks, card piles every 14 months. Both last shipped on November 12, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Memory versus card piles: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMemorycard piles
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.6 (10K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews89.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings10K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 14 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size213 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperClement MartyRichard Koopmann

Customer experience

Memory

All ratings10,466 ratings
Positive91.2%
Neutral4.8%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews508 reviews
Positive89.2%
Neutral6.5%
Negative4.3%

card piles

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Memory

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Rapid screen orientation switching
  • App crashes and freezes
  • Inability to resume previous games

Requested features

4 requests
  • Allow users to create custom card sets
  • Add more card themes and categories
  • Improve scoring system and provide better explanations
  • Optimize performance and fix orientation issues

card piles

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Memory

One-time10
  • Upper Case Letters - Card Pack$1.99
  • Lower Case Letters - Card Pack$1.99
  • Food Images - Card Pack$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Numbers - Card Pack$1.99
  • Words - Card Pack$1.99
  • Music Instruments - Card Pack$1.99
  • Sports Images - Card Pack$1.99
  • Faces - Card Pack$1.99
  • Emoji Card Pack$1.99
  • Memory All Card Packs$8.99
None

card piles

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Memory free?
Memory is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is card piles free?
card piles costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Memory or card piles?
card piles is rated higher. Memory averages 4.6 out of 5 from 10K ratings, while card piles averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Memory or card piles have ads?
Memory shows ads; card piles does not.
Which is updated more often, Memory or card piles?
Memory ships an update every 2 weeks, and card piles every 14 months. Most recently, Memory was updated on November 12, 2026 and card piles on November 12, 2026.

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