Comparison

Drowning Math vs QuillQuest

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

Head to head
About

Drowning Math

Features
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Solve fast or sink. Drowning Math turns mental math into a survival race: every right answer swims you up, every mistake drags you under. How long can you stay afloat? HOW IT WORKS You sink a little every second. Pick the right answer out of three before the 5-second timer runs out and you swim up; miss and you drop. Stay below the oxygen line and your HP drains away. THE DAILY CHALLENGE One board, the whole world. Everyone gets the same puzzles today, with its own leaderboard that resets at midnight. Come back tomorrow for a fresh one. SEVEN WAYS TO PLAY • Daily Challenge — today's board, the same for everyone • Classic — survive as long as you can • Chain — each answer becomes the start of the next problem • 60 Seconds — no HP, pure speed: score as much as you can before the clock runs out • Sudden Death — one life; the first mistake ends the run • Division — find the number hidden behind the ? tile (experimental) • Training — no lives, no timers, no scores; practice at your own pace IT NEVER STOPS GETTING HARDER Start with single-digit sums. Every 10 points you level up: three-term problems, then multiplication, then exact division, with bigger numbers at every level and no ceiling. Three answer options with carefully chosen wrong ones, so guessing never works. GLOBAL LEADERBOARDS A global top 50 for every mode, plus a fresh Daily board every day. No account needed: type a name and submit your score. Beat your best, then beat the world. BUILT FOR SPEED No sign-up, no lessons. Tap Play and you're in. Runs are short, perfect for a coffee break or the bus, and an optional daily reminder tells you when a new board is out. Who it's for: • Adults who want a quick daily mental math workout • Students prepping for exams or numerical reasoning tests • Anyone who wants a brain sharper than their calculator Available in English, Spanish, French, German and Catalan. Dive in — the water is rising. Today's board is waiting.

About

QuillQuest

Features
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Three ways to play — spelling, times tables and division, in one app. QuillQuest turns practice into an adventure. Pick a subject: in Spelling, hear a word in a clear, natural voice and spell it out letter by letter; in Times Tables, answer on a number pad and climb a trail from the Trailhead to the Summit; in Division, turn those same tables around and work back down. They share one map, one buddy, and one set of stars — kids choose what to play next. It grows with each kid. QuillQuest starts each kid at a level that fits their age, then adapts as they improve — from first tricky words and easy doubles to spelling-bee stumpers and the toughest facts (6Ɨ7, 7Ɨ8…). New levels open when you master the last one, not by grinding points, and anything you miss comes back on a smart review schedule until it's locked in. Great for grades 3–8 (roughly ages 8–14) — younger and older learners fit right in too. Feedback that teaches • Spelling reads every word aloud in a clear, natural voice — stuck? hear it again, use it in a sentence, or see what it means • Times Tables shows the answer and a skip-count when you miss — never a harsh buzzer • Division shows you the multiplication fact behind it, because that is how you work it out: 7 times 8 is 56, so 56 divided by 7 is 8 • Earn ranks, unlock new themes, and collect badges across every subject Made for families • Give each kid their own profile — separate progress, streaks, character, and a make-your-own avatar • A grown-up dashboard shows how they're doing, what to work on in every subject, and how much they've already fixed • Daily goal starts at 20 answers — change it or switch it off anytime. Reminders stay off unless you turn them on Two devices? Optional syncing • Carry progress between a phone and a tablet with a short code — no account, no email, no password • Off unless a grown-up switches it on, behind a question a young child won't get past • Only game progress and their cartoon buddy are uploaded — never your child's name or age School spelling lists, if a teacher uses them • A teacher hands out a three-character code — type it in and that week's 24 words become a card on the Spelling screen • Practice them a little each day until every word comes out clean, then take the Final check • No account, no sign-up, and a grown-up can remove the list at any time • Nothing about your child leaves the device — unless a grown-up has turned syncing on, and then it is only which list and week they are on, carried with the rest of their progress under the same anonymous code • Everything else in the game stays exactly as it was Parents can relax • Plays offline — no internet needed to play (extra voices & spoken example sentences download once, then live on the device) • No ads. No tracking. No sign-in. No chat or links out. • No accounts, ever — syncing uses a code you can throw away, not a login • Free, with no in-app purchases • Made by a parent who wanted practice their own kids would actually choose • Privacy policy: https://quillquest.net/privacy

Screenshots

Drowning Math4 screens
QuillQuest4 screens

Verdict

The call

Drowning Math and QuillQuest are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drowning Math ships an update every 5 days, QuillQuest every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Drowning Math versus QuillQuest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrowning MathQuillQuest
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.416.4
Further details — not scored
Size67 MB115 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBrothapps, SLMalcom IO LLC

In-app purchases

None

Drowning Math

No in-app purchases

None

QuillQuest

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Drowning Math free?
Drowning Math is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is QuillQuest free?
QuillQuest is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Drowning Math or QuillQuest have ads?
Neither Drowning Math nor QuillQuest shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drowning Math or QuillQuest?
Drowning Math ships an update every 5 days, and QuillQuest every 3 days. Most recently, Drowning Math was updated on November 3, 2026 and QuillQuest on October 28, 2026.

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