Retaining walls vs PocketFlow
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Retaining walls
This app helps engineers design and assess flexible retaining walls. It simplifies complex calculations for stable and cost-efficient wall designs with an intuitive interface and advanced features.
- Design flexible retaining walls
- Assess wall stability
- Simplify complex calculations
- Cost-efficiency optimization
- User-friendly interface
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Empower your engineering projects with the Retaining walls, a versatile and intuitive tool for designing and assessing flexible retaining walls. Our app simplifies the complex calculations required for flexible wall designs, ensuring stability and cost-efficiency. With a user-friendly interface and a range of advanced features, you'll have the power to optimize your retaining wall designs like never before.
PocketFlow
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Real water, live on your iPhone. Free to try for 7 days, then one purchase unlocks it for good. Draw a shape with your finger or build one in 3D, and watch water pour over, under and around it as it happens. PocketFlow runs a real free-surface water simulation on your phone's GPU. It isn't an animation: every frame is solved by our own solver, so the water splashes, jumps and settles because the physics says so. NEW IN 3.3 Feel and hear the water: haptics and sound follow the flow as it surges and hits the walls, then ease to a steady hum once it settles, each with a one-tap button. Spray and thin water look lifelike. Plot any 3D section and share it. Import a model at Actual size, and Add and fit tank grows the tank around it. Heights read as real-world elevations, in tanks from 1 cm to 10 km. BRING YOUR OWN MODEL (STL) Import a CAD or 3D-print model from Build, Files, Mail or AirDrop, at Actual size or at a scale you choose. Models move, turn, size, snap and duplicate like any shape, can poke through the walls and floor, and can have up to a million triangles. TWO WAYS TO PLAY • 2D Sketch: a side view of a tank. Draw solids right in the water with a pen, box or oval, and the flow reacts straight away. Press and hold a solid to duplicate it, cut it out or size it exactly, with undo, redo and snap guides. • 3D Build: add boxes, spheres and cylinders. Slide them with an axis lock, size any side, turn about any axis, or type exact numbers. SLICE 3D INTO 2D Cut any 3D scene along or across the flow and open the slice in 2D, at full size or as a scale model such as 1:15. START FROM A TEMPLATE Press ▶ to run any template. • 2D: Open channel, Dam break, Sluice gate, Weir • 3D: Channel + pier, Weir, Dam break, Labyrinth weir, Dam & stilling basin, and Mystery dam: an STL dam, spillway and stilling basin at 1:100 SET THE SIDES Make each side a wall or open to the air. Add an inlet by velocity or by flow rate, or hold a side at a water level, with or without inflow. Drag any side to size the tank, set up to eight blocks of starting water, or start empty. SEE WHAT'S GOING ON • Show plain water, or color it by velocity or pressure • Section view in 3D cuts the tank open to show the flow inside, and an Ortho view gives true elevations and plans • Plot along the cut: water surface, bed, velocity and bed pressure Drag to read values; share as a picture or data. Bridges and culverts are drawn as they are, even running full • Tap any solid to read its elevation • Section and level probes in 2D • Stretch the height or mirror the 2D view for long, flat channels • Probe pins with live velocity, depth and Froude readouts • Streamlines that follow the flow • A measure ruler that snaps to walls and edges • Live In and Out, with a Filling or Steady cue TILT TO SLOSH Tap Tilt and tip your phone. The water runs to the low side, like a real tank in your hands. THINK FULL SIZE Working with a scale model? Pick a scale such as 1:25 and every number shows at full size, scaled by Froude similarity. TRACE OVER A PHOTO In 2D, add a photo or drawing as a background, set it to true size from a known length, and draw your solids over it. SHARE IT Save or send a photo with the color scale on it, or a 10-second clip. EASY TO PICK UP A seven-step Quick start shows you where to press. Scenes save themselves, Continue picks up where you left off, and Fast, Balanced and Detailed presets trade speed for detail. GOOD TO KNOW • Runs fully on the device: no account, no ads, no tracking, works offline • One purchase after the 7-day trial, no subscription. Bought PocketFlow before? You're already unlocked. • Made for learning, exploring and quick what-ifs. It is real physics, but not a certified engineering design tool: check real designs with proper engineering analysis. Great for students and teachers, engineers who want a quick feel for a flow, and anyone who likes watching water.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: PocketFlow at Free against Retaining walls's $0.99. PocketFlow also leads on update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). Retaining walls's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On ads 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
PocketFlow is free to download; Retaining walls costs $0.99 up front. PocketFlow sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Retaining walls asks for nothing beyond the download.
Retaining walls ships an update fortnightly, PocketFlow weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Retaining walls | PocketFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 1.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 79 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fourth Element Energy Pty Ltd | Aqua Axolotl Analytics |
In-app purchases
Retaining walls
No in-app purchases
PocketFlow
- 7-Day TrialFree
- Unlock PocketFlow$9.99
Questions
Is Retaining walls free?
Is PocketFlow free?
Do Retaining walls or PocketFlow have ads?
Which is updated more often, Retaining walls or PocketFlow?
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