Folium vs Board Game Sidekick
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Folium
Experience classic gaming on your device with this high-performance emulator. Play titles from a wide range of retro consoles and handhelds. Supports various external controllers for an enhanced experience.
- Multi-system emulation
- Play retro console games
- Play handheld games
- Supports numerous controllers
- High performance design
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Folium is a beautifully designed, high performing multi-system emulation app bringing retro console and handheld gaming to Apple devices Supported Systems Bandai - WonderSwan - WonderSwan Color Coleco - ColecoVision Nintendo - 3DS - DS - Game Boy - Game Boy Advance - Game Boy Color - Nintendo Entertainment System - Super Nintendo Entertainment System SEGA - Genesis - Mega Drive Sony - PlayStation 1 Supported Game Controllers Backbone - One Nintendo Switch - Joy-Con - Pro Controller PlayStation - DualSense - DualShock 4 Xbox Series - S - X https://apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Board Game Sidekick
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Meet Board Game Sidekick - the fast, friendly companion for game nights. Scan a shelf photo to identify games, ask rulebook questions in plain English, and keep easy track of your scores. Less fiddling, more playing. Why you’ll love it: • Scan & recognise games: snap a photo of your shelf and get a tidy list of titles to add to your library. • Rulebook Q&A (AI-powered): ask “How many cards for 3 players?” Answers come from the attached rulebook. • Scorekeeping that’s actually nice: smart categories per game, quick entry, player summaries, and history. • Your library, organized: search, filter, sort; jump to rules Q&A or scoring from any game. • Import from BoardGameGeek: pull in your collection to get started fast. • Lots of fun and useful board game tools like a first player picker & dice roller to supercharge your game night. How it works 1. Scan: take a photo of your games to recognize titles and add them in a tap. 2. Ask: refer to the PDF rulebook in-app and ask natural-language questions. 3. Score: track per-player totals with clear categories and save results. Privacy • No ads. No account required. Free to use. • Your library and scores stay on your device. • When you use scanning or rules Q&A, the app sends the chosen photo/question to an LLM via our secure backend to generate the answer. Notes • Board Game Sidekick is not affiliated with BoardGameGeek or any game publishers. • Some features require an internet connection (game recognition and rulebook Q&A). • The app is currently in public beta - all features are free and we welcome feedback to shape future development.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Board Game Sidekick at Free against Folium's $2.99. Board Game Sidekick also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (daily vs fortnightly). Folium's advantage is chart position (#5 vs unranked). 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
Board Game Sidekick is free to download; Folium costs $2.99 up front. Folium sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Board Game Sidekick asks for nothing beyond the download.
Folium ships an update fortnightly, Board Game Sidekick daily. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Folium | Board Game Sidekick |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 2.4 (843 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 24.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 843 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Best chart rank | #5 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 64 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Jarrod Norwell | Leandro Balan |
Bugs and requests
Folium
Reported bugs
4 issues- Games freezing or crashing during cutscenes
- Keyboard input issues causing games to freeze
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps
- Compatibility problems with certain 3DS games
Requested features
5 requests- Add save state and load state functionality
- Improve controller support and customization
- Optimize performance and reduce stuttering
- Provide more detailed settings and configuration options
- Implement iPad support and optimization
Board Game Sidekick
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Folium
- Extra Features$1.99
Board Game Sidekick
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Folium free?
Is Board Game Sidekick free?
Do Folium or Board Game Sidekick have ads?
Which is updated more often, Folium or Board Game Sidekick?
Other comparisons
