Comparison

Loop Tiles vs Lanterns

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

Head to head
About

Loop Tiles

A minimalist tile-based puzzle game that challenges your logic and strategic thinking. Flip tiles to turn them all dark blue, with each flip affecting adjacent tiles. Offers two engaging game modes for endless fun.

Highlights
  • Minimalist black-and-white design
  • Classic Mode with increasing difficulty
  • Infinity Mode with score multiplier
  • Randomly generated puzzles
  • Accessible and challenging gameplay
Features
Read full description

- Loop Tiles: Your Daily Puzzle Ritual - A quiet moment of focus, beautifully designed. Loop Tiles is a refined logic puzzle created for a few thoughtful minutes each day. Swap tiles, bring matching patterns together, and piece together pictures of places around the world. Each week unfolds through a new destination, with an elegant collection of puzzles, city maps, landmarks, and stories to discover at your own pace. No visual noise. No frantic gameplay. Just considered design, satisfying logic, and a ritual worth returning to. A Simple Idea, Thoughtfully Evolved Swap tiles into place within the available moves. Bring matching tiles together and restore landmark pictures as you travel through each week’s destination. The rules are easy to understand, but each puzzle invites you to look closely, plan your swaps, and find a satisfying solution. Your Daily Ritual Return each day to: • Solve a calm, focused puzzle • Continue your journey through the week’s destination • Explore beautifully presented city maps • Discover new facts and landmarks • Earn trophies and use hints when you need guidance • Complete the weekly collection at your own pace Designed With Restraint Loop Tiles brings together tactile interactions, subtle animation, atmospheric destinations, and a carefully composed visual style. Every detail is designed to feel calm, polished, and intentional. Whether you have a few quiet minutes or want to lose yourself in a more demanding challenge, Loop Tiles offers a private space to pause, think, and reset. Make Loop Tiles part of your day. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://goldfinchgaming.com/privacy-policy

About

Lanterns

A logic puzzle game where you place lanterns to illuminate every tile on the board. Solve over 10,000 unique puzzles with a daily challenge and a cozy, ad-free experience.

Highlights
  • Logic deduction puzzles
  • Over 10,000 unique rooms
  • Daily timed challenges
  • No countdown in campaign mode
  • Optional in-app purchases
  • Ad-free experience
Features
Read full description

Light every tile and bring a hidden world back to life. Lanterns is Akari, also called Light Up: a puzzle of pure deduction. Place lanterns so every open tile glows. Numbered walls tell you how many lanterns must touch them. Light stops at walls, and no two lanterns may shine on each other. Meet Pip, your lantern-moth companion, and explore over 10,000 puzzle rooms across 834 floors. Restore chapter landmarks as you progress, and take a break with Firefly Flight at chapter restorations. Campaign puzzles have no countdown. Take your time, mark your plans, use free Undo, and follow Why explanations on the board. Your unfinished campaign puzzle stays ready when you return. The Daily challenge brings one timed puzzle each local date: ninety seconds, one attempt, no hints or revives. Keep your daily streak going and look back on your results. See a score out of 100 after each campaign win, celebrate your personal best, and choose lantern styles as you make the world brighter. If you enjoy Nonogram, Picross, Sudoku, Hashi or Nurikabe, try a different kind of logic puzzle. Each board is generated and checked for a unique solution. Lanterns is free to download, with optional in-app purchases. Campaign entry tickets recover over time. Between-level ads may appear after the introductory levels; a one-time purchase removes forced ads permanently. Rewarded videos remain optional. No sign-in is required to play. Akari (Light Up) is Nikoli's puzzle form.

Screenshots

Loop Tiles4 screens
Lanterns4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Lanterns at daily against Loop Tiles's weekly. Lanterns also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 80%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Loop Tiles sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Lanterns sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lanterns holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 9 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of Loop Tiles's written reviews are positive against 100% of Lanterns's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Loop Tiles ships an update weekly, Lanterns daily. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Loop Tiles versus Lanterns: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLoop TilesLanterns
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (9 ratings)5.0 (9 ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings99
Update frequencyWeeklyDaily — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.516.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size143 MB151 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperGoldfinch Gaming LLC10X Ventures LLC

Customer experience

Loop Tiles

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral11.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative0.0%

Lanterns

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

11 purchases

Loop Tiles

Subscriptions4
  • Loop Tiles Premium Weekly$1.997 Days
  • Loop Tiles Premium$4.991 Month
  • Loop Tiles Premium Quarterly3 Days trial$9.993 Months
Show 1 more
  • Loop Tiles Premium Yearly3 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time7
  • Tiles Pack 1$0.99
  • Tiles Pack 2$1.99
  • Tiles Pack 3$3.99
Show 4 more
  • Tiles Pack 4$6.99
  • noAds$8.99
  • Tiles Pack 5$14.99
  • Tiles Pack 6$29.99
4 purchases

Lanterns

One-time4
  • Pouch of Embers$1.99
  • The Gilded Lantern$2.99
  • Satchel of Embers$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Chest of Embers$9.99

Questions

Is Loop Tiles free?
Loop Tiles is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Lanterns free?
Lanterns is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Loop Tiles or Lanterns?
Lanterns is rated higher. Loop Tiles averages 4.8 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Lanterns averages 5.0 from 9 ratings.
Do Loop Tiles or Lanterns have ads?
Both Loop Tiles and Lanterns show ads.
Which is updated more often, Loop Tiles or Lanterns?
Loop Tiles ships an update weekly, and Lanterns daily. Most recently, Loop Tiles was updated on October 25, 2026 and Lanterns on October 24, 2026.

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