POOLS™ vs Span
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
POOLS™
This app offers a slow, reflective, and immersive experience focused on exploration and atmosphere. It evokes feelings of unease and curiosity through its unique environments, inspired by liminal spaces and internet phenomena. Discover changing worlds and subtle narratives without traditional gameplay mechanics.
- Slow, reflective exploration
- Atmospheric and immersive environments
- Inspired by liminal spaces
- Unfolding narrative through exploration
- Six distinct chapters
- Unique sound design
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Explore, admire and listen. That’s it. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. Immersive. POOLS isn’t a traditional game. it’s slow, reflective, and intentionally uneventful, perhaps a bit like virtual museum. So take your time. Breathe. POOLS unfolds slowly, rewarding patience and quiet attention. No monsters chasing you or jumping at your screen. Yet it can feel oppressive at times by invoking quiet fears of getting lost, the dark, tight spaces and the strange beauty of liminal space architecture. There's no typical story. But as you explore and advance further, you start to notice that the game's world changes around you, deeper you go… Rooms look and feel… different. Base game features six chapters, each lasting 10-30 minutes. Inspired by the internet phenomena Liminal spaces, Found footage and The Backrooms, especially the Poolrooms concept. One of the original artists behind the Poolrooms concept is Jared Pike.
Span
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Span is a calm, physics-driven bridge builder. Draw a bridge across the gap, choose your materials, then press Test and watch it carry the load — or buckle in glorious slow motion. Every beam glows with the forces running through it: a live X-ray of tension and compression, so you can see exactly why it held, or why it snapped. Rewind, move one strut, try again. • 57 hand-built levels across eight worlds — timber valleys to ocean straits • Timber, steel, stone, cables and road & rail decks • Real hazards: wind, earthquakes, thermal stress and floods • Drawbridges, canal locks, trains and passing ships • God-mode Sandbox: unlimited budget, every material, every disaster • Level editor: sculpt terrain, place anchors, schedule the traffic • One-tap replay export — share your best holds and worst fails No ads. No timers. No subscription. Buy once, build forever. Free through Chapter 1 — unlock the full game (all worlds, the sandbox and the editor) with a single purchase. Road vehicle models by Daniel Zhabotinsky (CC BY 4.0). Full credits in-app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Span at every 5 days against POOLS™'s monthly. POOLS™'s advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. POOLS™ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Span sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
POOLS™ ships an update monthly, Span every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | POOLS™ | Span |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (1.7K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 79.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1.7K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.9 GB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tensori | Dodecki Labs |
Bugs and requests
POOLS™
Reported bugs
2 issues- Unable to move on iPad Pro
- Glitches reported
Requested features
3 requests- Expand to different Backrooms-inspired themes
- Add a multiplayer mode
- Introduce more interactive elements (e.g., monsters, items to discover)
Span
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
POOLS™
- POOLS: Full Game$9.99
Span
- Span Complete$7.99









