Comparison

POOLS™ vs Span

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Slow, reflective exploration
  • Atmospheric and immersive environments
  • Inspired by liminal spaces
  • Unfolding narrative through exploration
  • Six distinct chapters
  • Unique sound design
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Span

Features
Read full description

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

POOLS™4 screens
Span4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

POOLS™ ships an update monthly, Span every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
POOLS™ versus Span: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPOOLS™Span
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.7K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews79.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.7K — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.9 GB60 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperTensoriDodecki 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

1 purchases

POOLS™

One-time1
  • POOLS: Full Game$9.99
1 purchases

Span

One-time1
  • Span Complete$7.99

Questions

Is POOLS™ free?
POOLS™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Span free?
Span is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do POOLS™ or Span have ads?
Neither POOLS™ nor Span shows ads.
Which is updated more often, POOLS™ or Span?
POOLS™ ships an update monthly, and Span every 5 days. Most recently, POOLS™ was updated on October 23, 2026 and Span on October 4, 2026.

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