Pipes and Balls vs Counterwave
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pipes and Balls
Twist, match, and connect vibrant pipelines to guide rolling balls to their destination in this immersive 3D puzzle game. Navigate hundreds of tricky levels, from easy to epic, and face challenging boss levels. Enjoy fresh puzzles weekly in an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master experience.
- Hundreds of tricky levels
- Immersive 3D gameplay
- New puzzles weekly
- Twist, match, and connect pipelines
- Guide rolling balls
- Boss levels
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Pipes and Balls: A Unique 3D Puzzle Experience! Dive into the colorful world of Pipes and Balls, where you’ll twist, match, and connect vibrant pipelines to guide rolling balls to their destination. This immersive puzzle journey combines the art of pin manipulation with the excitement of decoding near-impossible knots, challenging your mind and captivating your senses all at once. From easy to hard and finally to the epic stages, each level reveals fresh and diverse puzzles that test your strategic brilliance. Prepare to face Boss Levels where only the most courageous puzzle-solvers can triumph, and prove your worth in the elite ranks of puzzle-solving masters. Highlights • Hundreds of Tricky Levels: Progress through an ever-growing library of challenges. • Immersive 3D Gameplay: Experience the lifelike rush of aligning pipes and balls • Fresh Puzzles Every Week: Stay on your toes with regular updates featuring new obstacles and twists. It’s easy to play, yet hard to master—the perfect formula for endless fun. Download now and embark on the journey of a lifetime, connecting pipes and unraveling complex knots one puzzle at a time. If you have what it takes to step into this enigmatic universe, prepare to become the next puzzle-solving legend!
Counterwave
A satisfying reflex and timing game where you match and cancel incoming waves. Learn in seconds, master 100 levels, and play with friends. Enjoy a calming soundtrack and precise haptics.
- Wave matching and cancellation gameplay
- 100 levels with increasing difficulty
- Multiplayer challenges and leaderboards
- Daily puzzles and endless mode
- Multiple signal themes
- Precise haptic feedback
- Offline play
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Match the wave. Cancel it. Hear the silence. Counterwave is a satisfying reflex and timing game built on how noise-cancelling headphones work: every wave has an exact opposite. Shape it with one thumb, let go, and watch two waves cancel into a perfectly flat line. Learn it in seconds. Master it across 100 levels. HOW IT PLAYS • A wave rolls in. Read its shape on the scope under the field. • Drag up for a crest, down for a trough, further for a taller wave. • When the height matches, wait for the release cue and let go. • Meet it in the middle for a PERFECT. Push the same way and the waves stack instead. PLAY WITH FRIENDS Share any Daily, cleared level or new Endless best as a grid of how every wave landed. Send a friend a challenge code: they play the same waves and try to beat your score. Climb the Game Center leaderboards for today's Daily, Endless and campaign stars. CHAIN PERFECTS, PLAY A MELODY Every clean cancel drops the field into a moment of silence and rings out a note. String perfects together and the notes climb, while a calm generative soundtrack plays underneath. 100 LEVELS, 20 RANKS, 40 EXPERT TESTS Act I teaches the wave across 40 hand-built levels. Act II adds 60 more and four new shapes: the Fin, the Flip, the Triple and the flat-crowned Plateau. Every fifth level is a rank exam, and the Expert circuit remixes Act I into 40 tests harder than anything beside them. SEE YOUR SKILL GROW Every level shows its Intensity, so you always know what you are taking on. Your Signal Rating climbs from Novice toward Master as you earn three stars on harder levels. PRACTICE ANYTHING Replay the tricky phrase from any results screen, or play nine short wave studies and earn an emblem for each shape. Practice never costs a thing and never touches your stars. A NEW CHALLENGE EVERY DAY One daily puzzle, the same for every player: one official run, unlimited practice and daily missions. A gift waits each time you visit and keeps its progress if you miss a day, and a weekly goal leaves room for days off. ENDLESS AND ZEN Endless speeds up until you slip. Zen never fails you: one wave at a time, as relaxing as you like. EIGHT SIGNAL THEMES Oscilloscope, Aurora, Seismic, Ion, Ember, Synthwave, Lagoon and Sakura. Try any theme before you unlock it. Every palette is tuned to stay readable with red-green color blindness. MADE TO BE FELT Precise haptics on every launch and every cancel. Every sound is synthesized live on your phone. PLAY ANYWHERE One-handed, no account, and no Wi-Fi needed to play. Your progress stays on your phone. Counterwave is supported by ads. Ads never interrupt a run, and your first six runs have none at all. Remove Ads is a one-time purchase; the Supporter Pack adds every theme, and if you already own Remove Ads you only pay the difference. Optional videos are always your choice. Can you cancel every wave? Download Counterwave and find out. Questions or ideas? Reach us through the App Support link on this page.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Counterwave at 5.0 against Pipes and Balls's 4.6. Pipes and Balls's advantage is ratings volume (151 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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. Pipes and Balls sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Counterwave sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Counterwave holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pipes and Balls has 151 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Pipes and Balls ships an update every 6 days, Counterwave every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pipes and Balls | Counterwave |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (151 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 55.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 151 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 225 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mesiba Games | Harold Digital LLC |
Customer experience
Pipes and Balls
Counterwave
In-app purchases
Pipes and Balls
- 2 Peeks$0.99
- 3 Hints$0.99
- No ads$5.99
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- Bundle package$9.99
- VIP package$29.99
Counterwave
- Supporter Upgrade$1.99
- Remove Ads$2.99
- Supporter Pack$4.99
Questions
Is Pipes and Balls free?
Is Counterwave free?
Which has better reviews, Pipes and Balls or Counterwave?
Do Pipes and Balls or Counterwave have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pipes and Balls or Counterwave?
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