Comparison

Sand & Sky vs Grainfall

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

Head to head
About

Sand & Sky

Experiment with physics and materials in a creative sandbox. Drop, mix, and ignite various elements to discover surprising interactions and build unique creations. Enjoy a zen-like experience with realistic simulations and a variety of tools.

Highlights
  • Realistic fluid simulation
  • Gravity manipulation
  • Wind tool
  • Adjustable brush and speed
  • Undo and clear functions
  • Material interaction guide
Features
Read full description

Sand & Sky is an endlessly satisfying particle physics sandbox — drop materials, watch them interact, and discover what happens when science meets creativity. Pour water and watch it fill every corner. Drop lava onto ice and forge obsidian. Ignite gunpowder and set off chain explosions. Build walls, draw mazes, and experiment unique materials that each behave according to their own rules. REACTIONS & COMBINATIONS Every material interacts with others in surprising ways. Water meets lava and creates stone. Lightning strikes sand and fuses it into glass. Acid dissolves almost everything. Discover all the reactions in the built-in Reactions guide. FEATURES · Realistic fluid simulation — liquids fill containers and accumulate naturally · Flip gravity in any direction — up, down, left, or right · Wind tool to push particles across the screen · Adjustable brush size and simulation speed · Undo button and sandbox clear · Unique sounds for every material Whether you're building elaborate contraptions, running experiments, or simply watching particles fall — Sand & Sky is the perfect zen sandbox to lose yourself in.

About

Grainfall

Experiment with a physics sandbox where materials interact realistically. Create complex reactions, record your creations as videos, and share them with friends. Enjoy a free simulation with optional pro features for more materials and customization.

Highlights
  • Realistic material interactions
  • Video recording and export
  • Offline play
  • Shareable worlds
  • Tilt gravity control
  • Multiple material types
Read full description

Grainfall is a falling sand toy. Pick a material, drag across the screen, and watch it react with whatever is already there. Sand piles up and slides back down. Dig a hole and water will find it. Oil floats on top of water, and oil burns. Plants drink from standing water and creep toward it. Fire spreads, leaves ash behind, and boils water into steam that drifts up, cools off, and comes back down as rain. There is no score and nothing to unlock by playing. What you get is twelve materials that all react to each other, and the fun is working out how. Build a glass tank and fill it with acid, since glass is the one thing acid cannot chew through. Pour lava into water and it sets into stone. Light one end of a gunpowder trail and follow it along. Hit record at any point and Grainfall turns what happened into a video, with sound built from the same events you just watched. Save a world and it keeps a picture of itself in your list. Send one to a friend as a small file and it opens straight into their copy. FREE • Sand, water, oil, plant, fire and wall • The full simulation, running at 60fps • Record and export video, with a small watermark in the corner • Your world saves itself and is waiting when you come back PRO - One time purchase • Six more materials: acid, glass, lava, ice, gunpowder, fireworks • Video export with the watermark gone • Save as many worlds as you want, name them, load them back • Send worlds to friends as .grain files • Four color themes • Tilt gravity, so leaning your phone pours everything sideways A FEW THINGS WORTH TRYING • Float oil on water and drop in a single flame • Fill a glass tank with acid • Pour lava into the sea and watch the steam come off it • Light a gunpowder trail at one end • Set off enough fireworks that the falling sparks catch your plants Every material makes its own sound. No account, no ads, nothing collected, and it all works offline.

Screenshots

Sand & Sky2 screens
Grainfall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sand & Sky at none against Grainfall's 1. Sand & Sky also leads on ratings volume (3 vs 1). Grainfall's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and device support (4 vs 2). On price and rating 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. Grainfall sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Sand & Sky asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Sand & Sky against 5.0 for Grainfall. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Sand & Sky versus Grainfall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSand & SkyGrainfall
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.414.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB23 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperNicholas BianchinoJohn Haas

In-app purchases

None

Sand & Sky

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Grainfall

One-time1
  • Grainfall Pro$0.99

Questions

Is Sand & Sky free?
Sand & Sky is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Grainfall free?
Grainfall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sand & Sky or Grainfall?
Sand & Sky and Grainfall are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Sand & Sky or Grainfall have ads?
Sand & Sky shows ads; Grainfall does not.

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