Comparison

Just Stack · Just Play vs Smalti

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

Head to head
About

Just Stack · Just Play

Features
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Just Stack is a quiet take on the sort puzzle — colored wooden blocks scattered across small open-top boxes. Pour the top of one box onto another. One color per box wins the level. Three small rules govern the whole game: 1. Tap a box to lift its top group; tap another box to pour. 2. The block at the bottom of the pour must match the color it lands on, unless the target box is empty. 3. Sort every box to a single color — or leave it empty — to win. That's it. The rules are small. The space they open up is not. WHAT'S INSIDE — 700 hand-rated puzzles in total, across seven difficulty tiers from gentle Beginner to honest Expert. — Campaign mode: 200 levels with a steady difficulty curve. Early levels go quickly so you find your footing; later ones stretch out for long evenings. After every win, one tap takes you to the next level. — Finish the 200? Free Play unlocks. Pick any difficulty and keep drawing from the remaining 500-puzzle library. — Played a puzzle? You won't see it again in the same tier until you've worked through it. PART OF JUST PLAY Just Stack is the fourth game in the Just Play series, after Just Sudoku, Just Puzzle, and Just Yin Yang. The series shares a single design philosophy: classic logic puzzles, rebuilt patiently, in a quiet voice. No ads, no streaks, no engagement loops. The interface stays out of the way; the puzzle does the talking. Each game looks the same on day one as it does on day one hundred. Just Stack uses the same calligraphy-paper background as Just Yin Yang, but trades black-and-white stones for deep walnut boxes holding low-saturation blocks — indigo, mustard, plum, dark green, and others. If you enjoy this one, you may also enjoy its siblings. PLAY YOUR WAY — Tap to lift, tap again to pour. No dragging needed. — Three undos per level for the moments you didn't quite plan ahead. — Restart the current level any time — never costs you anything. — No moves left? A small message tells you so. No silent stuck states. — Soft haptics that confirm your touch without shouting. PRIVACY BY DEFAULT Just Stack does not collect any personal data. It works completely offline. There is no account to create, no email to enter, no servers to talk to. Your progress lives on your device, and on iCloud if you choose to sync it. FULLY LOCALIZED Available in: English, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, 한국어, Español, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Português (Brasil), Русский, العربية. For people who love the puzzle itself.

About

Smalti

Features
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No ads. No timers. No account. Smalti is a calm restoration game about bringing mosaics back to life. Draw pieces from your tray, turn them until they seat, and every board you solve resolves into a mosaic of uneven stones set in grout. A new mosaic waits every day, the same for everyone. EVERY BOARD BECOMES A MOSAIC Each board is a panel laid in stones, with a stone frame and a faint underdrawing of the picture to come. Seat the last piece and a band of light turns the stones you placed to the picture's colors, and each piece chimes a note, so every solved board plays its own melody. A NEW MOSAIC EVERY DAY The Daily Puzzle leads the home screen, and each day restores a different one of ten mosaic traditions. Solve it and the card fills with your finished mosaic, the time until tomorrow's and your month so far. Send a friend a link to the day's mosaic. Missed a day? It stays open in the calendar, and a month with every day solved seals into one finished picture. Settings can hide streaks. On iOS 26, the Games app lists Today's Mosaic and opens it in one tap, and the Home Screen widget draws your month as a small mosaic. PICK A DIFFICULTY AND KEEP GOING Choose one of five difficulties, from Beginner to Expert, and play as many boards as you like: there is always another, and nothing to wait for. Keep solving in a difficulty and a Masterwork opens: cut one fused slab into exactly the right shards and its picture joins your Collection. Every difficulty earns two pictures. Hard and Expert boards add Glaze marks, which pin a cell's color and turn a board into a deduction puzzle, and the Fold, where two mirror-image pieces must be seated as a symmetric pair. Every board is solvable by construction, with or without hints. A LITTLE REAL HISTORY IN EVERY TRADITION Each Tradition comes with a short note on the history behind it, and the picture you restore there is drawn after it: from Ravenna and St Mark's in Venice to the baths of Ostia, the zellij of Fez and the Vatican Mosaic Studio. Every mosaic in Smalti, boards, Collection, monthly seals and achievement badges alike, is drawn by the game's own renderer. MORE WAYS TO PLAY • Daily Excavation: an ever-deeper ladder of mosaics, new every day, with a Game Center depth board • iPad: the board and tray side by side in landscape DESIGNED TO BE KIND • Hints that show a real placement, never a cryptic nudge • Hint packs are optional and never needed to progress • A quiet finish: the result and a one-word grade, not a time and a move count • Color-blind assist, Reduce Motion, Dynamic Type and a full dark mode • Six color themes • No ads, ever: no rewarded video, no banners, nothing to sit through • No account. No data collected. Works fully offline. Made by one developer.

Screenshots

Just Stack · Just Play4 screens
Smalti4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Just Stack · Just Play at Free against Smalti's $6.99. On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Just Stack · Just Play is free to download; Smalti costs $6.99 up front. Just Stack · Just Play sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Smalti sells 9 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 5 level
Just Stack · Just Play versus Smalti: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJust Stack · Just PlaySmalti
PriceFree — better$6.99
Update frequency—Monthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTwo Intelligences, Inc.Ahmet Cetin

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Just Stack · Just Play

One-time1
  • Just Stack Pro$2.99
9 purchases

Smalti

One-time9
  • Kilnfire Theme$1.99
  • Seaglass Theme$1.99
  • 40 Hints$1.99
Show 6 more
  • 5 Streak Freezes$1.99
  • 100 Hints$2.99
  • Apprentice Unlock$5.99
  • Starter Bundle$8.99
  • Artisan Unlock$9.99
  • Patron Unlock$14.99

Questions

Is Just Stack · Just Play free?
Just Stack · Just Play is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Smalti free?
Smalti costs $6.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Do Just Stack · Just Play or Smalti have ads?
Neither Just Stack · Just Play nor Smalti shows ads.

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