Comparison

ThinkGrid vs Shadepix

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

Head to head
About

ThinkGrid

Features
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Eleven logic puzzles in one app. No ads, no timers, no energy bars โ€” just a grid and the part of your brain that likes being asked something. THE PUZZLES Suguru โ€” fill each cage with unique numbers Star Battle โ€” place stars so no two touch Masyu โ€” loop through black and white pearls Nonogram โ€” reveal the picture from row and column clues Color Link โ€” connect matching colors and cover the board Hashi โ€” connect islands with bridges Light Up โ€” place bulbs to light every white cell Kakuro โ€” fill runs with digits that sum to each clue Fillomino โ€” fill the grid so each number group has the right size Tents โ€” pitch a tent next to every tree Bomb Digger โ€” deduce where every mine is hidden Every puzzle is generated with a unique solution and is solvable by logic alone. You never have to guess. A NEW DAILY IN EVERY GAME Eleven daily puzzles, one per game, every day. Keep a streak, track which games you return to, and see your solving habits build up over the months. SIX DIFFICULTIES Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert, Master, Grandmaster. Easy is a coffee break. Grandmaster is not. LEARN ANY OF THEM Each game has a step-by-step guide that plays out on a real board, one move at a time, explaining why each move is the only one that works. No prior knowledge needed for any of the eleven. NO ADS, EVER The free tier is complete: every game, every daily, four difficulty tiers. There is no advertising anywhere in ThinkGrid and there never will be. THINKGRID PLUS For players who want the deep end: - Master and Grandmaster difficulty across every game - Daily archive โ€” replay any past daily, back to launch - Seven extra themes: Paper, Midnight, Dusk, OLED, Blossom, Cobalt and Aurora - Solving insights: heatmaps, technique breakdowns, a monthly summary Yearly with a 7-day free trial, or a one-time payment for lifetime access. After the 7-day free trial, payment is charged to your Apple ID account. The yearly subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Available in English, Dutch and Spanish. Your progress stays on your device, and you can back it up and restore it yourself. Privacy policy: https://deappmakers.nl/legal/thinkgrid-privacy/ Terms of use: https://deappmakers.nl/legal/thinkgrid-terms/

About

Shadepix

Features
Read full description

Fill the squares, reveal the picture. Shadepix is a classic nonogram (picross) game with a calm dark board, one-finger drag painting, and pictures worth finishing. Every number tells you the length of a run of filled squares โ€” read the clues, mark what must stay empty, and a hidden pixel picture appears. A DAILY PUZZLE FOR EVERYONE One puzzle a day, the same board for every player in the world, generated from the calendar date itself โ€” no server required. The daily is how you earn diamonds: it pays more for every consecutive day, and every seventh day of a streak refills your energy for free. 330 HAND-DRAWN PICTURES Ten picture packs โ€” Starter, Animals, Everyday Icons, Food, Space, Music, Vehicles, Sports, Nature and Weather โ€” plus five advanced packs: Landmarks, Dinosaurs, Mythical Creatures, Deep Sea and Retro Tech, where one giant 20x20 picture is solved as four boards in a row. STAGES, ONE PICTURE AT A TIME Every pack is a 30-stage journey: clear a stage to open the next. Boards grow from quick 5x5 warm-ups to 15x15, and the advanced packs push to 20x20 โ€” pinch to zoom on the big ones. MISTAKES CANNOT RUIN THE PICTURE A wrongly filled square is corrected to an ร— for you, so the picture never comes out wrong. But three mistakes end the board: continue for 60 diamonds, or start over for free. MEDALS AND LEADERBOARDS Bronze, silver and gold medals for pictures solved, packs completed, daily streaks and flawless clears โ€” earned as Game Center achievements, with worldwide leaderboards for pictures solved and best streak. ENERGY INSTEAD OF ADS Starting a puzzle costs 1 energy from a bar of 5, and the bar refills on its own, one point every 15 minutes. The Daily never costs energy, and replaying a picture you have already solved is free. If you would rather not wait, a full refill costs 100 diamonds. BUILT TO BE PLEASANT - Drag across a row or column to fill several squares at once - Haptic feedback you can switch off - Works completely offline, on a plane or underground - Fully localized in 30 languages NO ADS. EVER. No banners, no interstitials, no rewarded video, no account, no tracking. Diamonds come from the daily puzzle, and optional diamond packs exist only if you want hints, unlocks or a refill sooner.

Screenshots

ThinkGrid4 screens
Shadepix4 screens

Verdict

The call

ThinkGrid and Shadepix are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters โ€” price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. ThinkGrid sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per year and Shadepix sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
ThinkGrid versus Shadepix: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThinkGridShadepix
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsโ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 โ€” better15.1
Further details โ€” not scored
Size40 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDe AppmakersToru Kitajima

In-app purchases

5 purchases

ThinkGrid

Subscriptions1
  • ThinkGrid Plus Yearly$17.991 Year
One-time4
  • ThinkGrid Tip Espresso$1.99
  • ThinkGrid Tip Latte$3.99
  • ThinkGrid Tip Pot$8.99
Show 1 more
  • ThinkGrid Plus Lifetime$29.99
5 purchases

Shadepix

One-time5
  • Handful of Diamonds$1.99
  • Pouch of Diamonds$4.99
  • Chest of Diamonds$9.99
Show 2 more
  • Vault of Diamonds$19.99
  • Diamond Mine$49.99

Questions

Is ThinkGrid free?
ThinkGrid is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shadepix free?
Shadepix is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ThinkGrid or Shadepix have ads?
Neither ThinkGrid nor Shadepix shows ads.

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