Comparison

Thread vs Kolba

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

Head to head
About

Thread

Engage in a daily word puzzle where you uncover five answers from a shared letter tray. Reveal clues, then find the final word that connects them all. Create and share your own puzzles with the community.

Highlights
  • Daily new puzzles
  • Build words from letter tray
  • Find connecting word
  • Create and share custom puzzles
  • Community puzzle library
  • Track stats and streaks
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

Thread is your daily word break. Every puzzle hides five answers you build from the same tray of letters. Find them, reveal their clues, then figure out the final word that links them all together. A FRESH CHALLENGE EVERY DAY A new puzzle drops each day. Study the letters, try different combinations, and let the clues guide you toward that final moment when everything clicks. FIVE WORDS, ONE LINK The five answers can look unrelated, but a single word ties them together. Can you spot it before you run out of tries? A HANDS-ON WAY TO PLAY No keyboard here. Build each answer straight from the letter tray, with clear feedback showing which letters are in the right spot, in the wrong spot, or not needed at all. PLAY AT YOUR OWN PACE Track your streak and stats, replay past puzzles in the archive, and unlock themes to personalize the experience. Add the widget to keep Thread always at hand. SHARE WITHOUT SPOILERS Send your result to friends without giving away the day's answers. CREATE, PUBLISH AND PLAY IN COMMUNITY Make your own threads and send them with a link, or publish them in Community for anyone to play. Discover other people’s threads and like your favorites. Every thread is reviewed before it goes live, and you can report or block anything you’d rather not see. Thread Pro lets you play with no ads, get unlimited archive access, and use extra hints and themes. The daily challenge is always free to play. THREAD PRO — OPTIONAL • Monthly: $1.99/month • Annual: $8.99/year (7-day free trial) • Lifetime: $17.99 one-time purchase Prices may vary by region. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://hilo.ogamlabs.com/en/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://hilo.ogamlabs.com/en/privacy/

About

Kolba

Features
Read full description

Kolba is a calm ball sort puzzle. One new puzzle every day, the same one for everyone, and a journey of chapters to play at your own pace. Move balls between glass tubes until every colour sits in a tube of its own. A group of the same colour on top moves together. Some puzzles add a jar: it holds one group at a time, locks to the first colour you put in it, and has to be empty when you finish. That one rule changes how you plan. A journey from an atom to the universe: behind your tubes, each run of 30 chapters is one step up in scale. You start inside an atom, pass molecules, cells, a leaf, a meadow and a forest, rise above the clouds, circle the Earth and the Moon, and sort your way out to the stars, a galaxy and the whole universe. Tilt your phone and the world slides gently behind the board. • 450 numbered chapters: finish one and the next is a tap away. Tubes, fog that hides what lies underneath, tubes of different heights, and a Challenge every tenth chapter that you can skip for now and come back to • Soft music, off in Settings • A new daily puzzle at midnight, the same for everyone, easiest on Monday • Past days: every puzzle you missed waits in the archive, with no penalty • A short tutorial that teaches by playing, not by reading • Hints that nudge before they tell, and undo as far back as you like • A score from your moves against par, with no timer on the daily • A quiet month view of the days you played, with no streak to lose • Ball styles (clay, glass or jelly), ball palettes and backgrounds to suit your eyes • Colour-assist symbols, high contrast, reduced motion and VoiceOver support • Optional Game Center leaderboards and achievements • Optional iCloud sync of your lessons and finished days • A widget, a Control Center control and a Siri shortcut for today's puzzle • In English, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hindi, Russian and Indonesian No ads. No purchases. No account. No tracking. Kolba works fully offline. Nothing goes to us: iCloud sync goes to your own iCloud, Game Center only if you turn it on.

Screenshots

Thread4 screens
Kolba4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Kolba at none against Thread's 3. Kolba also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Thread sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Kolba asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thread ships an update fortnightly, Kolba every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Thread versus Kolba: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThreadKolba
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size163 MB47 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOSCAR CANTON GARCIATarkan Cicek

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Thread

Subscriptions2
  • Thread Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Thread Pro Yearly7 Days trial$8.991 Year
One-time1
  • Thread PRO$17.99
None

Kolba

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Thread free?
Thread is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Kolba free?
Kolba is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Thread or Kolba have ads?
Thread shows ads; Kolba does not.
Which is updated more often, Thread or Kolba?
Thread ships an update fortnightly, and Kolba every 2 days. Most recently, Thread was updated on October 31, 2026 and Kolba on November 10, 2026.

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