Comparison

SideQuest vs Hotline Events

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

Head to head
About

SideQuest

Discover and complete real-life quests designed to turn ordinary days into small adventures. Earn XP, collect badges, and document your experiences in a personal journal. Packs can be unlocked with one-time purchases.

Highlights
  • Curated quest packs
  • Real-life challenges
  • XP and badge system
  • Personal quest journal
  • Solo or group play
  • One-time pack purchases
Features
Read full description

Give your day a side quest. SideQuest sends you on small, playful real-world quests that turn an ordinary day into a story worth telling. Go solo or bring a friend. Pick a quest, go do it, keep the memory. Write a dramatic museum label for a random object. Board the next bus, ride four stops, and explore wherever it drops you. Have the best outing you can on five dollars. Present one distinguished pebble to a stranger for an official rating. No big plans required. Most quests take under an hour. 100+ ORIGINAL QUESTS, IN PACKS THAT FIT YOUR MOOD Each pack is a themed set of hand-written quests with its own art, voice and badge. • City After Dark: turn one evening into a tiny movie • Make It Weird: creative dares with just enough absurdity • Main Character Energy: act like your life has a plot • Talk to Humans: tiny social moves that leave you a little less afraid of everyone • Soft Reset: quiet rituals for slowing down and looking up • Local Legend: know your city like it's been waiting for you • Curious Forever: odd questions, tiny lessons, real conversations • Taste of Somewhere: let appetite pick the route • Plus a pack of brave, respectful asks where a "no" still completes the quest CITY EDITIONS IN 160+ CITIES See your own city with new eyes. City Editions are quests written for real places, from New York and San Francisco to London, Paris, Tokyo and Mexico City. Crack optional riddles, collect small details, make something, and find the spots worth pausing in. Do them in any order, at your own pace. SOLO OR TOGETHER Take yourself on a little adventure, or finally give your group chat a plan. Invite a friend into a quest and they join free, no purchase needed. Bring two new friends in and you'll unlock Better Together, ten missions made for doing side by side. KEEP THE STORY Add a photo or a note when you finish. Your Journal keeps every adventure in one place, so you can look back on all the times you said yes. LEVEL UP IN REAL LIFE Earn XP, climb levels and collect badges like Certified Oddball, Night Cartographer and Plot Armor. KNOW BEFORE YOU GO Every quest shows its time, cost and challenge level up front, so you can pick what fits today and skip what doesn't. PACKS YOU KEEP. NO SUBSCRIPTION. Unlock with one-time purchases: a single pack, a whole city, or all ten core Originals with the Originals Vault. Once it's yours, it's yours. Less scrolling. More adventure. Pick a quest and go.

About

Hotline Events

Discover local happenings across Rhode Island with a personalized feed or calendar view. Find concerts, food events, markets, and more, all tailored to your interests and location. Save events, add them to your calendar, and share with friends.

Highlights
  • Personalized event feed
  • Calendar-based event exploration
  • Search events by interest and organizer
  • Filter by location, cost, and category
  • Save and manage future events
  • Add events to phone calendar
  • Share events with friends
Read full description

Hotline makes it easier to find out what is happening across Rhode Island. Browse a personalized feed shaped by your interests and location, or pick a date in the calendar-first Explore view to see what is happening that day. Hotline brings concerts, food pop-ups, farmers markets, art shows, comedy, family events, outdoor activities, wellness, classes, community events, and more into one useful place. With Hotline you can: - Browse your feed of local events - Explore events by day with a full calendar - Search events, organizers, series, and interests across RI - Filter by location, cost, category, and audience - Save and browse your future events - Add events you choose to your phone calendar - Share events with friends - Get useful notifications about saved events and strong matches Hotline is independently built and run in Providence for the whole state.

Screenshots

SideQuest4 screens
Hotline Events4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hotline Events at none against SideQuest's 11. SideQuest's advantage is ratings volume (9 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. SideQuest sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Hotline Events 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 SideQuest against 5.0 for Hotline Events. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SideQuest has 9 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SideQuest ships an update every 3 days, Hotline Events every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
SideQuest versus Hotline Events: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSideQuestHotline Events
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (9 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings9 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 4 days
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size396 MB80 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperOMG CareerWilliam Lupo

Customer experience

SideQuest

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Hotline Events

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

11 purchases

SideQuest

One-time11
  • One SideQuest Pack Key$9.99
  • City Edition Key$14.99
  • Originals + 1 City$14.99
Show 8 more
  • Originals Vault$14.99
  • Originals + 1 City$19.99
  • Discounted Originals Vault$19.99
  • Originals + 1 City$24.99
  • Originals + 2 Cities$24.99
  • Originals + 2 Cities$29.99
  • Originals + 2 Cities$34.99
  • Originals Vault$34.99
None

Hotline Events

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SideQuest free?
SideQuest is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hotline Events free?
Hotline Events is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SideQuest or Hotline Events?
SideQuest and Hotline Events are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 9 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do SideQuest or Hotline Events have ads?
Both SideQuest and Hotline Events show ads.
Which is updated more often, SideQuest or Hotline Events?
SideQuest ships an update every 3 days, and Hotline Events every 4 days. Most recently, SideQuest was updated on October 31, 2026 and Hotline Events on October 29, 2026.

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