Cold Case Trace vs Last Seen
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cold Case Trace
Uncover the truth by examining a simulated phone's messages, photos, and data. Connect clues on an evidence board and accuse the killer in this interactive detective story. Your first case is free to play.
- Simulated phone with chats, photos, and data
- Interactive live chat with client
- Evidence board with red string connections
- Escalating hint system
- Multiple European case locations
- Unlockable cases via subscription
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Someone is lying. The phone knows. Redstring is a found-phone detective story. A client messages you in a live chat, hands you the victim's phone, and asks you to find the truth — from the first message to the final accusation. Every text, photo, voice memo, bank line and map ping is evidence. Read between the lines. Crack the passcodes. Pin the red string. Name the killer. YOUR FIRST CASE IS FREE Play "The Kessler File" from the opening message to the verdict — a full investigation, with no paywall in the middle of the story. A LIVE CHAT WITH THE CLIENT The person who knew the victim talks to you the whole way — asking the questions, reacting to your answers, and finally asking you to name a suspect. Type what you found; the story reacts. SNOOP A FULLY SIMULATED PHONE - Chats and DMs, including the deleted ones - A gallery with Hidden and Recently Deleted albums - Locked notes, voice memos, calendar, bank statements, browser tabs and location history - Every app can hide a clue. Nothing is random. PIN IT ON THE BOARD Your evidence board pins each discovery and links it with red string. Leave for days, come back, and the case is exactly where you left it — progress is saved per case. STUCK? ASK FOR A HINT Up to three escalating hints per question nudge you toward the evidence without spoiling the answer. Smart answer-matching understands what you mean. NAME THE TRUTH The final question is an accusation. Get it right and the case closes; get it wrong and you can reconsider the suspects. 10 CASES AT LAUNCH — MORE ON THE WAY Murder, disappearance, blackmail and betrayal across Europe — Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Vienna, Amsterdam, Prague, Copenhagen and Barcelona. Fully playable in 8 languages. REDSTRING PASS Case 1 is free forever. The Redstring Pass unlocks every case: - Weekly: $4.99 per week - Annual: $29.99 per year - Lifetime: $39.99 one-time — not a subscription Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage or cancel anytime in Settings - Apple Account - Subscriptions. Terms of Use (EULA): https://redstring-98526.web.app/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://redstring-98526.web.app/privacy.html Redstring is a work of interactive fiction. All characters, phones, messages and events are fictional; any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental. The app never accesses your real messages, photos or data.
Last Seen
Investigate a disappearance by searching through a missing person's phone. Uncover clues in texts, photos, and apps to piece together the timeline and solve the mystery. This interactive fiction game offers true-crime style cases.
- Explore a digital phone interface
- Analyze texts and photos
- Piece together timelines
- Solve true-crime style mysteries
- AI-assisted and human-edited cases
- Two free cases included
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Nina vanished after her birthday dinner. Her phone turned up under her best friend's passenger seat — but that friend says Nina never got in. In Last Seen, you don't watch the investigation. You are the investigation. A missing person's phone lands in your hands, unlocked, and everything they left behind is yours to search: the last texts they sent, the photos they never posted, the apps they used, the calls they didn't return. Piece together the timeline. Notice what doesn't add up. Decide who was lying — and figure out what really happened in the days before they disappeared. It plays like snooping through a real phone, because that's exactly what it is. Scroll their messages. Open their gallery. Dig through their notes, their maps, their social feeds. Every case is a self-contained true-crime mystery built for people who can't stop at one episode — twisting, character-driven, and made to be solved. TWO COMPLETE CASES ARE FREE. Trace Nina's disappearance in AFTER MIDNIGHT, or investigate a stolen museum watch and a missing registrar in THE EMPTY CASE. Future case files can join the library without renumbering the stories you already started. Made for true-crime fans, mystery readers, and anyone who has ever wanted to work the case themselves. Last Seen is a work of interactive fiction. All characters, cases, and events are entirely fictional. The stories are AI-assisted and human-edited; an in-app notice explains how AI is used. Any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental. Terms of Use (Apple Standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Last Seen at 100% against Cold Case Trace's 40%. Last Seen also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5). Cold Case Trace's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks) and ratings volume (64 vs 20). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Cold Case Trace sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days and Last Seen sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Last Seen holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 64 and 20 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Cold Case Trace's written reviews are positive against 100% of Last Seen's.
Cold Case Trace ships an update every 9 days, Last Seen every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Cold Case Trace | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (64 ratings) | 4.8 (20 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 64 — better | 20 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 135 MB | 53 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Oguzhan Yildirim | Filipp Bazun |
Customer experience
Cold Case Trace
Last Seen
In-app purchases
Cold Case Trace
- Redstring Pass — Weekly$6.997 Days
- Annual Pass — Special Offer$19.991 Year
- Redstring Pass — Annual$39.991 Year
- Reveal the Answer$1.99
- 5 Reveals$4.99
- 10 Reveals$7.99
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- All Cases — Lifetime$49.99
Last Seen
- Signal 9 — Weekly$4.997 Days
- Signal 9 — Annual$29.991 Year
- Second Listen$3.99
- Closing Time$3.99
Questions
Is Cold Case Trace free?
Is Last Seen free?
Which has better reviews, Cold Case Trace or Last Seen?
Do Cold Case Trace or Last Seen have ads?
Which is updated more often, Cold Case Trace or Last Seen?
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