Comparison

Sand Away! vs What the Cubes

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

Head to head
About

Sand Away!

A satisfying puzzle game where you break apart colorful sand figures by swiping cubes into matching buckets. Follow arrows and think ahead to solve increasingly clever puzzles with unique obstacles.

Highlights
  • Break apart colorful sand figures
  • Sort cubes into matching buckets
  • Follow directional arrows
  • Overcome unique obstacles
  • Satisfying sand effects
  • Increasingly challenging puzzles
Features
Read full description

Break apart colorful sand figures, follow the arrows, and sort every cube into the matching bucket! Welcome to Sand Away!, a satisfying puzzle game where colorful figures are built entirely from tiny sand cubes — and every cube has a direction. Tap and dissolve the arrowed sand cubes in the correct order, clear the figure piece by piece, and guide the sand into matching colorful buckets. Think ahead, choose the right cubes, and make sure every color finds its place. It starts simple, but new obstacles quickly turn every figure into a clever puzzle. Discover unique obstacles: * Hidden Sand – Clear the sand blocking its path to reveal what’s underneath. * Linked Sand – Connected sand cubes move together, so plan your moves carefully. * Hidden Bucket – Clear the way to reveal the bucket and discover its color. * Ice – Break the required sand cubes to crack through the ice. * Cardboard – Clear the required sand and break through the cardboard barrier. Dissolve satisfying 3D figures, uncover hidden colors, manage your buckets, and find the perfect sequence of moves. With colorful visuals, satisfying sand effects, and increasingly challenging puzzles, Sand Away! is easy to learn and hard to put down. Can you clear every cube and send all the sand away?

About

What the Cubes

Solve intricate cube puzzles by strategically deploying buses to collect colored blocks. Unravel complex sculptures by finding the correct order to free buried cubes and fill your transport.

Highlights
  • Shred cube sculptures
  • Figure out bus order
  • Watch freed cubes sprint
  • Outsmart special buses
  • Savor final send-off
Features
Read full description

What The Cubes turns everything into blocks, and every block into a puzzle. Chubby elephants and grinning robots, strawberries, lighthouses, UFOs, matryoshka dolls: a whole world built from colorful little bricks. Your job: take each sculpture apart until nothing is left. Your only tool: holes. Send out a hole, and every free block of its color pops off the sculpture and drops in, one after another, until the hole is full and closes up. Sounds easy, until you look closer. The color you need is buried under three others. Each hole only fits so many blocks. Space on the board is tight. Send the wrong hole and it sits there half-empty, taking up a spot while the blocks it wants stay trapped deep inside the sculpture. This is a real puzzle: somewhere in that pile of blocks is the right order, and you have to find it. Study the shape, work out what sits on top of what, send the hole that opens up the next one, and the whole sculpture comes apart in one glorious chain. That moment, when the plan clicks and the shape melts away, is what What The Cubes is all about. And the puzzles keep finding new ways to fight back. Colors hide deep inside, revealed only as the outer layers come off. Mystery holes keep their color secret. Frozen holes thaw only after enough other holes are sent. Linked holes insist on going together, and locked holes wait for a key. Every level is a fresh shape with a fresh knot to untangle, and once it's gone, another is always waiting. In What The Cubes, you will: - Take apart adorable block sculptures, from tiny cacti to fire trucks and pirate flags - Figure out the right hole order to free the blocks buried deepest - Watch freed blocks pour into their hole, the reward for every good move - Outsmart frozen, hidden, linked and locked holes as the puzzles get craftier - Savor the perfect finish when the last block drops in Every sculpture is a knot made of blocks. The holes are how you untie it. Can you clear them all? Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Sand Away!4 screens
What the Cubes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: What the Cubes at 4.8 against Sand Away!'s 4.5. On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Sand Away! sells 9 one-off in-app purchases and What the Cubes sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

What the Cubes holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 36 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sand Away! ships an update every 8 days, What the Cubes every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Sand Away! versus What the Cubes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSand Away!What the Cubes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (17 ratings)4.8 (36 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1736 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size197 MB415 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperEmirhan CakarFeel Games Yazilim Oyun ve Bilisim Teknolojileri Anonim Sirketi

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Sand Away!

One-time9
  • Coin Pack 1$1.99
  • Fail Offer$5.99
  • No Ads$9.99
Show 6 more
  • Coin Pack 2$9.99
  • Small Bundle$9.99
  • Coin Pack 3$19.99
  • Coin Pack 4$39.99
  • Coin Pack 5$74.99
  • Coin Pack 6$99.99
10 purchases

What the Cubes

One-time10
  • Offer 2$1.99
  • Offer 5$4.99
  • Offer 7$6.99
Show 7 more
  • No Ads$6.99
  • Offer 8$7.99
  • No Ads Bundle$9.99
  • Offer 15$14.99
  • Offer 30$29.99
  • Offer 55$54.99
  • Offer 100$99.99

Questions

Is Sand Away! free?
Sand Away! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is What the Cubes free?
What the Cubes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sand Away! or What the Cubes?
What the Cubes is rated higher. Sand Away! averages 4.5 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while What the Cubes averages 4.8 from 36 ratings.
Do Sand Away! or What the Cubes have ads?
Both Sand Away! and What the Cubes show ads.
Which is updated more often, Sand Away! or What the Cubes?
Sand Away! ships an update every 8 days, and What the Cubes every 10 days. Most recently, Sand Away! was updated on October 31, 2026 and What the Cubes on November 6, 2026.

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