Pocket Detective vs PhonePlot
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pocket Detective
A logic puzzle game where you deduce criminals by analyzing statements and role-based rules. Progress through cases, compete on leaderboards, and play offline.
- Logic puzzle gameplay
- Interrogate suspects
- Role-based deduction
- Multiple game modes
- Offline play
- Detailed statistics
- Game Center integration
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Pocket Detective is a single-player logic game about catching liars. Study the case file, interrogate suspects, test their statements against the rules of their claimed roles, and arrest every criminal. Witnesses tell the truth. Criminals lie while posing as witnesses. Bystanders are not criminals, but they can still disrupt the investigation. Each of 40 roles brings its own information, passive effect, or ability. The answer is on the board. You just have to prove it. • Academy: Learn the rules step by step across more than 30 handcrafted cases. New roles and mechanics are introduced as you progress. • Career: Solve as many cases as possible before your three lives run out. Build your score and compete on the Game Center leaderboard. • Daily Case: Everyone receives the same new investigation each day. • Custom Case: Choose the suspects, criminals, and role sets yourself, or enter a Case Number to replay a known investigation. • Track your record: Review detailed statistics, compare your performance across roles and modes, and earn Game Center achievements. • Play offline: Case generation and gameplay work without an internet connection. Pocket Detective is designed exclusively for iPhone and iPad. Download free and play Academy Tier 1. Complete it to unlock Career, Daily Case, and Custom Case with a starter set of roles. A small one-time Full Game purchase unlocks Academy Tiers 2 through 5, and all 40 roles. There are no subscriptions or consumable purchases.
PhonePlot
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A journalist is missing. Her sister hands you the only thing left: a clone of her phone. PhonePlot is one of those detective games where nothing is handed to you. No hidden object scenes, no timers. Just a phone that feels real, and a truth somebody tried to delete. WHAT YOU GET TO OPEN Explore messages, photos, audio and personal records in a phone that feels lived in. Each case has its own mix of apps and records. Inspect photos and metadata, replay recordings and follow clues to password-protected records. Audio is in English and Russian, with localized transcripts in all 15 supported languages. HOW THE CASE WORKS Connect clues across apps, compare dates and follow the evidence. Give short answers, choose options, put events in order and select supporting records. Each investigation ends with an update on what happened next. STUCK IS FINE Every question carries three clues that unlock as you go, from a nudge to a straight answer. An optional video or PhonePlot+ unlocks a clue. These are mystery games, not patience tests. Start playing for free. A weekly PhonePlot+ subscription unlocks all cases, removes ads and provides unlimited hints. You can also make a one-time purchase to unlock an individual case permanently. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled in your Apple Account settings. No registration is required. Stories work offline; ads and purchases require an internet connection. FOR PLAYERS WHO LIKE Crime stories told through screens, cold case podcasts, mystery games and puzzle games built on deduction rather than reflexes, and long evenings spent proving somebody wrong. Nine complete cases with 151 questions, including two new sequels: Second Draft and Open House. Available in English, Russian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Bengali, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Arabic. PhonePlot is fiction. Every character, company, message and photograph in it was invented for this game. Terms of Use: https://games.lebedushka.com/phoneplot/terms Privacy Policy: https://games.lebedushka.com/phoneplot/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Pocket Detective at none against PhonePlot's shown. PhonePlot's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support 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. Pocket Detective sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and PhonePlot sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pocket Detective | PhonePlot |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 83 MB | 180 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Cameron Shemilt | LEBEDUSHKA, MCHJ XK |
In-app purchases
Pocket Detective
- Full Game$4.99
PhonePlot
- PhonePlot+$7.997 Days
- PhonePlot+$0.99
- One case key$1.99









