Comparison

Tidepool Tycoon vs Dev Idle

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

Head to head
About

Tidepool Tycoon

Features
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Tap a tidepool, build a harbor, watch it come alive. Tidepool Tycoon is a cozy idle tycoon where you grow a tiny tidal cove into a bustling seaside harbor โ€” fishing huts, kelp farms, a glowing tidepool aquarium, a lighthouse, and more, each earning Shells on their own, even while you're away. HOW IT WORKS โ€ข Place and upgrade buildings along the shore โ€” each earns Shells every second โ€ข Tap buildings for bonus collections on top of your passive income โ€ข Come back later to a "Welcome Back" haul of everything you earned while gone โ€ข "Set Sail" to reset your cove for a permanent production boost โ€” and unlock a brand new look for the whole harbor A LIVING WORLD, NOT JUST A SPREADSHEET โ€ข Shimmering, animated water and a slow day-to-night lighting cycle โ€ข Gulls wheel overhead, crabs scuttle the shoreline, dolphins leap offshore โ€ข Drag every building โ€” and every decoration โ€” anywhere you like. It's your cove, arranged your way โ€ข Set Sail through four hand-illustrated biomes: Dawn Cove, Sunset Harbor, Moonlit Bay, and Aurora Tide BUILT TO RESPECT YOUR TIME โ€ข Full offline progress โ€” your harbor never stops earning โ€ข Daily streaks reward you for just checking in โ€ข Free to play, with fair optional extras: remove ads, boost your offline earnings, or join the Tidepool Club for an ongoing production boost โ€” never required to enjoy the game Plant your first fishing hut and see what your cove becomes. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Dev Idle

Features
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You started by pasting an answer off Stack Overflow. Twelve tiers later you are running an autonomous agent fleet, a server farm and a quantum compiler, and the changelog has started calling the next one The Singularity. Dev Idle is an idle game about being an iOS developer, made by one. Tap to write code, hire the pipeline that writes it for you, then ship a version and do the whole thing again, faster. THE LOOP โ€ข BUILD โ€” Twelve generator tiers, from "Stack Overflow copy-paste" to "The Singularity". Every 10, 25, 50 and 100 you own doubles that tier's output. Forever. There is no last milestone. โ€ข SHIP โ€” Submit a version for App Review, wait out the thirty-minute queue like the rest of us, and bank Reputation for a permanent income multiplier. This wait is the game's clock, and yes, that is the joke. โ€ข LAB โ€” Every ship also pays Commits, which buy permanent upgrades that survive every reset. A bad run still pays. No run is wasted. โ€ข SHOP โ€” Conference Tickets buy time, never content: expedite a review, double an offline haul, or collect eight hours at once. โ€ข PASS โ€” A four-week Sprint Pass season, 50 tiers, earned entirely by playing. THE PART THAT MAKES IT LAST Get big enough and you can IPO. Trade your whole Reputation for Shares, raise the level cap on every permanent upgrade, and watch the forty hours of progress you just gave up come back in four. Then the horizon moves again. BALANCED BY SIMULATION, NOT BY VIBES The economy runs in a harness that plays thousands of prestige cycles before a number ships. Tier 4 inside two minutes. Your first version out the door in about an hour. The Singularity considerably later. THINGS WE CARED ABOUT โ€ข Offline earnings, with a proper "while you were away" report when you come back. โ€ข A Live Activity that counts your App Review down on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. โ€ข Unlockable editor themes. All of them dark, because it is that kind of game. โ€ข Every number monospaced, so counters tick without jittering. โ€ข No ads. Not between screens, not for a bonus, not ever โ€” there is no ad code in the app at all. โ€ข Plays entirely offline. No account, no sign-up, nothing personal collected โ€” no name, no email, no advertising identifier, no tracking. Your save syncs through your own iCloud. FREE TO PLAY, AND MEANT IT Optional purchases shorten the road. Not one of them unlocks content you cannot reach by playing, because a wall you cannot climb is a game you stop opening. Dev Idle Pro โ€” $4.99 per month with a 7-day free trial: ร—2 income, offline earnings at full rate with double the cap, a bigger daily Ticket bonus, an exclusive editor theme, and every season's premium Sprint Pass track included. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of that period. Manage or cancel it in Settings โ€บ Apple Account โ€บ Subscriptions. Any unused portion of the free trial is forfeited when you buy the subscription. Terms of Use: https://devidle.petrina.me/terms Privacy Policy: https://devidle.petrina.me/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Tidepool Tycoon4 screens
Dev Idle4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Dev Idle at none against Tidepool Tycoon's shown. Dev Idle also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 weeks). Tidepool Tycoon's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Tidepool Tycoon sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Dev Idle sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tidepool Tycoon ships an update every 2 weeks, Dev Idle daily. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
Tidepool Tycoon versus Dev Idle: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTidepool TycoonDev Idle
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksDaily โ€” better
AdsYesNo โ€” better
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size18 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTam TranDavid Petrina

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Tidepool Tycoon

Subscriptions1
  • Tidepool Club$9.991 Month
One-time7
  • Pearl Pack - Small$0.99
  • Castaway Pack$2.99
  • Pearl Pack - Medium$4.99
Show 4 more
  • Harbormaster Deed$6.99
  • Pearl Pack - Large$9.99
  • Founder's Chest$19.99
  • Pearl Pack - Huge$19.99
10 purchases

Dev Idle

Subscriptions1
  • Dev Idle Pro7 Days trial$4.991 Month
One-time9
  • Hotfix โ€” 100 Tickets$0.99
  • Starter Pack$1.99
  • Sprint Pass Premium Track$2.99
Show 6 more
  • Monthly Card โ€” 40 a Day$3.99
  • Overtime$4.99
  • Sprint โ€” 600 Tickets$4.99
  • Release โ€” 1,400 Tickets$9.99
  • Major Version โ€” 3,200 Tickets$19.99
  • Enterprise โ€” 9,000 Tickets$49.99

Questions

Is Tidepool Tycoon free?
Tidepool Tycoon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Dev Idle free?
Dev Idle is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Tidepool Tycoon or Dev Idle have ads?
Tidepool Tycoon shows ads; Dev Idle does not.
Which is updated more often, Tidepool Tycoon or Dev Idle?
Tidepool Tycoon ships an update every 2 weeks, and Dev Idle daily. Most recently, Tidepool Tycoon was updated on October 3, 2026 and Dev Idle on October 7, 2026.

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