Comparison

Gem Falls vs Steelbound

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

Head to head
About

Gem Falls

Features
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Match three or more, watch the cascade take the rest, and keep going. Gemfall is an endless match-3 built for picking up and putting down. Every level asks for something different. Clear a colour, break through the ice, bring the cargo home. And when you close the app mid-run, the board, the score and your powerups are waiting exactly as you left them. No timer running against your day, no lives to wait for, no move you have to make right now. FOURTEEN WORLDS Every level is set somewhere, and where never changes: level two is a Maya temple in the jungle, level four is a dead valley under an erupting volcano, and they will be next time too. A wreck on the sea floor. A sweet factory. A frozen kingdom, a haunted mansion, a marble gate in the clouds, a garden at sunset, a gorge full of waterfalls, a toy box at the end of the afternoon, a fjord under the northern lights. Each world has its own six pieces, its own board, and its own weather in the air above it. CLASSIC Endless levels, each with its own objective. Chain your matches to build heat, and every gem on the board is worth more while it lasts. Clear the level, fall through the warp, and the next one asks a little more of you. TIME ATTACK Sixty seconds. Every match buys you a few more. See how far you can stretch the clock. POWER GEMS Four in a row makes a gem that clears a whole line. An L or a T makes one that blows a hole in the board. Five in a row makes the star. The rarest piece in the game and worth waiting for. Put two power gems together and the board comes apart. ICE, STONE AND CARGO Later levels do not just hand you the board. Ice freezes gems in place until you break the shell. Stone blocks take repeated knocks. Cargo has to be walked all the way to the bottom before it counts. FAIR BY DESIGN Ā· Free. No in-app purchases, no subscriptions, no ads. Nothing is locked behind a paywall, because there is no paywall. Ā· Fully playable offline. Ā· Nothing is collected. No analytics, no tracking, no account, no sign-up. Your run lives on your phone and nowhere else. Ā· The six gems differ in shape as well as in colour, so they stay apart if you do not see colour the way most people do. GAME CENTER Sign in to Game Center and your best Classic and Time Attack scores go on Apple's global leaderboards. Skip it and the game plays exactly the same, minus a rank. Gemfall is built from scratch in Swift for iPhone, rebuilt from the browser game of the same name. iPhone, portrait, iOS 18 or later.

About

Steelbound

Features
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Turn your iPhone into a wooden tabletop maze. Steelbound uses motion sensors and realistic physics to make every tilt, nudge, and flick matter. Guide polished steel balls through grooves, around walls, over obstacles, and into the glowing finish. Push too hard and a ball may escape its path, fall into a danger hole, or leave another ball behind. Each stage introduces a new physical challenge: • Tilt naturally to control direction and speed • Nudge the board to free a ball or change its momentum • Flick and stop the phone to make the ball jump • Navigate straight and curved grooves, walls, and holes • Control multiple balls at once in advanced stages • Guide every ball to safety to complete the stage The stages grow more demanding as you progress, rewarding patience, timing, balance, and a steady hand. Your progress is saved automatically, so you can continue from the latest stage whenever you return. Simple to begin. Satisfying to master.

Screenshots

Gem Falls4 screens
Steelbound4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Gem Falls at none against Steelbound's shown. Gem Falls also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). Steelbound's advantage is update cadence (daily vs weekly). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gem Falls ships an update weekly, Steelbound daily. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences Ā· 3 level
Gem Falls versus Steelbound: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGem FallsSteelbound
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeeklyDaily — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSandrino KeldersHaggai Magen

In-app purchases

None

Gem Falls

No in-app purchases

None

Steelbound

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gem Falls free?
Gem Falls is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Steelbound free?
Steelbound is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Gem Falls or Steelbound have ads?
Steelbound shows ads; Gem Falls does not.
Which is updated more often, Gem Falls or Steelbound?
Gem Falls ships an update weekly, and Steelbound daily. Most recently, Gem Falls was updated on October 29, 2026 and Steelbound on October 29, 2026.

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