Comparison

Cartographer vs Arrow Loop

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

Head to head
About

Cartographer

Features
Read full description

Cartographer is a relaxing map-coloring puzzle: tap a province and choose a color – no two neighboring provinces may share the same color. Arrange the land until every map is completely colored, and watch each finished map unfold like an old atlas page. FEATURES ‱ 120 unique island maps across four difficulty tiers ‱ No ads, no sign-up, no tracking ‱ Progress syncs automatically via iCloud across your devices ‱ Earn gold for every completed map ‱ Daily Challenge with a streak, plus Free Play with your own province count and difficulty THE FIRST 20 MAPS ARE FREE From map 11 onward, you unlock further map groups once you've collected enough gold. From map 21 onward, the full version is required – a one-time purchase, no subscription, for permanent access to all 120 maps. There's more to discover here as you journey on...

About

Arrow Loop

Read full description

Sharpen your logic in quiet focus. One loop. A few shaded cells. That's the whole rule — and the longer you look at the board, the clearer your mind becomes. Use the arrow-and-number clues to shade exactly as many cells as each arrow points to, then draw a single closed loop through every remaining cell. Shaded cells never touch side by side, and clue cells are never shaded or crossed by the loop. WHAT YOU GET - A pencil logic puzzle in the Yajilin style: draw the loop, shade the cells - Every board has exactly one answer - Hand-picked boards you can solve by reasoning alone. No guessing required - Four levels from Easy (6x6) to Expert (12x12), graded by the depth of reasoning - Today's puzzle: one board for everyone, set by the date - Drag to draw the loop, tap to shade a cell - Leave a puzzle and continue right where you stopped - Ranks and titles that grow as you solve - Gentle help when you're stuck: mistake highlighting and hints - Six board themes: Indigo, Ink, Vermilion, Pine, Sakura and Night - Fully offline. No sign-up - English and Japanese, in a calm paper-and-ink style MADE FOR YOU IF - You want to turn a few spare minutes into quiet, focused thinking - You enjoy Slitherlink, Nurikabe, Sudoku or nonograms - You're tired of ambiguous puzzles and ad-heavy apps - You love the satisfying click of a single, certain answer - You'd like a small bedtime ritual with nothing chasing you PRIVACY & PEACE OF MIND - No account needed - Puzzles ship inside the app, and your records stay on your device - No third-party ads or tracking - The app shows a small card introducing other apps by the developer (TORANKIRITE). To build it, the app reads public App Store information; nothing about you is sent

Screenshots

Cartographer4 screens
Arrow Loop4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Cartographer at weekly against Arrow Loop's every 2 months. Cartographer also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Cartographer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Arrow Loop sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cartographer ships an update weekly, Arrow Loop every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
Cartographer versus Arrow Loop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCartographerArrow Loop
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBenjamin Kahltorankirite

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Cartographer

One-time1
  • Full version$0.99
1 purchases

Arrow Loop

One-time1
  • Premium$4.99

Questions

Is Cartographer free?
Cartographer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Arrow Loop free?
Arrow Loop is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Cartographer or Arrow Loop have ads?
Neither Cartographer nor Arrow Loop shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cartographer or Arrow Loop?
Cartographer ships an update weekly, and Arrow Loop every 2 months. Most recently, Cartographer was updated on October 7, 2026 and Arrow Loop on October 22, 2026.

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