Comparison

Below The Layer vs UBOOTSIM

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

Head to head
About

Below The Layer

Command a submarine in a tactical simulation. Interpret sonar, exploit thermal layers, and make critical decisions about evasion or engagement. Every choice has consequences in this challenging game of stealth and strategy.

Highlights
  • Sonar analysis
  • Target motion solutions
  • Periscope observation
  • Torpedo room operation
  • Weapon guidance
  • Patrol mission execution
  • Stealth tactics
Features
Read full description

Take command of a submarine in a tactical simulation where every decision matters. Read the ocean, interpret uncertain contacts, exploit the thermal layer, and decide when to evade or strike. No ads. No in-app purchases. No subscriptions. The complete game is yours from the moment you dive. Listen through passive sonar, classify contacts, and maneuver to turn uncertain bearings into a firing solution. Close the range, prepare your tubes, and decide whether the shot is worth revealing your position. Every choice has a cost. Speed helps you intercept, but it raises self-noise. The thermal layer may hide you—or conceal the enemy. A periscope observation can tighten a solution, but an exposed mast can betray you. Every torpedo launch leaves a datum that escorts, helicopters, and hostile submarines may investigate. FEATURES - Read faint contacts on a scrolling broadband waterfall, then dissect their signatures in narrowband - Build honest target-motion solutions from bearing rate, geometry, and your own maneuvers—not omniscient map markers - Risk raising the periscope to sweep the horizon, estimate range, and judge angle on the bow - Operate a working torpedo room: power, program, flood, open, fire, secure, and reload four independent tubes - Keep launched weapons on the guidance wire until their active seekers take over - Carry out changing patrol orders involving interception, reconnaissance, navigation, identification, and weapons-tight restrictions - Outsmart escorts, ASW helicopters, and hostile submarines that search for where they think you are - Exploit depth, silence, thermal layers, bottom terrain, maneuver, and decoys to break the enemy’s picture - Cross long patrol distances under time compression that yields when danger arrives - Face reproducible seeded patrols where imperfect information makes every decision matter Your crew handles routine classification and procedure. You decide where to listen, which contact to track, when to expose the boat, when to fire, and when to break contact and return home. Below the Layer rewards patience, geometry, stealth, and judgment—not reflex shooting.

About

UBOOTSIM

Command a World War II U-boat in the Strait of Gibraltar. Hunt enemy convoys, launch torpedoes, and survive escorts with depth charges. Experience realistic submarine mechanics and soundscapes at your own pace.

Highlights
  • Periscope and binoculars with zoom
  • Hydrophone for detecting targets
  • Tactical chart for navigation
  • Torpedo Data Computer (TDC)
  • Deck gun for surface attacks
  • Realistic diving and surfacing mechanics
  • Immersive sound effects
Features
Read full description

November 1941. The Strait of Gibraltar. You command a Type VIIC U-boat: 67 metres of steel, four bow tubes and one at the stern. On the horizon, smoke from a convoy: five freighters and a tanker, guarded by a destroyer and two corvettes. Your mission: sink as much tonnage as you can and make it home alive. UBOOTSIM is a World War II submarine simulator made to be enjoyed at your own pace. Every attack is a small game of chess between you, the convoy and its escorts. HUNT - Attack periscope and bridge binoculars, with 1.5× to 6× zoom, a bearing scale and an automatic 360° sweep. - A living daylight sea: swell, whitecaps, clouds, sun glitter and funnel smoke that gives the convoy away long before its hulls. - Hydrophone to hear propellers while submerged: slow, heavy merchants and fast escorts. An audible alarm sounds for every new contact. - Tactical chart of the Strait with its coastline, grid, bearing ring, contacts and wakes. Tap a point and the helm and periscope turn towards it. STRIKE - Lock the target, take bearing and range marks and let the Torpedo Data Computer (TDC) find the solution. When the button turns green: fire! - Fine-tune the target's range, course and speed by hand, or switch on the automatic TDC for a more relaxed game. - Spreads of 1, 2 or 4 torpedoes, a stern tube and real-time reloading, one tube at a time. - Follow every torpedo with its wake, its countdown and a tracking window that zooms in for the last seconds. And, just as in 1941, some pistols fail. - On the surface, the 8.8 cm deck gun: tap the ship, wait for the green ring and fire. The crew corrects their aim with every hit. SURVIVE - After the first hit the convoy raises the alarm, turns and speeds up, and the escorts come after you with ASDIC and depth charges. - Go below the thermal layer, run silent, change course after every pass and keep an eye on your hull and battery. - Underwater side view: your U-boat angled as it dives, enemy hulls above you with the metres beneath their keels, and depth charges falling and bursting all around. - While you run on the surface a patrol aircraft may appear. If it spots you, it attacks and radios the destroyer. Dive in time… or shoot it down with the deck gun. A SUBMARINE YOU CAN FEEL - Diving depends on your speed: at full ahead the boat dips its bow and goes down at an angle; stopped, it barely sinks. - Alarm bell and the call of "Dive! Dive!" as you submerge, and "Surface! Surface!" as you come up. - Diesels rumbling on the surface and electric motors humming underwater, higher-pitched the faster you go. - The blast of compressed air at launch, the whistle of running torpedoes, explosions, ASDIC pings against the hull and depth charges that grow louder the closer they burst. SHIPS WITH CHARACTER - Freighters from different shipping lines, with coloured funnels, lifeboats and cargo derricks. - A long, low tanker: the big prize. - A fast, camouflaged destroyer with four guns, and two corvettes that never stop circling the convoy. - The more you zoom, the more you see: windows, flags, pennant numbers on the bow and fires when you hit them. FOR EVERY COMMANDER - Time compression from 1× to 32×, dropping back to 1× automatically at any danger. - "Show all ships" mode to learn the game. - Built-in quick guide in English and Spanish. - Scalable display: stretched to fill the window or proportional, as you prefer. - For iPhone, iPad and Mac, with a native Mac version and keyboard controls. Ship names are fictional. UBOOTSIM is a game: it simplifies reality to make it playable, while staying true to how war at sea was fought in 1941. Good hunting, Commander!

Screenshots

Below The Layer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: UBOOTSIM at 3 against Below The Layer's 1. On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Below The Layer against 5.0 for UBOOTSIM. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 3 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Below The Layer ships an update every 6 days, UBOOTSIM every 4 days. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Below The Layer versus UBOOTSIM: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBelow The LayerUBOOTSIM
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings)
Number of ratings5 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB12 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperJames SeawardPablo Kessler Saiz

Customer experience

Below The Layer

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

UBOOTSIM

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Below The Layer

No in-app purchases

None

UBOOTSIM

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Below The Layer free?
Below The Layer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is UBOOTSIM free?
UBOOTSIM is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Below The Layer or UBOOTSIM?
Below The Layer and UBOOTSIM are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 3 ratings respectively.
Do Below The Layer or UBOOTSIM have ads?
Neither Below The Layer nor UBOOTSIM shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Below The Layer or UBOOTSIM?
Below The Layer ships an update every 6 days, and UBOOTSIM every 4 days. Most recently, Below The Layer was updated on November 6, 2026 and UBOOTSIM on November 6, 2026.

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