Karel the Robot vs RISC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Karel the Robot
This educational app introduces programming concepts through interactive logic puzzles. It features a friendly robot that follows simple instructions, making coding accessible and fun for beginners and children.
- Learn programming concepts
- Interactive logic puzzles
- Robot-based instruction
- Structured programming environment
- Beginner-friendly coding
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Are you fed up by pointless computer games? Then you've come to the right place. Welcome to the world of Karel! An excellent place to learn, play and have fun...all at the same time! Karel for iPad is a logical game for children and/or an educational programming language for beginners. The main idea is to show that programming could be easy and fun - especially for kids. Karel is a small robot who lives in his world. He is able to follow simple instructions given manually or by a program. In the first mode he can be used even by small kids for solving simple logical exercises. In the second one it provides a complete environment for teaching structured programming.
RISC
Simulate a complete 32-bit mobile system, including CPU units and memory. Write and debug assembly code directly on the simulated hardware to understand its inner workings.
- 32-bit system simulation
- CPU unit simulation
- Memory subsystem simulation
- Native assembly coding
- Built-in debugger
- Hardware analysis
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RISC-V Assembly Simulator is a mobile 32-bit system simulator. The app simulates the entire system, all the way from each individual unit on a CPU to the memory subsystem. Write assembly natively to the CPU, with a built-in debugger so you can analyze your code and see what the hardware is doing. This app is designed to allow you to learn how to write assembly from your mobile device, simulating a real CPU at your devices maximum speed. Visualize how the hardware works if you want to, see all the registers, see your entire memory subsystem for each cycle. Learn the components of this individual CPU. This app currently supports the base Int for RV32 along with the M extension, allowing multiplication and division. Dual core systems are supported with the atomic instructions. This app features a built in assembler to allow you to learn to write code along with descriptive errors. Code along with Apple Intelligence, giving you advice and helping you fix bugs along the way (experimental). Natively integrated with your devices file system, allowing seamless transfer between devices and potentially other sources.
Screenshots
Verdict
Karel the Robot and RISC both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of RISC's written reviews are positive against 50% of Karel the Robot's. RISC also leads on price (Free vs $1.99) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 20 months). Karel the Robot's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
RISC is free to download; Karel the Robot costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Karel the Robot against 5.0 for RISC. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of Karel the Robot's written reviews are positive against 100% of RISC's.
Karel the Robot ships an update every 20 months, RISC every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Karel the Robot | RISC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 20 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | CloudMakers, s. r. o. | Matthew Jacobs |
Customer experience
Karel the Robot
RISC
In-app purchases
Karel the Robot
No in-app purchases
RISC
No in-app purchases
