Comparison

Aquapolis vs Designer City

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

Head to head
About

Aquapolis

Build a futuristic underwater city, uncover a planetary mystery, and help inhabitants thrive. Explore lost civilizations, develop new technologies, and engage in quests. Play with friends in this immersive 3D simulation game.

Highlights
  • Build over 80 unique buildings and decorations
  • Solve mysteries and quests
  • Develop new technologies
  • Collect special tools
  • Immersive 3D graphics
  • Play with friends
Features
Read full description

Build a thriving underwater city, reveal the truth and save the planet in amazing FREE TO PLAY game! What has happened to the Earth in this distant future? Why is the whole planet covered with water? Find the answers with the help of brilliant Professor, charming Lana and charismatic Captain. *ALSO* Help the locals turn an old, abandoned village into a thriving metropolis. Build a modern underwater city with fully developed infrastructure. Educate the underwater inhabitants on every aspect of your modern technology. Seek out the remnants of lost civilization and solve the cryptic messages of an unlucky scientist. Play with your Facebook friends! *KEY FEATURES* * BUILD over 80 unique buildings and decorations for your city * SOLVE amazing mysteries and quests * DEVELOP new technologies * COLLECT special tools for repairs and maintenance. * IMMERSE yourself in this underwater city environment thanks to the impressive 3D graphics * PLAY with your friends *WHAT PLAYERS SAY ABOUT THE GAME* “Love under the sea! Great game and the graphics are cool. Challenges keep me busy” - Amzykate McKenzie “Underwater adventure. Light hearted fun. Very addictive but lots of fun” - Christine Jervies “Cool game! Very busy doing things all the time..always something different in this game...loving it and now addicted…” - Mama K “So far great fun! Only just starting out with this one and enjoying it immensely.” - LAURA PANTRY “Good Job Devs! The developers delivered on their promises and made a great game. Its quite rare to see developers that actually listen to their clients. GOOD JOB ON A GREAT GAME.” - Mila rose Baliwagan Official Page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AquapolisGame Follow us on Twitter: @AquapolisGame

About

Designer City

Design and build your dream city without any waiting times. Construct various buildings, manage resources, and create a unique skyline with over 2,000 landmarks. Play offline or online with optional in-game purchases.

Highlights
  • No wait times or timers
  • Design unique city skylines
  • Build residential, commercial, and industrial zones
  • Manage transportation networks
  • Shape landscapes with rivers and mountains
  • Over 2,000 buildings, trees, and decorations
Read full description

Free Offline City Building Game – No Wait Times! Tired of waiting to build? In this free offline city building game there are no timers—you control the pace. Design your city, expand your skyline, and create a thriving metropolis with 2,000+ landmarks and skyscrapers. BUILD YOUR CITY, YOUR WAY Construct houses, apartments and skyscrapers to attract residents. Create jobs with commercial and industrial buildings. Add city services, sports, leisure and community buildings, parks and decorations to keep everyone happy. Design a unique city skyline filled with landmarks, monuments and world-famous towers. BECOME A CITY TYCOON Happy citizens work harder and generate more income for you to reinvest. Manage transportation networks of roads, railways, subways and highways to keep people moving. Build airports, seaports and farms to boost business, trade and food supply. Expand beyond the city with an army, navy, air force and even a space program. STRATEGY AND SIMULATION Choose how you want to play: • Relax and design a beautiful city skyline. • Use advanced analytics and statistics to optimize your city. • Manage pollution, zoning, services and revenue like a true city tycoon. DYNAMIC AND UNIQUE Every city is different thanks to dynamic land generation. Shape the landscape however you want - add rivers, mountain ranges, forests and lakes. Create a green, carbon-neutral city using renewable power and public transport, or build a bustling downtown packed with skyscrapers and real life buildings. ENDLESS CITY BUILDING FUN With almost 2,000 buildings, trees and decorations, no two cities will ever be the same. Reset and build again on a brand-new landscape. Climb the leaderboards with your dream city. PLAY FREE, OFFLINE OR ONLINE Designer City can be played completely free. No internet connection required. Optional in-game purchases are available if you wish to expand even faster.

Screenshots

Aquapolis4 screens
Designer City4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Designer City at 4.9 against Aquapolis's 4.6. Designer City also leads on ratings volume (8K vs 279). Aquapolis's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 16.0). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Aquapolis sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Designer City sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Designer City holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Designer City has 8K ratings behind it against 279, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Aquapolis's written reviews are positive against 86% of Designer City's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aquapolis ships an update monthly, Designer City every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Aquapolis versus Designer City: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAquapolisDesigner City
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (279 ratings)4.9 (8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.8% of reviews85.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2798K — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size301 MB223 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCandy Grill LLCSphere Game Studios Ltd

Customer experience

Aquapolis

All ratings279 ratings
Positive91.0%
Neutral2.9%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews340 reviews
Positive81.8%
Neutral5.6%
Negative12.6%

Designer City

All ratings8,034 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral1.0%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews512 reviews
Positive85.5%
Neutral5.3%
Negative9.2%

User reviews

Aquapolis

From 279 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun and addictive game
  • 🎨 Beautiful graphics and visuals
  • 🤩 Unique and interesting concept
  • 🕹️ Easy and intuitive gameplay
  • 🌊 Underwater theme is appealing

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
  • 🛠️ Machines/buildings break down too often
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases required
  • 🕰️ Slow progression and long wait times
  • 🙁 Happiness meter is difficult to maintain

Designer City

From 8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Relaxing and easy to play
  • 👍 Lots of customization options
  • 🚀 Constant income generation
  • 👍 No pressure to spend money
  • 👍 Offline playability

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitches and crashes after updates
  • 🔒 Lack of ability to move or delete buildings
  • 💰 High costs for land expansion and special buildings
  • 💰 Slow diamond/gold accumulation without spending
  • 🔒 Unrealistic scaling of buildings and objects

Bugs and requests

Aquapolis

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Game crashes on launch
  • Sync issues with Facebook
  • Rewards not properly granted after watching ads
  • Incompatibility with iOS 12 and newer
  • Buildings/machines not repairing properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • More land/space to expand
  • Ability to communicate with other players
  • Additional mini-games or quests
  • Improved rewards for watching ads
  • Better support for newer devices/iOS versions

Designer City

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Incorrect employment and population statistics
  • Disappearing buildings and objects after updates
  • Freezing and crashing when accessing certain menus

Requested features

7 requests
  • More road types (highways, freeways, dirt roads)
  • Ability to customize street names and districts
  • Improved traffic management and congestion control
  • More skyscraper and modern building options
  • Ability to have multiple saved cities
Show 2 more
  • Improved camera controls and zooming
  • Seasonal/event-based content updates

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Aquapolis

One-time10
  • Inventory pack$0.99
  • Storage Cells$0.99
  • Rubies pack 8$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Coins pack 8$1.99
  • Chest of spins$2.99
  • Promo packs mall$3.99
  • Rubies pack 7$4.99
  • Rubies pack 6$9.99
  • Rubies pack 4$19.99
  • Promo pack big$24.99
13 purchases

Designer City

One-time13
  • Teeny bag of gold$1.99
  • Teeny bag of diamonds$1.99
  • Tiny bag of gold$3.99
Show 10 more
  • Tiny bag of diamonds$3.99
  • Tiny mixed bag$4.99
  • Small player level boost$4.99
  • Small mixed bag$6.99
  • Small bag of gold$8.99
  • Small bag of diamonds$8.99
  • Large mixed bag$11.99
  • Premium buildings$13.99
  • Medium bag of diamonds$18.99
  • Giant mixed bag$24.99

Questions

Is Aquapolis free?
Aquapolis is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Designer City free?
Designer City is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Aquapolis or Designer City?
Designer City is rated higher. Aquapolis averages 4.6 out of 5 from 279 ratings, while Designer City averages 4.9 from 8K ratings.
Do Aquapolis or Designer City have ads?
Both Aquapolis and Designer City show ads.
Which is updated more often, Aquapolis or Designer City?
Aquapolis ships an update monthly, and Designer City every 2 months. Most recently, Aquapolis was updated on September 16, 2026 and Designer City on September 23, 2026.

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