SimplePlanes vs Light Ignite
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SimplePlanes
Design, build, and fly your own aircraft with realistic physics. Explore a vast community-created library of over 250,000 planes or test your creations in challenging scenarios.
- Build custom airplanes with modular parts
- Realistic flight physics simulation
- Download over 250,000 community-created aircraft
- Engage in flight challenges
- Sandbox mode for unrestricted building
- Educational tutorials on airplane design
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Build airplanes by snapping parts together, designing wing sections, and attaching engines. At any time, you can strap yourself into the cockpit and see how it flies with realistic physics. If you're not in the mood for building, over 250,000 airplanes are available to download for free. BUILD AIRPLANES You have the tools you'll need to bring any airplane to life. Snap parts together to build your airplane's body. Place engines to add thrust. Design and attach wings and then strap yourself into the cockpit and see how it flies. DOWNLOAD AIRPLANES Over 250,000 airplanes are available to download for free from SimplePlanes.com. Find anything from old WW2 bombers to next-generation fighters to sci-fi spacecraft. You can upload your own airplanes and rise through the ranks from a bronze builder to a gold level builder. DYNAMIC FLIGHT MODEL Flight simulation at its finest. Every little change you make in the designer impacts how the airplane flies. Weight distribution, thrust, lift, and drag are all calculated continuously while flying. Parts can break off in spectacular fashion while flying due to over-stress or by hitting something. The fun won't stop there though. You can keep on flying even with a missing wing if you've got the skills. SANDBOX MODE Use all available parts to build airplanes with no restrictions. The sky is the limit. Literally. CHALLENGES Climb into the cockpit of one of your custom aircraft and see how it does in the challenges. Land on aircraft carriers, dodge surface-to-air missiles, race through courses, and so much more. EDUCATIONAL Tutorials will help players learn the basics of real airplane design and the considerations that need to be taken when airplanes are made.
Light Ignite
Explore the mesmerizing physics of light in this captivating puzzle game. Manipulate lasers, mirrors, and prisms to solve intricate optical challenges. Unleash your creativity by building and sharing your own levels.
- Optical puzzle challenges
- Laser manipulation
- Level editor
- Community level sharing
- Real-time physics engine
- Offline play
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Light defines beauty: relax and immerse yourself with this gorgeous, hypnotizing phenomenon in a stunning optical physics light game. Experience the unique physics of light rays in an amazing laser puzzle which is as challenging as it is joyful. Play with laser physics and control the beams reflection, refraction, dispersion and curvature. Discover and become a virtuoso of dozens of exciting tools including lasers in all colors, lenses, mirrors and prisms - and even portals and black holes. And all of this with astonishing, real-time physics and visuals which will blow you away. Bring the light of creativity back into your life and build your own light games and levels - and enjoy countless puzzles by your friends, and the Light Ignite players community. LIGHT IGNITE FEATURES: - Explore: 100+ optical puzzle challenges in varying difficulty levels, from Apprentice to true Master of Light - Discover and master: dozens different exciting tools to use such as a laser light, mirror and semi-mirror, lens, filter, prism - and even a black hole, a portal, a balloon and a switch - Sandbox: Unleash the artist and architect within by building your own levels and art creations and sharing with your family and friends using our built-in sandbox level editor. - Share: countless additional levels built by our community and published frequently - Challenging: prove your mastery of light by collecting all of the stars. Do you have what it takes? - Accessible to all: Light Ignite - Laser Puzzle was built for everyone and can be equally enjoyed as a calm creative light game experience or as a super challenging light puzzle. What are you feelin’ like today? - Beautiful and accurate: believe it or not, we’ve built our own physics engine to make sure the light physics is realistic and fast, allowing for stunning, colorful effects on all devices. Light is so awe-inspiring in of itself, we decided to go natural, clean, simple, and elegant - True optics: explore the physical properties of reflection, refraction, dispersion and curvature - Intuitive, friendly user interface: easily and intuitively control everything so you can just enjoy and experience the marvelous world of Light Ignite with fluid, natural UX - Stunning: full HD graphics and special effects built from the ground up - Adaptive system making sure you’re always able to proceed, advance and even skip levels if you’d like - Completely portable and offline friendly: Light Ignite - Laser Puzzle does not drain your batteries and does not require Internet connectivity so you can play everywhere - on the bus, subway, or even on a plane flight - No physics PhD required to enjoy and master Light Ignite :) You can play and experience Light Ignite as you feel: as a calm, exploratory playful meditation, a challenging light game, or anything in between. Collecting all stars in a given level will provide the highest reward, but you don’t have to - the optical game puzzles are built to be flexible and welcoming. Either way, you’ll have a blast - so wait no more - download today and become a true MASTER OF LIGHT. Follow us and join our community at: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Light-Ignite-103286978119110/ Have a suggestion? Feedback? Let us know how we can make Light Ignite even better! contact@branchingfactor.com 3D models by Synthakat VR, Md Ibrahim Khalil, Thomas DR, Poly by Google on https://poly.google.com/. Sounds by LittleRobotSoundFactory, soneproject on https://freesound.org/. Emoji by https://openmoji.org/.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Light Ignite at Free against SimplePlanes's $5.99. Light Ignite also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 12.0). SimplePlanes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 9) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, ratings volume 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
Light Ignite is free to download; SimplePlanes costs $5.99 up front. Light Ignite sells 9 one-off in-app purchases. SimplePlanes asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for SimplePlanes against 4.5 for Light Ignite. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3K and 1.1K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of SimplePlanes's written reviews are positive against 54% of Light Ignite's.
SimplePlanes ships an update every 3 months, Light Ignite every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SimplePlanes | Light Ignite |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (3K ratings) — better | 4.5 (1.1K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.5% of reviews — better | 54.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3K — better | 1.1K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #82 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 335 MB | 277 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jundroo, LLC | Branching Factor LTD |
Customer experience
SimplePlanes
Light Ignite
User reviews
SimplePlanes
From 3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and creative sandbox
- 🚀 Powerful building mechanics
- 📥 Ability to download community-created planes
- 🎨 Customizable vehicles
- ⚙️ Realistic physics
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches (crashes, invisible collisions, control issues)
- 🚫 Lack of mod support on mobile
- 🌍 Limited map/island selection on mobile
- 🔍 Difficulty finding/downloading larger planes on mobile
- 🎮 Awkward mobile controls
Light Ignite
From 1.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great game mechanics
- 👍 Fun and challenging puzzles
- 💡 Unique light/optics concept
- 🚀 Smooth gameplay
- 👍 Relaxing and enjoyable experience
Room to improve
- 🔥 Excessive ads interrupting gameplay
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs on some devices
- 🔥 Ads longer than levels
- 🔥 Ads even after purchasing ad-free version
Bugs and requests
SimplePlanes
Reported bugs
5 issues- Undo function causing plane glitches
- Autopilot issues (retracting landing gear)
- Invisible collision problems
- Planes spawning in ground/air unexpectedly
- Graphical/performance issues on older devices
Requested features
6 requests- Add multiplayer mode
- Implement more advanced damage/failure models
- Expand map selection (e.g. desert island, underwater view)
- Improve AI behavior and add more combat-focused missions
- Introduce new vehicle types (e.g. tanks, ships, trains)
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- Add more advanced building tools (e.g. individual part movement, custom cockpits)
Light Ignite
Reported bugs
2 issues- Game crashes on launch for some users
- Levels freezing or not loading properly
Requested features
3 requests- More levels and increased difficulty
- Sandbox mode with more customization options
- Ability to create and share custom levels
In-app purchases
SimplePlanes
No in-app purchases
Light Ignite
- Remove Ads$0.99
- VIP Pass$0.99
- Remove Ads$1.99
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- Sandbox$1.99
- VIP Pass$1.99
- Remove Ads$2.99
- Unlock + Remove Ads$2.99
- VIP Pass$2.99
- Sandbox, Level Packs, No Ads$3.99
Questions
Is SimplePlanes free?
Is Light Ignite free?
Which has better reviews, SimplePlanes or Light Ignite?
Do SimplePlanes or Light Ignite have ads?
Which is updated more often, SimplePlanes or Light Ignite?
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