Comparison

Rules! vs Prune

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

Head to head
About

Rules!

Engage in a fast-paced, challenging, and fun puzzle game with a hundred levels. Features a daily brain workout for Apple Watch and animated stickers. Offers multiple game modes and unique mechanics.

Highlights
  • Daily Apple Watch brain workout
  • Animated sticker pack
  • Beginner, Expert, or Timeless game modes
  • Multi-touch interface
  • Color perception assistance
  • Surprising new game mechanics
Features
Read full description

• Includes a daily brain workout mini-game for Apple Watch • Includes animated sticker pack • App Store – Best Apple Watch Game of 2015 • App Store – Best of 2014 • German Developer Award 2014 – Best mobile Game • German Video Game Award 2015 – Best mobile Game • Pocket Gamer Awards 2015 Finalist Best Casual/Puzzle Game & Most Innovative Game RULES! is a cute puzzle game that's challenging, fast-paced and fun. • Choose your preferred type of game: Beginner, Expert or Timeless • “What’s presented here is a stylish, original, clever puzzle game that I’m having trouble putting down long enough to write this review.” ~ Gamezebo “A delightfully constructed memory test that grows in complexity and appeal the deeper in you go.” ~ Pocket Gamer “The Coding Monkeys have never released anything that wasn’t utterly brilliant, therefore Rules shall almost certainly be brilliant.” ~ Pocket Tactics Follow RULES! into a hundred level-deep maze of cuteness and order: • Multi-touch interface at its finest • Color perception assistance mode • Whales, Unicorns, Robots and Squirrels! • A plethora of surprising new game mechanics

About

Prune

Cultivate a digital tree in a hostile world by guiding its growth towards sunlight. Uncover a hidden story and bring life to a forgotten landscape with this meditative and beautiful game.

Highlights
  • Grow and shape trees
  • Minimalist art and interface
  • Meditative music and sound
  • No in-app purchases or monetization
  • Share tree creations
  • iCloud progress synchronization
Features
Read full description

~ Apple Game of the Year 2015 ~ ~ TIME Magazine Game of the Year 2015 ~ Prune is a love letter to trees. A game about the beauty and joy of cultivation. With a swipe of a finger, grow and shape your tree into the sunlight while avoiding the dangers of a hostile world. Bring life to a forgotten landscape and uncover a story hidden deep beneath the soil. • A unique digital plant for your pocket • Beautiful, minimalist art and a super clean interface—it's just you and the trees • Meditative music and sound design for you to zen out to • No IAP, no monetization strategy, no currencies • Share screenshots of your unique tree creations with friends • Synchronize progress across all your devices using iCloud ----- RECEPTION ----- "Unlike anything I've played before... the kind of experience I want to pull out to show my friends." - The Verge "Wildly creative, totally addictive, and oddly soothing" - Entertainment Weekly "Prune is a gorgeous and unique experience." - 5/5 TouchArcade "Prune is an awe-inspiring work of digital poetry that transcends its initial subject material to explore a much larger, much more complex theme, in an articulate and powerfully moving manner" - 10/10 Pocket Gamer "A collaboration that feels more like a dance than puzzle-solving." - Kill Screen ----- AWARDS ----- • Winner - Best Upcoming Game - 11th International Mobile Gaming Awards • Finalist - IndieCade Festival 2015 • Official Selection - Brazil's FILE Festival • Runner-Up - IndiePlus "Make Something Great" Contest • Official Selection - Out of Index Experimental Games Festival

Screenshots

Rules!4 screens
Prune4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Prune at #53 against Rules!'s unranked. Prune also leads on ratings volume (568 vs 67) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.2). Rules!'s advantage is price ($2.99 vs $4.99). On rating, 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

Rules! costs $2.99 and Prune $4.99 up front. 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 — 4.2 for Rules! against 4.3 for Prune. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Prune has 568 ratings behind it against 67, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Rules!'s written reviews are positive against 66% of Prune's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Rules! ships an update monthly, Prune every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Rules! versus Prune: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRules!Prune
Price$2.99 — better$4.99
Rating4.2 (67 ratings)4.3 (568 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.5% of reviews — better66.1% of reviews
Number of ratings67568 — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#53 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.211.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB123 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer137bJoel McDonald LLC

Customer experience

Rules!

All ratings67 ratings
Positive73.1%
Neutral14.9%
Negative11.9%
Written reviews181 reviews
Positive68.5%
Neutral14.9%
Negative16.6%

Prune

All ratings568 ratings
Positive78.7%
Neutral9.0%
Negative12.3%
Written reviews573 reviews
Positive66.1%
Neutral15.7%
Negative18.2%

User reviews

Rules!

From 67 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Challenging and fun game
  • 👍 Gorgeous design and smooth UI
  • 👍 Great brain workout
  • 👍 Addictive gameplay
  • 👍 Fair monetization with no ads or IAPs

Room to improve

  • 🕰️ Very short time limit
  • 🔁 Having to restart from level 1 after losing
  • 🎨 Colorblind-unfriendly
  • 🤔 Repetitive gameplay with same rule order

Prune

From 568 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌳 Beautiful, elegant design
  • 🕹️ Relaxing, meditative gameplay
  • 🎶 Calming, atmospheric soundtrack
  • 🌟 Unique, artistic experience
  • 👍 Simple and intuitive controls

Room to improve

  • ⏱️ Levels can feel too time-sensitive
  • 🤔 Unclear objectives and mechanics
  • 🕰️ Game is too short for the price
  • 🐛 Performance issues on older devices

Bugs and requests

Rules!

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Freezing and crashing issues, especially on Apple Watch
  • Unresponsive tapping on certain tiles

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to save progress and continue from last level
  • Randomized rule order
  • Difficulty settings with longer time limits
  • Colorblind accessibility options
  • More game modes and challenges

Prune

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Progress reset after updates
  • Unresponsive controls at times

Requested features

4 requests
  • More levels and content updates
  • Zen mode with no time constraints
  • Level editor and sharing capabilities
  • Improved tutorials and explanations

In-app purchases

None

Rules!

No in-app purchases

None

Prune

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Rules! free?
Rules! costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Prune free?
Prune costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Rules! or Prune?
Prune is rated higher. Rules! averages 4.2 out of 5 from 67 ratings, while Prune averages 4.3 from 568 ratings.
Do Rules! or Prune have ads?
Neither Rules! nor Prune shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Rules! or Prune?
Rules! ships an update monthly, and Prune every 6 weeks. Most recently, Rules! was updated on September 22, 2026 and Prune on September 24, 2026.

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