Lava Bird vs Vault!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lava Bird
Tap to control a bird that shoots lava with every flap. Navigate treacherous environments, dodge enemies, and avoid your own fiery projectiles in this endless flying adventure. Discover an epic story as you play.
- Tap to fly mechanic
- Avoid enemies and spikes
- Shoot lava balls
- Earn a shield
- Unlock an epic story
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You are a bird with an unfortunate medical condition that causes you to spew lava balls with every flap of your wings. Tap to fly. Avoid enemies, spikes, and your own fiery spit balls in this neverending flying game. - If you can tap on your phone, you can play. - Enemies increase in difficulty over time. - Earn a handy shield. - Uncover the most epic story ever written by anyone.
Vault!
Experience thrilling pole vaulting with intuitive tap-and-hold controls. Navigate challenging environments, collect coins to unlock characters, and compete for the highest score. Enjoy endless arcade fun with physics-based challenges.
- Intuitive single-touch pole vaulting
- Physics-based arcade action
- Unlockable unique characters
- Game Center support for competition
- Coin collection for upgrades
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Pole vaulting has never been so fun! Cascading cliffs, huge bouncy springs and those infuriating red balls! How far can you go? How long will you last? Can you get the highest score? Classic intuitive physics arcade action with easy to use, hard to master tap and hold controls, mean that things aren't as simple as they seem. Features: - Intuitive single touch pole vaulting gameplay. - Simple concept that anyone can grasp! - Collect coins to unlock unique characters - Full game centre support to compete with friends and foes Important information This game contains third party advertising which can be removed via a one time IAP. This game contains coins which can be collected within the game for free, bought with real money or via earned via promotions. This game contains cross promotion for other Nitrome games and this is not removed with the IAP for removal of ads.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Vault! at 4.5 against Lava Bird's 3.8. Vault! also leads on ratings volume (77 vs 16). Lava Bird's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months) and review sentiment (90% vs 71%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Lava Bird sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Vault! sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Vault! holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 77 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of Lava Bird's written reviews are positive against 71% of Vault!'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Lava Bird ships an update fortnightly, Vault! every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and August 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lava Bird | Vault! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (16 ratings) | 4.5 (77 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 90.5% of reviews — better | 71.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 16 | 77 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.1 — better | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 95 MB | 121 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Unept | Nitrome |
Customer experience
Lava Bird
Vault!
Bugs and requests
Lava Bird
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Vault!
Reported bugs
3 issues- Pole glitching out after continuing from an ad
- Respawning in unwinnable positions after continuing
- Invisible walls causing unexpected deaths
Requested features
4 requests- More playable characters with unique abilities
- Different game modes (e.g., time trial, challenges)
- Varied environments and level designs
- Customization options for the vaulting pole
In-app purchases
Lava Bird
- Remove Ads$0.99
Vault!
- Buy Coins 1$0.99
- Remove Ads$1.99
- Buy Coins 2$2.99
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- Buy Coins 3$3.99
