Osmo Newton vs Sandbox
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Osmo Newton
Engage with creative physics puzzles by drawing or placing physical objects. Guide falling balls into target zones using everyday items. Experience a blend of physical and digital play.
- Draw lines to solve puzzles
- Place physical objects to interact
- Guide falling balls into targets
- Works with everyday items
- Hands-on learning experience
- Promotes creativity and problem-solving
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Solve creative physics puzzles by drawing lines or placing items in front of the screen. Play your favourite Osmo Newton on both iPhone and iPad! Use your iPhone with the "Osmo Base for iPad" which can be found at playosmo.com. * Please see our device compatibility list here: https://support.playosmo.com/hc/articles/115010156067 "..games that interact with just about any physical object—pen, paper, blocks, even toys your kids already own. - The Wall Street Journal "This interplay between the physical and digital realms looks and feels like magic." - Forbes "Osmo has been a revolution in our family." - Wired Awarded: **Best Design** - Good Design, 2016 **Best Product Designs** - Fast Company Finalist, 2016 **Innovative Toy of the Year** - TOTY Finalist, 2015 **Best Inventions** - TIME, 2014 Works with any object or drawing – Mom’s keys, hand-drawn basket, even toys you already own. Simply place the object/drawing in front of the screen and manipulate it to guide the falling balls into the target zones. About Osmo Osmo is using the screen to create a new healthy, hands-on learning experience that promotes creativity, problem-solving and social interaction. We do this with our reflective artificial intelligent technology.
Sandbox
Explore a creative sandbox world where you can mix elements to discover their reactions and create dynamic environments. Experiment with physics, build structures, and witness exciting events like explosions and growth. New modes allow for planet destruction and life cycle simulation.
- Element mixing and reaction discovery
- World building with plants and weather
- Physics experiments (fire, explosions)
- Planet destruction mode
- Life cycle simulation mode
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Sandbox - Physics Simulation Do you curious what happened when lighting hit firework powder? Would you like to mix gas with gun powder and let them explode? Would you like to create a sandbox world, plant trees, flowers & watching them growing? Let download Sandbox game to enjoy a creative & relaxing game! You have many elements in game, you can mix them together & discover how them react to each other, how they turn to different form! You can build strong platform, grow your world, put fire, lighting, rain, plants,... on it! With SandBox you can create & destroy everything, you will find many exciting experiment: boil water, making rain, making fire & explosion,... Big Update: - new game mode Planet Destroy: use powerful weapons to destroy whole planet - new game mode Life Box: simulate real life cycle Let download & Relax with Sandbox!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Osmo Newton at none against Sandbox's 1. Osmo Newton also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (65% vs 48%). Sandbox's advantage is rating (4.4 vs 4.1) and ratings volume (8.4K vs 381). On price, monetization model, device support and iOS requirement 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. Sandbox sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Osmo Newton asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sandbox holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sandbox has 8.4K ratings behind it against 381, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 65% of Osmo Newton's written reviews are positive against 48% of Sandbox's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Osmo Newton ships an update every 2 months, Sandbox monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 3, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Osmo Newton | Sandbox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (381 ratings) | 4.4 (8.4K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 64.6% of reviews — better | 47.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 381 | 8.4K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 441 MB | 208 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tangible Play | Tran Dinh Hung |
Customer experience
Osmo Newton
Sandbox
User reviews
Osmo Newton
From 381 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎮 Engaging and fun gameplay for all ages
- 🧠 Educational value with physics and problem-solving
- ✨ Satisfying visual feedback and animations
- 👨👩👧👦 Great for family bonding and social play
- 🎨 Creative drawing mechanics
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezing
- 📱 Compatibility issues with newer iPad models and iOS versions
- 👁️ Line detection sensitivity problems
- 🖐️ Hand obstruction during gameplay
- 💡 Poor lighting recognition for drawn lines
Sandbox
From 8.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Unique and creative concept
- 🔬 Interesting physics and chemistry experiments
- 🕹️ Fun and addictive gameplay
Room to improve
- 🤯 Excessive and intrusive ads
- 🤖 Lack of customization and control options
- 🔍 Difficulty finding certain elements
Bugs and requests
Osmo Newton
Reported bugs
10 issues- App crashes on launch or during gameplay
- Unresponsive app after recent updates
- Lorem Ipsum placeholder text stuck on screen
- Achievement page frozen preventing gameplay
- App incompatible with iPad Air 2 and 11-inch iPad
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- Camera permission prompt issues on newer iOS
- Line detection fails to recognize drawings
- Game slows down significantly with multiple balls
- App fails to load or gets stuck on loading screen
- Whiteboard compatibility issues
Requested features
8 requests- Back/front camera option for better positioning
- Pause menu functionality
- More levels beyond the current 61
- Grid screen option for better line detection
- Adjustable camera sensitivity settings
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- Better instructions and tutorial for beginners
- Start button before gameplay begins
- Support for older iPad models
Sandbox
Reported bugs
3 issues- Certain elements not functioning as expected
- Saved files becoming corrupted
- Inconsistent performance and stability issues
Requested features
4 requests- Add more elements and materials to experiment with
- Implement a pause/speed up time feature
- Introduce a sandbox mode without any ads
- Allow users to save and load custom creations
In-app purchases
Osmo Newton
No in-app purchases
Sandbox
- Remove Ads$3.99
