Comparison

ao vs Patience Balls

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

Head to head
About

ao

Engage in a puzzle game with expanding and contracting circles. Solve over 200 levels with unique challenges and surprises. Compete for medals and leaderboards, or skip tricky levels.

Highlights
  • Expanding and contracting circles
  • 200 levels with unique challenges
  • Leaderboard and medals
  • Level skipping and unlocking
  • Replay passed levels
Features
Read full description

ao - 6th in "focus" (aa, uu, ff, au, rr, ao, rl, sp, th, ki, ci, sn, lo, ba, ov, sh, fi, do, ru & ti) Expanding and contracting circle. Different radiuses. Just like other apps in our series, the more you get into each level, the more it changes. There are theoretically infinite ways you can complete each, it makes for great fun. You can also top the leaderboard and earn medals! (bronze, silver and gold). There's 200 levels to solve right now, intertwined with all sorts of tweaks and surprises. You can also go back and replay any level you've already passed, at any time (Choose Level). If you're stuck on a really tricky level, skip it! (Tap Skip on the Fail Screen) If you can't wait, unlock all 200 levels and replay at your own pace! (Choose Level > Unlock All Levels) Thanks for all your support, I hope you're enjoying the "focus" series thus far. Handmade in Australia, General Adaptive Terms: generaladaptive.com/terms-privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Patience Balls

Engage in a minimalist physics puzzle game designed for a calming and meditative experience. Solve intricate labyrinths and mazes using precision, patience, and logic. This game offers a serene escape while sharpening your reflexes and problem-solving skills.

Highlights
  • Relaxing Zen-like Gameplay
  • Mind-Teasing Labyrinths and Mazes
  • Physics-Based Challenges
  • Precision and Logic Puzzles
  • Beautiful Minimal Graphics
  • Unlockable Achievements
  • Global Leaderboards
Features
Read full description

Master your focus and conquer precision tilt controls in Patience Balls—the ultimate physics-based marble maze puzzle game! Whether you are navigating smooth logic labyrinths or tackling high-precision spatial challenges, test your steady hands, master fine balance, and guide every ball safely to its goal. Patience Balls combines realistic motion physics with clean, minimalist board design. Every movement requires complete spatial control, visual focus, and timing—offering a deeply satisfying physics experience where precision leads to victory. Key Features: • Precision Physics & Gyro Control: Calibrated tilt mechanics tuned for exact spatial accuracy. Every subtle wrist movement directly influences board gravity. • Challenging Marble Mazes: Navigate 3D labyrinths, narrow paths, moving obstacles, and gravity holes designed to test your hand-eye coordination. • Test Your Focus & Patience: Progress through 200+ handcrafted levels ranging from satisfying rolling puzzles to high-precision skill challenges. • Satisfying ASMR & Minimalist Design: Clean visuals paired with tactile rolling physics and crisp audio for an engaging, anti-stress atmosphere. • Seamless Offline Play: No Wi-Fi required. Enjoy zero-friction tilt puzzle gameplay anytime, anywhere. • Track Your Mastery: Unlock unique marble skins, achieve level milestones, and see how your precision balance stacks up on global leaderboards. Steady your hands, master the tilt, and download Patience Balls today!

Screenshots

ao3 screens
Patience Balls4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Patience Balls at 4.7 against ao's 3.3. Patience Balls also leads on review sentiment (68% vs 47%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. ao sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Patience Balls sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Patience Balls holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 153 and 542 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of ao's written reviews are positive against 68% of Patience Balls's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ao ships an update every 2 months, Patience Balls every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ao versus Patience Balls: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteraoPatience Balls
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (153 ratings)4.7 (542 ratings) — better
Positive reviews47.3% of reviews68.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings153542 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size134 MB274 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGeneral Adaptive Apps Pty LtdRicardo Mendonca

Customer experience

ao

All ratings153 ratings
Positive55.6%
Neutral11.1%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews74 reviews
Positive47.3%
Neutral13.5%
Negative39.2%

Patience Balls

All ratings478 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive68.2%
Neutral18.2%
Negative13.6%

Bugs and requests

ao

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Game doesn't work
  • App freezes
  • Level 1 fails
  • Dots don't rotate
  • Automatic fail
Show 2 more
  • Glitching
  • Coding error

Requested features

5 requests
  • Clearer instructions on how to play
  • Make levels less impossible
  • Fix the huge dot problem
  • Add numbers on the balls
  • More original game concepts

Patience Balls

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

ao

Subscriptions2
  • ao Legend, monthly$1.991 Month
  • ao Legend, yearly$19.991 Year
One-time6
  • Skip Level$0.99
  • Skip 3 levels$1.29
  • Remove All Ads$1.99
Show 3 more
  • Skip 5 levels$1.99
  • Unlock All Levels$3.99
  • Unlock all + remove ads$10.99
7 purchases

Patience Balls

One-time7
  • 250 Gems$0.99
  • Patience Balls Premium$1.99
  • 400 Gems$1.99
Show 4 more
  • Remove ads and get 1000 gems$2.99
  • Remove ads and get 1000 gems$3.99
  • Remove ads and get 1000 gems$4.99
  • Remove ads and 2500 Gems$7.99

Questions

Is ao free?
ao is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Patience Balls free?
Patience Balls is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ao or Patience Balls?
Patience Balls is rated higher. ao averages 3.3 out of 5 from 153 ratings, while Patience Balls averages 4.7 from 542 ratings.
Do ao or Patience Balls have ads?
Both ao and Patience Balls show ads.
Which is updated more often, ao or Patience Balls?
ao ships an update every 2 months, and Patience Balls every 3 weeks. Most recently, ao was updated on November 1, 2026 and Patience Balls on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons