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An independent app studio

Small games.Simple tools.Built properly.

Puzzle games, tools for people who work for themselves, and quiet helpers for everyday life. Each one starts as a drawing of one good idea, then gets built and polished until it feels right.

  1. BlockGrid home: best score 3,920, a Play button and Zen, Big Board and Puzzles modes
    Screen 1 of 6
    A triple line clear scoring 303 points with a five-times combo
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    Puzzle 41: clear every block with the five pieces given
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    A new personal best of 5,018, with the trophies earned in the run
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    The 10×10 Big Board with larger pieces
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    A gold trophy for reaching the highest combo
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    Classic is free forever. Zen, Big Board and Puzzles when you want more.

    01of 07Puzzle game

    BlockGrid

    A calm block puzzle. Drop pieces on the board, clear lines, chase your best. No timers, no rush.

    • Classic mode free, forever
    • 120 puzzles, each one proven solvable
    • Colour-blind-friendly shapes on every block
    Explore BlockGridComing soon to the App Store
  2. A floor plan of the home: kitchen, living room, hallway and more, plus the garage, shed and car
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    Today: "Good afternoon", a choice of spots to tidy, and a full charity bag
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    Full reset of the snack cupboard in four steps
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    Snack cupboard reset, a bag moved on
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    What are you tidying today? Choose a room or space
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    Choose how deep to go: a full reset or five minutes, now or later
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    How much moved on? One tap to log it
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    Five quiet minutes on the glovebox, with a breathing timer
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    A plan of your home that brightens as you clear it.

    02of 07Home & lifestyle

    Room to Breathe

    Clear your home one small spot at a time: a cupboard, a drawer, the glovebox. No streaks, no guilt.

    • A floor plan that brightens as you go
    • Full reset or five quiet minutes
    • No streaks, nothing to lose
    Explore Room to BreatheComing soon to the App Store
  3. Invoices list: £2,510 owed, £1,860 overdue, and recent invoices marked sent, paid or overdue
    Screen 1 of 4
    An overdue invoice for £1,860 with its PDF preview and Nudge and Record payment buttons
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    Quotes list with one quote sent and one accepted
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    Clients list showing who owes what
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    What you’re owed and what’s overdue, at a glance.

    03of 07Invoicing

    Thistle Invoice

    Quotes and invoices for sole traders, written in under a minute and sent by WhatsApp, text or email.

    • Send by WhatsApp, Messages or email
    • Quote to invoice in one tap
    • Friendly nudges for late payers
    Explore Thistle InvoiceComing soon to the App Store
  4. Trips: £1,820.95 claimed so far this tax year, drives logged automatically, and one trip waiting to be marked business or personal
    Screen 1 of 5
    Tax year summary: mileage expense £1,820.95 from 3,139 business miles, with progress towards the 10,000-mile threshold
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    A trip with two stops on the map, its reason, and each stop listed
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    Mileage report for last month: 30 business trips, 506.6 miles, £287.66, with PDF and spreadsheet buttons
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    When to log: work hours only, Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00, with pause options
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    Drives log themselves. Swipe each one business or personal.

    04of 07Mileage tracker

    Thistle Miles

    Logs your work drives by itself and works out what they’re worth at your country’s official rates.

    • Logs drives automatically
    • Official rates for eight countries
    • Warns you if logging ever stops
    Explore Thistle MilesIn development for iPhone
  5. PathRight home screen: Level 13 in the Easy tier, with a large Play Now button
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    A PathRight board mid-solve: the glowing ball has painted most of an 8×8 grid pink
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    Trophies and badges, with bronze, silver and gold medals
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    Level 601 cleared, with time, mastery stars and a Next Level button
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    Level select: 1,200 levels across Easy, Hard, Pro and Expert
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    A gold trophy, ready to share as a picture
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    PathRight in light mode
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    1,200 levels across four tiers. The first 100 are free.

    05of 07Puzzle game

    PathRight

    Slide the ball, paint every tile. Each move runs all the way to the wall, so you have to think ahead.

    • 1,200 levels across four tiers
    • Paired portals from level 41
    • Free to start, one unlock for the family
    Explore PathRightComing soon to the App Store
  6. ArrowFire home: Level 1 of the Easy tier with a Play button
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    A 14×14 ArrowFire board of winding coloured arrows
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    A heart-shaped board in dark mode
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    Level select: 1,000 puzzles across four tiers and named chapters
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    A thousand puzzles. The first hundred are free.

    06of 07Puzzle game

    ArrowFire

    Tap an arrow whose path is clear and it slips off the board. Untangle a thousand of them.

    • 1,000 levels in 22 chapters
    • Shaped boards: hearts, stars, cats
    • Fully offline, in nine languages
    Explore ArrowFireComing soon to the App Store
  7. Atlas home: 66 of 200 countries learned, a 9-day streak, a Play button, the daily challenge and quizzes
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    A flag question: the flag of Greece with Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Andorra to choose from
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    Name them all: 16 of 27 countries beginning with S typed so far, the rest still blank
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    Find the state: Texas lit up on a map of the United States, answered right
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    Which county is the Gherkin in? City of London, answered right
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    World facts: 45 landlocked countries, with their flags
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    A right answer: Luxembourg is landlocked, surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany
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    The trophy case: bronze, silver, gold and platinum medals
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    Japan’s page: its outline on the map, capital, language, currency, population and area
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    Every country, one quiz at a time. Learning them is free.

    07of 07Geography quiz

    Atlas

    Learn every country: flags, capitals, landmarks and maps, plus the US states and UK counties.

    • Learning every country is free, with no ads
    • Landmarks and cities, not just capitals
    • The US states and UK counties too
    Explore AtlasIn development for iPhone

The notebook

Guides and notes

All articles

How the apps are made

A few rules, kept on purpose.

  1. 01

    One job, done well

    Each app starts with a single thing worth doing. If a feature doesn’t help with that, it doesn’t go in.

  2. 02

    Nothing pulling at you

    No ads, no streaks to protect, no notifications begging you back. You open the app when it’s useful.

  3. 03

    Your stuff stays yours

    No accounts, no tracking. Your invoices, scores and plans live on your phone, not on our servers.

  4. 04

    Fair, clear prices

    Every app is free to start. Games are one honest unlock, shared with your family. Tools you rely on for work have a Pro plan, monthly, yearly or once for good where that’s possible.

  5. 05

    Made for everyone

    Large text, VoiceOver, reduced motion and colour-blind-friendly design are part of the build, not a later patch.

  6. 06

    Finished, then polished

    Real devices, real use, and another pass on the details. Then it ships.

The studio

One person, a growing shelf.

Powered By Thistle is a one-person studio. I build the apps I want to exist: a puzzle for the train, an invoice that sends itself from the van, a nudge to clear one cupboard rather than the whole house.

Every app is designed, built and tested here, and each carries a small “Powered by Thistle” at the bottom so you know where it came from. That’s the only advertising you’ll find in them.

Apps on the shelf
7
Ads, anywhere
0
Accounts to make
0
Person building them
1

Say hello

An idea, a bug, or a kind word?

hello@poweredbythistle.com

Every email is read by the person who made the app.