# Chaos Lab — Chaos in your hand

> Interactive simulations of chaos theory, fractals, and chemical reactions. (iPhone/iPad app by Timothy D. Jones.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chaos-lab/id398270047 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Timothy D. Jones](https://appshunter.io/developer/398270050)
- Category: Education, Entertainment
- Price: Free
- Rating: 4.90/5 from 7 App Store ratings · 16 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 7 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2010-10-30
- Data updated: 2026-06-01
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chaos-lab/id398270047/reviews.md

## What is Chaos Lab?

Chaos Lab puts the beauty of chaos in your hands. 

With a tilt of your device, you control the parameters of beautiful mathematical objects called strange attractors, the reaction rates of a chemical oscillator, the position of two stars in a 3-body chaos simulation, and the shape of the Julian fractal.

Now you can be an experimentalist and an artist.  Using real-time integration of over 6,000 points for the attractors whose parameters are tied to your motion, over 7,000 data points for a fractal which morphs at your command, ten "asteroids" demonstrating chaotic sensitivity to initial conditions in a jittering twin-star system where the stars move with your tilt (can you keep them from escaping?), and a real-time BZ-reaction simulation which you control by both tilt and touch, this is chaos as you've never seen it before.

Chaos Lab comes loaded with four of the most stunning attractors in chaos theory.  The Rössler and Lorenz attractors are well known, but the Thomas and Newton-Leipnik attractors are relatively new and quite amazing!  

This work has been supported in part by grant PHY-0754081 from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Nonlinear Dynamics Research Group at Drexel University (directed by Dr. Robert Gilmore), and the Department of Physics at Drexel University.  

Please note, some of these experiments will run slower on the older models of iPhones and iPod touch devices.

Find the beauty in the chaos!

## Key features

- Interactive strange attractors
- Chemical oscillator simulations
- 3-body chaos simulation
- Julian fractal morphing
- Real-time parameter control
- Multiple attractors included

## Recent user reviews (10 of 16)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chaos-lab/id398270047/reviews.md

### 5/5 — What a clever app

*2025-10-03*

It does what it does very well. I could make and save Julia’s all day

### 5/5 — Simply amazing

*2025-02-01*

This app is wonderful to play with.  We try to get our kids interested in science and this is one of those apps that gets their attention with its beauty and fun, and gets them thinking     about how it all works.  Other particle apps are fun, but this one feels deeper because we get to play with real mathematical objects.  The strange attractors feel almost alive.  We hope there will be an iPad version soon!

### 1/5 — Crashes

*2015-10-20, version 1.2*

At launch in iOS 9 on iPhone 6.

### 3/5 — Interesting

*2015-08-27*

Good app just didn't work for my iPhone 5c

**Developer response:** This was due to lack of updates to the app, many years later I've completely re-written it from scratch and it should work fine on most phones. I am hearing that one of the demos, Julia, is crashing on some older phones, but the others seem to work fine. I'll be fixing that to provide support for older phones soon. Thank you for the feedback!

### 1/5 — Doesn't work on iPhones

*2015-01-20*

I love science and mathematics, so was excited to try this app. But whenever it displays a screen of text the text runs off the screen along with any buttons needed to get past this screen. Tilting the device doesn't work, nor can I pinch zoom out the text to see the buttons. So, I can't get to any of the actions.

**Developer response:** This was due to lack of updates. Many years later I agree the UI was not great. I've just re-released this with a vastly improved UI, better interactivity, a few more demos, and info panels to explain each demo, with plans for more to come. Thank you for your feedback!

### 1/5 — ?

*2014-10-22, version 1.2*

I can't get my screen to rotate and I am very confused because I have screen rotation on but whenever I tilt my device it doesn't work.😟

### 3/5 — ???

*2014-09-05, version 1.2*

What happens here?😬

### 5/5 — Very bad

*2013-04-13, version 1.2*

It was just like u can't even play it like u just look at it that's it like seriously 😜

### 4/5 — The hard Critic

*2013-02-21*

Neat app, but there just isn't enough to do. If you add more things from chaos theory then this app could be a lot better. :D

**Developer response:** Thank you for your review! After time away from this app, I've re-released it with an entire re-write and intend to provide many more demos and interactive features with future updates.

### 5/5 — Amazing

*2013-02-10*

Excellent application.

**Developer response:** Thank you!

## Frequently asked questions about Chaos Lab

### What is Chaos Lab?

Chaos Lab is an educational application that allows users to explore the beauty of chaos through interactive simulations. It features strange attractors, chemical oscillators, celestial mechanics, and fractal generation, all controlled by device tilt and touch.

### What learning concepts does Chaos Lab teach?

Chaos Lab teaches concepts related to chaos theory, including strange attractors like Lorenz and Rössler, chemical reaction dynamics, and the sensitivity of initial conditions in multi-body systems. It also explores fractal geometry.

### How does Chaos Lab track user progress?

Chaos Lab is designed for exploration and artistic creation rather than formal learning tracking. Users can experiment with parameters and observe outcomes, but there are no built-in progress tracking or certification features.

### Is Chaos Lab suitable for all devices?

Chaos Lab is available on iPhone and iPad. However, the developer notes that some experiments may run slower on older models of iPhones and iPod touch devices.

### How often is Chaos Lab updated?

The latest version of Chaos Lab is 2.0.5, which was last updated on February 4, 2025. This indicates a relatively recent update, suggesting ongoing support and potential for future improvements.

### What do users like about Chaos Lab?

Users appreciate the app's ability to visualize complex scientific concepts in an engaging and artistic way. The interactive nature and the beauty of the generated patterns are frequently highlighted as positive aspects.

### Does Chaos Lab have ads?

No, Chaos Lab does not contain advertisements. The app is free to download and use without any ad interruptions.

### What is the age rating for Chaos Lab?

Chaos Lab has an age rating of 4+, making it suitable for young children and up. The app's content is generally considered safe and educational for a broad audience.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.0.5 — 2025-02-04

* Adds fluid dynamics demo
* Adds Mandelbulb demo
* Adds double pendulum demo
* Search bar on top-level menu
* Enhancements to BZ demo

### 2.0.2 — 2025-01-29

* Further optimize memory usage for Julia set demo

### 2.0.1 — 2025-01-29

* Bug fix for Julia Set demo crashing on older devices

### 2.0 — 2025-01-28

* Cleaner interface
* More control of Julian set parameters
* Logistic map
* Thomas attractor
* More control of Lorenz and Rossler attractors
* Control of BZ reaction parameter

### 1.2 — 2010-10-30

No release notes.

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| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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## More apps by Timothy D. Jones

- [TippyTip](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tippytip/id6742724134)

All apps by Timothy D. Jones: https://appshunter.io/developer/398270050

## Related topics

[chaos fractals](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/chaos-fractals) · [chaos theory](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/chaos-theory) · [chaos theory pro](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/chaos-theory-pro) · [deft dynamics](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/deft-dynamics) · [chaos theory simple game](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/chaos-theory-simple-game)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-01.*