# Fractally — Explore the Mandelbrot set. > Interactive viewer and generator for Mandelbrot and Julia fractal sets. (iPhone/iPad app by Craig McPheeters.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fractally/id1534380451 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Craig McPheeters](https://appshunter.io/developer/590365129) - Category: Entertainment, Graphics & Design - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.10/5 from 17 App Store ratings · 17 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 14.0 · 3 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2020-10-24 - Data updated: 2026-08-25 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fractally/id1534380451/reviews.md ## What is Fractally? Fractally allows you to explore beautiful Mandelbrot and Julia set images, while at the same time, helping you gain a greater understanding of what they are. * interactively zoom and scroll around the images, using standard pinch and scroll gestures. * watch to see how the Julia set changes as you pan and scroll around the Mandelbrot. * view Mandelbrot or Julia point orbits, a visual representation of how a point changes as it moves through the iteration. * many different color schemes are provided. * control the amount of detail shown through the iteration editor. Over 2,000 iterations per point are possible. * zoom into the fractals over 1,000,000,000,000 x. * save and share your favorites, in the app as well as through Messages, Mail and AirDrop. * save high quality, large or small, anti-aliased images. Note that the saved images can range in size from thumbnails to wall sized photographs, depending on the amount of memory in your device. Images are saved in the lossless PNG image format. As you find interesting images, share them with your friends. Fractally saves fractal coordinates in a fractally file. When these files are shared with others, they can use the app to explore the region you found. To help understand the images being shown, try experimenting with low iteration counts, starting at 2, and moving up in steps of 1. As you slowly increase the iteration count, watch to see how the images evolve. At the other extreme, high maximum iterations can be used to reveal great hidden detail in deep zooms. Fractally is a fresh and clean implementation of the Mandelbrot and Julia sets. No frills, just a high quality, solid, viewer and image generator. Available, and free, on iPhone, iPad and the Mac. Donations are welcome and appreciated. For more details, please visit the support website. * privacy policy: https://luckgrib.com/fractally/privacy.html * terms of use: https://luckgrib.com/fractally/terms-of-use.html * end user license agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ ## Key features - Interactive zoom and scroll - Julia set evolution visualization - Point orbit viewer - Multiple color schemes - Adjustable detail via iteration editor - Save and share fractal images - Generate high-quality PNG images ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Donation level 1 | $0.99 | per year | | Donation level 2 | $1.99 | per year | | Donation level 3 | $2.99 | per year | | Donation level 4 | $3.99 | per year | | Donation level 5 | $4.99 | per year | | Donation level 10 | $9.99 | per year | | Donation level 25 | $24.99 | per year | | Donation level 50 | $49.99 | per year | | Donation level 99 | $99.99 | per year | ## Recent user reviews (10 of 17) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fractally/id1534380451/reviews.md ### 5/5 — Mandelbrot + Julia *2026-02-21* Very interesting to view both together! **Developer response:** Thanks! ### 5/5 — Exactly what it says! *2025-10-18* This app is exactly what it says. Just straight to the point with no ads. We need more games like this. I might even donate! If a mobile game is really good with no ads, small amounts of people might donate to keep it like that. Great! ### 5/5 — Very nice *2025-07-23* Really good performance all things considered, how did you get this to run so well?. Rendering of both Mandelbrot and Julia sets simultaneously is impressive. Colourmaps are excellent and scaled nicely. Are you using single precision for these? Perturbation to go deeper maybe? **Developer response:** Thanks! The performance is simply a result of using the device hardware efficiently - that's how fast our devices are now, it's kind of astounding really. As for the precision, the app changes from single to double precision as you zoom in. If you have the app show its metrics, there is a little "(s)" or "(d)" there which indicates single or double, which will change as you zoom. Lastly, if the app goes much deeper into the fractals you start to see the precision being an issue as the fractal starts to tear apart. To go a lot deeper I would need to implement quad precision, or an arbitrary precision fixed point... That "exercise left to the reader" for now :-) ### 3/5 — Updates when? *2025-06-05* Read the title. ### 5/5 — Great Fractal Explorer App *2025-04-21* Downloaded this app just for fun and was amazed, how fast this app is. On my MacMini M4 Pro I can easily run the app at full screen and 2048 iterations without any visible delay. The generated images look amazing. **Developer response:** Thanks! Part of the fun I had in developing this app, and working "close to the hardware" in order to make it as quick as possible was realizing just how fast our devices have become over the years. I've been working as a software developer for a long, long time (I first started using punch cards and paper tape as a way to store my programs!) Our modern computers are amazing devices. I also have a MacMini M4 Pro (48Gb), and it's just impossibly fast, I'm constantly being amazed by it. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the app! Thanks for the feedback. ### 4/5 — Missing a lot of stuff… *2024-09-02* I haven’t used this app for a long time and have instead been using RetinaMandelbrot. Fractally has a lot of stuff missing. First of all, infinite zooming. That is one of the reasons I use RetinaMandelbrot instead. I just love the insane complexity of deep zooms, and I just can’t do that in your app (PS: RetinaMandelbrot also kinda has that same issue, but instead the fractal completely goes black, and weird colored (I guess lag) blocks appear that don’t match the iterations, but all of that happens at about 5.7 x 10 to the power of 85 zoom. Not when you’ve barely even zoomed in. Secondly, infinite iterations. This kind of goes with the infinite zooming thing. You could keep it the same as you currently have the iteration editor. Just don’t have a limit. Or you could make it so it adds more iterations as you zoom in (that is how RetinaMandelbrot handles it’s iterations btw). Finally, custom color palletes. Some of the set palletes you currently have, I don’t like. Plz add custom colors. Or at least let people edit how the iterations look. Like only having the lines for the iterations and not filled in. Plz add these features. It will really improve the app. **Developer response:** Thanks for the feedback. 👍 ### 5/5 — This Game Is Gas *2024-07-28* Thank you for this wonderful game, keep cooping up more From Fimble Gimble **Developer response:** Thanks! ### 4/5 — Pretty neat but… *2024-05-03* I can’t zoom in infinitely as it makes me nor able to zoom in after a few zooms **Developer response:** Yes, the zoom's are limited - to 10,000,000,000,000 x. At the point the zoom's stop, the app has reached the limit of the double precision floating point (IEEE double) precision. Double precision floating point uses 52 bits for its mantessa, 11 bits for the exponent, and a sign bit making 64 (FP64.) To zoom further we need arbitrary precision floating point, and I've experimented with this, but its horribly slow. The hardware handles FP64 and things like multiply and add take one cycle. With arbitrary precision, this goes up to many dozens of cycles per multiply. The app would be sluggish beyond reason - and your review would be complaining about how slow the app is, instead of how its zooms are limited haha. I've favored speed and interactivity in the app over infinite zooms. Trust me, this is the better tradeoff. ### 1/5 — loads. does nothing. *2023-09-02* nothing you click on does anything. Not sure that this app actually works. Deleted. **Developer response:** I just noticed this review, 7 months late, oops, sorry for the delay. The app does work, but I noticed a problem that happened when I first ran the app and the view was completely zoomed out, where the menus and buttons were unresponsive. Then I zoomed in (via the pinch gesture) and everything works again. Now I can't reproduce the issue no matter what I do. Strange. I have no idea why the app froze like that - but if you can zoom in (via pinch, scroll wheel, etc) then the app should "unlock". Also, this issue seems to not affect very many people, as many others are downloading the app and using it. If you are curious about the Mandelbrot set, Julia set or the Mandelbrot orbit shapes, the app is definitely worth a spin. Try again. Also, I can be contacted at fractally@luckgrib.com, that is a better route to resolve an issue than an app store comment, if you are interested in resolving the issue. ### 5/5 — Takes me back to playing with 'Dragon' on Silicon Graphics workstations in the 90s *2023-04-28* What fun - zooming into the edge of the Mandelbrot set, Julia sets updating almost instantaneously - nice set of colour palettes - trip down memory lane but with breakneck speed - what's not to like! **Developer response:** I was also around in the 90's using SGI workstations and "reality engine"s, watching graphics come alive. Good times. Our computers, and phones(!) are so much more powerful today. It's hard to comprehend how fast they are. Thanks for your review! ## Frequently asked questions about Fractally ### What is Fractally? Fractally is an application for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that allows users to explore and generate images of the Mandelbrot and Julia sets. It provides interactive tools for zooming, scrolling, and customizing fractal visualizations. ### Is Fractally free to use? Yes, Fractally is available for free on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. While the app itself is free, donations are welcome and appreciated by the developer. ### What devices does Fractally support? Fractally is available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. It is also supported on iPod. ### How does Fractally help users understand fractals? The app facilitates understanding by allowing users to interactively zoom and scroll, observe how Julia sets change with Mandelbrot exploration, and view point orbits. Experimenting with iteration counts also helps reveal how images evolve. ### Can I save and share my fractal creations with Fractally? Yes, you can save your favorite fractal images within the app and share them through Messages, Mail, and AirDrop. You can also save high-quality, anti-aliased PNG images of various sizes. ### What are the donation options for Fractally? Fractally offers several optional donation levels, ranging from $0.99 to $4.99 per year. These donations are appreciated by the developer to support the app's continued development. ### How often is Fractally updated? The latest version of Fractally is 1.0.1, which was last updated on November 17, 2022. This indicates a relatively infrequent update cycle. ### What is the age rating for Fractally? Fractally has an age rating of 4+, making it suitable for a wide range of users, including children. The app focuses on mathematical visualization and art. ## Version history (last 2 releases) ### 1.0.1 — 2022-11-17 Added a "tap to zoom in / out" navigation feature. ### 1.0 — 2020-10-24 No release notes. ## Apps similar to Fractally | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [LīnArt (LineArt)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/linart-lineart/id1349623050) | 5.0 (2) | Free | Entertainment | | [3D Shape Shifter 2 HD](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/3d-shape-shifter-2-hd/id402633786) | 4.4 (14) | Free | Entertainment | | [Sigi Swanchi 3D Digiscope](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sigi-swanchi-3d-digiscope/id1531159310) | 2.6 (5) | Free | Entertainment | | [Kinetiform](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kinetiform/id1599140822) | 4.9 (40) | Free | Entertainment | | [MandelbrotMan](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mandelbrotman/id6742133450) | — | Free | Entertainment | | [Particle Simulation - Flow Sim](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/particle-simulation-flow-sim/id6467405758) | 4.5 (46) | Free | Entertainment | ## More apps by Craig McPheeters - [LuckGrib](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/luckgrib/id1318450117) All apps by Craig McPheeters: https://appshunter.io/developer/590365129 ## Related topics [fractally](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/fractally) · [retinamandelbrot](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/retinamandelbrot) · [fractalscapes fractal designer](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/fractalscapes-fractal-designer) --- *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 2026-08-25.*