# Oovium — a bicycle for the mind

> A visual calculation sandbox combining calculator, spreadsheet, concept map, and programming features. (iPhone/iPad app by Aepryus Software.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/oovium/id336573328 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Aepryus Software](https://appshunter.io/developer/336573331)
- Category: Productivity, Education
- Price: Free
- Rating: 5.00/5 from 5 App Store ratings · 68 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.1 · 6 MB
- Languages: American English, German (Germany), Japanese
- Released: 2009-11-06
- Data updated: 2026-08-29
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/oovium/id336573328/reviews.md

## What is Oovium?

Oovium makes my geek heart flutter.
- Anne Wind 

This app is a thing of beauty. 
- W Smith Jr 

Wow I love this 
- OkeyMor57 

22nd century calculating 
- bill knighton 

This will become Hari Seldon’s Prime Radiant some day. 
- nicked off 

Oovium is not an attempt to rehash old outdated inventions, but it subsumes much of their functionality. The calculator, spreadsheet, concept map, programming language: Oovium is all of them and it's none of them. 

Oovium is the first (but certainly not the last) of an entirely new class of app, the calculation sandbox. It has been made possible by the invention of the touch device and Oovium's clean, efficient and tactile interface, designed for such devices, has been part of its DNA since its inception. 

At its heart, Oovium aspires to make powerful, sophisticated and complex abilities (such as those currently available only to programmers) accessible to a wider audience. Oovium understands that increasing accessibility does not mean dumbing down an application by hiding complex functionality, it means making that complex functionality understandable by creating explicit visual representations for it. 

The workspace of Oovium is a two-dimensional surface known as the Aether. Upon this aether a user can place Bubbles. There are currently four types of bubbles: 
- InstBub is an instance of an object, usually a number, which in turn may be the result of an expression. 
- MechBub allows the user to define their own functions. 
- GridBub allows for a tabular arrangement of numbers and expressions similar to a spreadsheet. 
- TextBub is a node that can be connected to other TextBub nodes in order to create concept maps. 

These bubbles can be connected to each other in order to render sophisticated calculations in a visual (and aesthetic) way. Libraries of custom functions can be developed and included in other aethers when needed. 

The concept of Oovium has six different aspects; in its current form it contains only one of these six aspects. It is a highly ambitious project with much more planned, that hopes to empower users; it hopes to change the way people think about and work with their computers; in short, it hopes to change the world! Come help drive its functionality; come help make Oovium happen!

## Key features

- Calculation sandbox
- Visual programming interface
- Spreadsheet functionality (GridBub)
- Concept mapping (TextBub)
- Custom function definition (MechBub)
- Object instances (InstBub)

## What do users think of Oovium?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 💡 Innovative concept
- 💡 Creative approach to calculations
- 💡 Visualizing problems and solutions
- 💡 Useful for prototyping and debugging
- 💡 Good for "what-if" analysis
- 💡 Unique mind-mapping for calculations
- 💡 Makes math more fun
- 💡 Good for data migration and BI
- 💡 "Back of the envelope" calculations electronically
- 💡 Combines mind mapping, spreadsheet, functions, logic, calculator
- 💡 Reinventing problem-solving approach
- 💡 Excellent for illustrating complex processes
- 💡 Visual design of formulas
- 💡 Easier to trace precedents and dependents than Excel
- 💡 Entertaining calculator
- 💡 Makes iPhone interesting
- 💡 Useful productivity app
- 💡 "Work of art" conceptual leap

**Cons**

- 🐛 Poor documentation
- 🐛 Trial and error learning curve
- 🐛 Mac version unclear
- 🐛 Subscription too expensive
- 🐛 Apple-exclusive
- 🐛 Crashes on launch
- 🐛 No recent updates
- 🐛 Lost functionality
- 🐛 Dropbox links no longer work
- 🐛 Keyboard issues
- 🐛 Lacks manual/help file
- 🐛 Lacks loop structure
- 🐛 Lacks graphing/graphics capabilities
- 🐛 Subscription not automatically renewed
- 🐛 Abandoned project feeling
- 🐛 Interface not intuitive
- 🐛 Clunky on-screen instructions
- 🐛 On-screen hints don't rotate
- 🐛 Odd, unwieldy interface
- 🐛 Tutorial limited to making bubbles
- 🐛 Lacks comprehensive help files
- 🐛 Video tutorials inaccessible for some
- 🐛 Interface prevents feature use
- 🐛 Crashes regularly
- 🐛 Tedious
- 🐛 Custom UI elements instead of standard iOS
- 🐛 Not ready for prime-time
- 🐛 No statistical functions
- 🐛 Difficult to move/link bubbles
- 🐛 No array from spreadsheet/data table
- 🐛 Can't save calculation web
- 🐛 Can't zoom
- 🐛 Interface not intuitive
- 🐛 Frustrating to begin with
- 🐛 Limited capability
- 🐛 Sketchy in-app help
- 🐛 Price seems high for alpha
- 🐛 Limited in-app help
- 🐛 Problems with online forum
- 🐛 Less mental processing than Excel
- 🐛 Needs Undo/Redo
- 🐛 Needs centering
- 🐛 Needs cut/paste formula
- 🐛 Needs colors
- 🐛 Needs search and save
- 🐛 Background fades slowly
- 🐛 No audio feedback option
- 🐛 No statistical functions
- 🐛 Too difficult to move and link bubbles
- 🐛 Help documentation nonexistent
- 🐛 No array of numbers from spreadsheet or data table
- 🐛 No zoom
- 🐛 No scrollbars
- 🐛 Black background poor choice
- 🐛 No labels for boxes
- 🐛 No separation in box between references and numbers
- 🐛 Can't move a box once placed
- 🐛 No visual sign of connections
- 🐛 Needs more functions
- 🐛 Hard to use and get lost
- 🐛 Trippy version of Apple calc
- 🐛 Odd to use

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Subscription not working
- Crashes on launch on iPad
- Links to Dropbox no longer work
- Update killed everything, crashes on first screen
- Crashes regularly
- App crashes at launch
- Crashes and lost data before saving
- Crashes a few times on first use
- Struggled to get rid of help demo
- Crashes regularly and feels like a work in progress
- On-screen hints don't rotate with screen orientation
- Crashes very frequently
- Cannot get an aether saved
- App exits and data is gone
- Redone calculations multiple times
- Crashes at launch
- Launch, crash, launch, crash
- Splash screen up for a fraction of a second
- Crashed 5 times in 15 minutes
- Crash-prone
- Keeps crashing
- Is it this update?
- Forum has no entries since September
- App still supported/under development?
- Testing of releases could be better
- Crashes on start
- Unusable
- Landscape mode reverts to portrait
- Attempts to remove bubble cause a crash
- Problem with online forum
- Forum in its infancy
- Background fades slowly
- No audio feedback option
- No statistical functions
- Too difficult to move and link bubbles
- Help documentation nonexistent
- No array of numbers from spreadsheet or data table
- No zoom
- No scrollbars
- Black background poor choice
- No labels for boxes
- No separation in box between references and numbers
- Can't move a box once it's down
- No visual sign of connections like lines
- Needs more functions
- Hard to use and get lost
- Trippy version of Apple calc
- Odd to use
- Subscription is paid but app not usable
- Mac app not clear, tutorial for iOS only
- Subscription not automatically renewed
- App crashes on launch
- App hasn't been updated in a long time
- App hasn't kept up with iOS changes
- Dropbox links no longer work
- Crashes on launch on iPad
- Update killed everything
- Crashes on first screen
- Crashes regularly
- Feels like a work in progress
- Implementation not intuitive enough
- On-screen instructions are clunky
- On-screen hints don't rotate
- Odd, unwieldy interface
- Tutorial limited to making bubbles
- Lacks comprehensive help files
- Video-based information useless for some
- Interface prevents features from being used
- Crashes regularly
- Tedium
- Custom UI elements instead of standard iOS
- Not ready for prime-time
- No statistical functions
- Too difficult to move and link bubbles
- Help documentation basically nonexistent
- No ability to use an array of numbers from a spreadsheet or data table
- Can't save a calculation web and reuse it
- Can't zoom in
- Interface isn't intuitive
- Can be quite frustrating to begin with
- Crashes very frequently
- Can't get an aether saved
- Once the app exits, it's gone
- Redone the same calculations 3 times
- Crashes at launch
- Launch, crash, launch, crash
- Splash screen up for a fraction of a second
- Crashed 5 times in the last 15 minutes
- GUI needs to be slicker and more polished
- Crashed a few times on first use
- Struggled to get rid of the help demo
- Certain aspects are portrait orientation only
- In app documentation is terribly lacking
- Crash-prone
- Documentation could be much better
- Managed to crash it 5 times in the last 15 minutes
- Lack of stability and good documentation
- Beta at best right now
- Keeps crashing
- Is it this update?
- Could do with a comprehensive set of instructions
- Forum has no entries since September
- Is this app still supported/under development?
- Testing of releases could be better
- Crashes on start
- Unusable
- Landscape mode reverts to portrait
- Attempts to remove the offending bubble also cause a crash
- In-app help is very sketchy
- Price seems high for what seems more like an alpha version than a stable release
- Limited in-app help
- Problems with online forum
- Needs Undo / Redo
- Needs centering
- Needs cut/paste formula
- Needs colors
- Needs search and save
- Background fades slowly
- No audio feedback option
- No statistical functions
- Too difficult to move and link bubbles
- Help documentation is basically nonexistent
- No ability to use an array of numbers from a spreadsheet or data table
- No zoom
- No scrollbars
- Black is a poor choice of background color
- No labels for boxes
- No separation in a box between references from other boxes and numbers entered directly
- Can't move a box once it's down
- No visual sign of connections like lines
- Needs more functions
- Hard enough to use and once it is set up you get lost quickly
- Trippy version of the apple calc
- Kinda odd to use

**Most requested features**

- Better terminology
- Vastly better documentation
- Pay-once option
- Lower purchase price ($3.99 or less)
- Graphing and graphics capabilities
- Loop structure (other than recursion)
- Overlay for logic and decision making flow chart shapes
- Link logic operators to number flow
- Undo feature
- Random number generator function
- Loop structure
- Better handling of labeling and grouped items
- Standard iOS interface elements
- Undo/Redo functionality
- Centering
- Cut/paste formula
- Colors
- Search and save functionality
- Fade background faster
- Audio feedback option (beep-boop sounds)
- Statistical functions
- Ability to use array of numbers from spreadsheet or data table
- Scrollbars for canvas navigation
- Labels for boxes
- Separation in box between references and numbers
- Ability to move a box after placement
- Visual sign of connections (lines)
- More functions
- Zoom functionality
- Scrollbars
- Labels for boxes
- Separation in box between references and numbers
- Ability to move a box once it's down
- Visual sign of connections like lines
- More functions
- Save calculations and functions
- Improve UI slickness and polish
- Remove help demo after first use
- Add cues and clues for using the interface
- Use standard iOS interface
- Add simple titles or tips for objects
- Guidance on aether list usage
- Create own objects and make calculations based on them
- Improve stability and error handling/recovery
- Improve documentation
- Add strings, constants, and units
- Fix landscape mode orientation issue
- Add Undo/Redo
- Add centering
- Add cut/paste formula
- Add colors
- Add search and save
- Fade background faster
- Audio feedback option
- Statistical functions
- Ability to use array of numbers from spreadsheet or data table
- Zoom functionality
- Scrollbars
- Labels for boxes
- Separation in box between references and numbers
- Ability to move a box once it's down
- Visual sign of connections like lines
- More functions
- Save calculations and functions
- Improve UI slickness and polish
- Remove help demo after first use
- Add cues and clues for using the interface
- Use standard iOS interface
- Add simple titles or tips for objects
- Guidance on aether list usage
- Create own objects and make calculations based on them
- Improve stability and error handling/recovery
- Improve documentation
- Add strings, constants, and units
- Fix landscape mode orientation issue

## Recent user reviews (10 of 68)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/oovium/id336573328/reviews.md

### 5/5 — outstanding concept but pitiful documentation

*2023-06-20*

Even 11 years old and I’m still a huge fan of this and sadly the programmer is not contactable. i’m only writing this because I see that the subscription is not automatically renewed.I get the feeling this is an abandoned project now which is sad because it is really very cool it just needs some better terminology and vastly better documentation. If you Google hard enough you might find some Vimeo videos which are really bad showing you how to use it but otherwise be prepared to spend a lot of time with trial and error.

**Developer response:** Thanks for the feedback.  Subscriptions have been removed.  The app is now entirely free; no need to renew the subscription.

You can contact me via the website (aepryus.com) or head to the discord server.  From iOS you can find the discord server from the red dot menu: Help/Links/Discord; from macOS you can use the top menu: Links/Discord.

I’ll be happy to answer any and all questions you may have; I look forward to hearing from you!

### 3/5 — Mac app not at all clear

*2023-01-03, version 3.0.3*

The web tutorial only really describes the iOS (iPad) app. The Mac version is different and if you follow the tutorial, bad things happen. Most notably it refers to "hit the '=' key" often but does not mean your physical mac keyboard. Hitting that bizzarely inserts two equal signs in the bubble.

### 1/5 — I paid for a subscription but I can’t use the app

*2021-04-27, version 2.0.2*

Subscription is paid but you wont let me use the app. Please return my money.

### 3/5 — Great Potential, but a Very Poor Marketing Approach.

*2020-12-31*

I have oovium classic on my iphone, but the paid version is too expensive, as well as too limited in accessibility to afford. I WISH there was a pay-once option, (not sure if I know enough to say this, but $30 a year from each user is quite excessive, and presumably why the app has only 17 reviews for the 4+ years it (the paid app) has been on the app store.) 

If you made the app into a one-time purchase worth at least no more than $10, but ideally $3.99 or less, then you would have exponentially more purchasers that would (likely) result in well-over 20x your current earning rate. Then, if necessary, raise the purchase price for new buyers by maybe a dollar or two, once Oovium has gathered a wide-spread reputation, and earn even more. You could possibly obtain donation money as well from strongly-supportive clients.

The only applications that can somewhat-justifiably get away with $30+ yearly subscriptions, are name-brand tools like adobe photoshop, Microsoft Office, etc.

However, the most painful thing to see is that Oovium is Apple-exclusive. No one is going to be able to save Oovium if someone creates an open-source donation-based alternative with wider cross-platform availability.

### 1/5 — Disappointed

*2020-07-24, version 2.0*

Crashes on launch on iPad. Used platform this to tell developers. Support via Reddit?

### 1/5 — No recent updates, has lost functionality

*2017-03-19, version 1.1.4*

This app hasn't been updated in a long time. It hasn't kept up to date with iOS changes and hence no longer works as advertised.  For example links to Dropbox no longer work.  A great pity because it was an excellent app.

### 5/5 — Just amazing

*2017-03-18, version 1.1.4*

👍 just amazing

### 4/5 — Almost Great

*2017-02-28*

I love the idea of this app.  I could be extremely useful and even game changing.  I just wish it would work with my Logitech keyboard. I wish it had a manual or a help file or even pop up labels for its icons.  I wish it had a loop structure other than recursion.  I wish it had graphing and graphics capabilities. Other than that it is so compelling I can't stop playing with it.

### 5/5 — Really useful app

*2015-08-02, version 1.1.4*

This app allows me to prototype engineering design genetic algorithm and genetic programming models before I launch into coding. Great for visually analyzing a single example output to debug the logic. Very useful and handy since my iPad mini is quick and available.

### 4/5 — Oovium is ALIVE!!!

*2015-03-08*

Guys,
This app is great. It has use possibilities that haven't even been realized yet. I gave it 4 stars instead 5 because of where it is now as opposed to its destination. This app is in its infancy stages and between its developer and the end users, this can grow to something universally useful for everyone.

I needed to utilize support recently and the response was excellent. The developer is also invested in its success. The company is small but diligent. I have been told by the developer that a new iteration of Oovium is being worked from the ground up and taking what is possible now and expanding its possibilities even more.
Keep the faith Oovites

## Frequently asked questions about Oovium

### What is Oovium?

Oovium is a groundbreaking calculation sandbox app that integrates the capabilities of calculators, spreadsheets, concept maps, and programming languages. It offers a unique, visually driven workspace called the Aether where users can place and connect different types of 'bubbles' to perform sophisticated calculations and create complex models.

### What are the key features of Oovium?

Key features include InstBub for object instances (like numbers), MechBub for defining custom functions, GridBub for spreadsheet-like tabular arrangements, and TextBub for creating concept maps. These elements can be visually connected on the Aether to represent complex calculations and relationships.

### How much does Oovium cost?

Based on the provided information, Oovium is available for free and does not have any in-app purchases or advertisements. This allows users to access its full range of features without any financial commitment.

### What kind of devices is Oovium compatible with?

The app is designed specifically for touch devices, leveraging their tactile interface. While specific operating system compatibility is not detailed, its design implies suitability for modern smartphones and tablets.

### Who would benefit from using Oovium?

Oovium is designed for a broad audience, aiming to make powerful computing abilities accessible to more people. This includes students, researchers, developers, and anyone interested in exploring complex calculations, data organization, or conceptual modeling in a visually engaging and understandable way.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.2.1 — 2026-08-25

- fixed a crash

### 3.2 — 2026-08-24

- Undo and Redo — ⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z, the Aedit menu, or the new aedit pad on the Red Menu
- Grids are dramatically faster — large spreadsheets now load, scroll, and edit instantly
- Spreadsheet-style grid editing — arrow keys move a cursor between cells; Return or a tap opens the cell; Tab and Return advance to the next cell
- Copy and paste return to the context menus, now on iPhone and iPad too — double-tap the canvas to paste
- New Date type — tap the new @ key to enter dates; date arithmetic works in days
- New options menu on the Red Menu — skins, selection mode, sounds, and screen burn on iPhone and iPad
- Swipe to delete aethers in the navigator
- Unsaved work is now recovered after a crash
- Aethers from much older versions of Oovium now open correctly
- Opening an aether saved by a newer version of Oovium now explains, rather than silently failing
- German and Japanese localization improved
- Many iCloud reliability fixes

### 3.1.6 — 2026-06-07

- bug fixes

### 3.1.5 — 2025-10-28

- k crash fixed

### 3.1.4 — 2025-10-21

- enhanced migration

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## More apps by Aepryus Software

- [Aexels](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/aexels/id935727868)
- [AepX](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/aepx/id1630233662)

All apps by Aepryus Software: https://appshunter.io/developer/336573331

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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 2026-08-29.*