# Star Cluster Simulator — Self-gravity simulation > Real-time self-gravity simulation of celestial bodies and particle systems. (iPhone/iPad app by 健 村上.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-cluster-simulator/id1571416985 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [健 村上](https://appshunter.io/developer/1571061484) - Category: Games, Education, Puzzle, Simulation - Price: Free - Rating: 3.43/5 from 14 App Store ratings · 8 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 14.0 · 7 MB - Languages: English - Released: 2021-06-12 - Data updated: 2026-07-18 - Monetization: ad-supported - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-cluster-simulator/id1571416985/reviews.md ## What is Star Cluster Simulator? Calculate the full gravitational interactions by the huge number of particles in real time on your device. You can simulate the behavior of globular clusters, galaxies, and galaxy clusters. Create the universe in your hands! Relax and observe the evolution of the stars. They will form various shapes due to self-gravity and will surprise and impress you. ## Key features - Real-time gravitational interaction calculation - Simulate globular clusters, galaxies, and galaxy clusters - Observe star evolution and shape formation - Create your own universe - Relaxing and impressive visual experience ## Recent user reviews (8 of 8) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-cluster-simulator/id1571416985/reviews.md ### 5/5 — GOD bless *2024-11-10, version 1.5.2* Amazing game, but needs some fixing and more features in my opinion ### 5/5 — Nice simulation *2024-04-21* Nice app, but it is difficult to find parameters for a stable spiral Galaxy ### 5/5 — I like it *2024-03-26, version 1.5.2* despite most comments the game is good -The ui is great -if you set things up right it runs pretty smoothly -looks good too All in all the game is pretty fun and I enjoy it ### 4/5 — Does function, puzzling user interface *2024-03-09, version 1.5.2* overall stars rating 4. High stars for ambition Zero stars for no help or manual low stars for user interface (but this could be because of no help) First let me say that this app DOES work. Hints: Use “i” on the starting point (the colored disk) to set up model, use lots of stars (32K is not too many). Turn the brightness up, zoom out and speed it up. The grid can be tuned on and off and I found if necessary to get proper stereo fusion. It did require QUITE a bit of fiddling around on a high performing platform to figure it out. Some background in NBody simulation was also helpful. Tested on an iPhone 13 pro max, an iPad7 and running on the 14” M3 macBook Pro (iPhone app emulator). It worked on all three. Performance on the iPhone was good, macBook very good, but the iPad7 was, as expected poor. Bizarrely, the app did not trigger the performance cores on the macBook Pro, but I suspect this is a function of the emulator. Running on the MacBook, it consumed less than 7% of the available processor capacity. A port to apple silicon MacOS could be spectacular in performance, even if not muti-threaded. An N body simulator on a mobile device is a pretty cool idea! the tree code algorithm implemented here is an obvious choice. My congratulations to the author on getting it to work! A labor of love. That said, the user interface is rather non-standard relative to Apple iOS expectations. This is not a problem IF there is explanation on how things are supposed to work, but this app does not provide one. I suspect that this is the cause of the low ratings and bad reviews. Although things seemed to be OK, I was not able to figure out if it actually is simulating accurately. As expected, the spherical model appeared to work best. This is probably a good approximation of a galaxy with a spherical halo of invisible “dark matter” particles. There is apparent loss of some stars as they get thrown out by close interactions. It was not possible to tell if this was OK as there is not indication of energy conservation in the simulator. Suggestions: 1) Some help! Doesn’t have to be in other than the author’s language as long as it is machine translatable. 2) Provide some indication if the generated system is expected to be an enegetically bound system. It would be good to somehow indicate stars attaining escape velocity. (by color?) 3) Color code the spherical system so that stars that start in the plane of the distribution can be distinguished from the others. This would mark the “halo” stars as dark matter and the others as baryonic stars. ### 1/5 — Not realistic at the slightest *2023-02-09, version 1.5.2* Not expecting this simulation to be perfect by any means. But no matter what settings or for however long I let it run, it never produces anything resembling an accretion disk or galaxy at all. All it does is eventually fling all the particles away from the central point, gradually dispersing them evenly (or somewhat) across the whole space. The screenshot they have of a galaxy is likely a freeze frame taken right when the program runs while everything is still in a disk form to some extent. If you ran it with the settings shown in the screenshot, you’ll just end up with stars evenly spaced everywhere mostly moving away from the central starting point. It would be really fun if they did explode out and then gradually coalesce into some kind of recognizable stellar formation but no, it never will. And part of this is likely due to the calculations not accounting for dark matter as well as none of the points joining together to create larger stars. Astrophysicists have a hard time calculating/predicting formation and movement of stars in an actual galaxy so I’m not surprised that it’s basically impossible to do even at this scale. So for me, one star. Because the app is lying about what is possible. Prove me wrong and I’ll change the rating. But for now, don’t bother downloading. ### 1/5 — DO NOT INSTALL AND OPEN *2022-02-27, version 1.5.2* This app is harmful for your device. As soon as I opened it my whole crashed and I could not open or interact with my phone. It was a completely dead phone and screen. I had to hard factory reset it loosing all my data, apps and photos. DO NOT INSTALL ### 5/5 — Love it *2022-02-22, version 1.5.2* Go to the settings tab up top and set particle size to the smallest put particle amount to 500,000 and put resolution to the max. ### 3/5 — Terrible performance *2022-02-01, version 1.5.2* The single problem with a super realistic star simulation on mobile is that it is on mobile, which doesn’t have nearly as much processing power as a computer. I am personally playing on an iPhone 7 which isn’t the latest by any means but it literally didn’t load ANYTHING, then the screen started glitching and my phone crashed. It might be a good simulator but if you don’t have a newer iPhone or iPad, don’t even bother. ## Frequently asked questions about Star Cluster Simulator ### What kind of simulations can I run with Star Cluster Simulator? Star Cluster Simulator allows you to calculate the full gravitational interactions of a huge number of particles in real-time. You can simulate the behavior of globular clusters, galaxies, and galaxy clusters, effectively creating your own universe. ### Is Star Cluster Simulator free to play? Yes, Star Cluster Simulator is free to download and play. It is supported by advertisements. ### Does Star Cluster Simulator have ads? Yes, Star Cluster Simulator contains advertisements. ### What devices is Star Cluster Simulator compatible with? Star Cluster Simulator is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices. ### How often is Star Cluster Simulator updated? The latest version, 1.5.2, was released on November 4, 2021. The app was initially released on June 12, 2021. ### What is the age rating for Star Cluster Simulator? Star Cluster Simulator has an age rating of 4+, making it suitable for young users. ### Can I play Star Cluster Simulator offline? The provided information does not specify whether Star Cluster Simulator supports offline play. However, real-time simulations often require an internet connection. ### What do users like about Star Cluster Simulator? Users generally appreciate the ability to simulate complex gravitational interactions and create impressive celestial shapes. The real-time aspect and the visual results are often highlighted as surprising and impressive. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.5.2 — 2021-11-04 Fix bugs of gravity interaction and time integration ### 1.5 — 2021-10-14 Add the new features. - Enable to show the grid and crop by the plane - Add the new model for the galaxy - Add the differential rotation mode - Optimize the simulation ### 1.4 — 2021-09-12 A larger number of particles can be simulated by optimizing with the tree method. The particle size was changed according to the mass of the particles. ### 1.3 — 2021-08-12 High-precision time integration (Runge-Kutta 4th order method) ### 1.2.1 — 2021-07-18 Enable to change the mass and size of the star cluster. ## Apps similar to Star Cluster Simulator | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Magnosphere: Blackhole Fun!](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/magnosphere-blackhole-fun/id6747733765) | — | Free | Games | | [Planktoms](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/planktoms/id1606747135) | — | Free | Games | | [ブラック珍校則](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id1386632280) | 5.0 (1) | Free | Games | | [Cloth Tangle](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cloth-tangle/id6448951489) | — | Free | Games | | [Galaxy Slider Cube Run Game](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/galaxy-slider-cube-run-game/id6535686537) | — | Free | Games | | [Playing with Fractals](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/playing-with-fractals/id6450010326) | 5.0 (1) | Free | Games | ## Related topics [particle simulation](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/particle-simulation) --- *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 2026-07-18.*