variant vs Kinetiform
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
variant
Experience a unique audiovisual artwork that generates ever-changing music and imagery. Interact by tapping to trigger musical fragments and responsive visuals, or drag to steer the visuals. Build complex combinations of sound and visuals through interactive controls.
- Generative audiovisual artwork
- Interactive music generation
- Evolving visual imagery
- User input for control
- Screenshot functionality
- Indeterminate audio engine display
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variant:SONiC is an audiovisual artwork that creates beautiful, ever-changing music and imagery. The app combines user input and built-in randomness to create images and music that will continually change, grow and evolve, offering a new and different experience every time. For users of all ages, variant:SONiC is a chance to explore and experience a unique work of generative art. variant:SONiC was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra for the 2015 SONiC Festival. The musical composition is built entirely from individual notes played by different participants in the festival, including: Andy Akiho Alarm Will Sound (Miles Brown, Michael Clayville, Erin Lesser, Courtney Orlando, Jason Price) Clarice Assad Christopher Cerrone The Crossing Melody Eötvös Angelica Negron Nieuw Amsterdams Peil (Gerard Bouwhuis, Heleen Hulst) Nina C. Young To interact with variant:SONiC, tap the screen; each tap will trigger a randomly selected fragment of the musical composition, as well as a visual element that responds to it. You can steer the visuals by dragging after tapping, and you can trigger up to 10 sounds at one time. To repeat a sound, keep your finger held down and that sound will loop. By using some fingers to loop sounds and others to trigger individual elements, you can build up complex combinations of sound and visuals. You can view the indeterminate audio engine by tapping the dot in the lower right. The display shows the different elements of the musical composition as they are loaded by the engine through a combination of chance and user input. The center button opens a menu of settings for the app, and the button to the right allows you to take screenshots of the visuals, automatically saving them to your photo library. The Variant apps are a new series of generative audiovisual artworks from Interval Studios featuring visuals by Joshue Ott and music by Kenneth Kirschner. Each Variant features a unique visual composition by Ott based on his superDraw visual performance software, as well as a new indeterminate musical composition by Kirschner. Each Variant app also offers a different set of interactive controls for the user, ranging from the ability to subtly influence the development of the piece to total interactive control over both visuals and sound. All of the Variants are generative artworks: through a varying combination of built-in randomness and user input, each Variant will continually grow and evolve over time without ever directly repeating itself either visually or musically, offering the user an ever-changing, ever-evolving audiovisual experience.
Kinetiform
This app transforms your doodles into dynamic abstract art. Shapes automatically connect and fill with unique patterns, while kaleidoscopic animations add a mesmerizing visual experience. You can also let the app create art for you with its Auto Draw feature.
- Automatic shape detection and pattern filling
- Auto Draw for generative art creation
- Regenerate patterns
- 36 preset kaleidoscopic effects
- Customizable kaleidoscope settings
- Save and share drawings
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Kinetiform is doodling reimagined. It is a canvas with a mind of its own. Draw abstract shapes that automatically connect and fill with randomly generated patterns. Use Auto Draw to sit back and watch as the app creates a unique random composition right before your eyes. Watch as your drawing is tumbled and twisted through beautiful kaleidoscopic animations. Features: - Automatically detects shapes and fills them with random procedural patterns - Auto Draw creates procedural art as you watch and finishes lines for you - Regenerate any pattern after it’s been drawn - 36 preset kaleidoscopic effects - Advanced kaleidoscope settings let you fully configure the effect - Pan and zoom feature that interacts with kaleidoscope effects - Draw into the kaleidoscope - Customize your drawing experience with several control options - Create a color palette and save it, or load one of 200 preset color palettes - Choose which patterns you want to use and how often they will randomly appear - Save drawings to work on them later - Save images to your photo library or share them on social media - 100 levels of undo
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Kinetiform at 4.9 against variant's 4.4. Kinetiform also leads on ratings volume (40 vs 9). variant's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (monthly vs every 22 months). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Kinetiform sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. variant asks for nothing beyond the download.
Kinetiform holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 40 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of variant's written reviews are positive against 92% of Kinetiform's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
variant ships an update monthly, Kinetiform every 22 months. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | variant | Kinetiform |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (9 ratings) | 4.9 (40 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 91.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9 | 40 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 22 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 13.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Interval Studios | Colordodge Labs |
Customer experience
variant
Kinetiform
In-app purchases
variant
No in-app purchases
Kinetiform
- Pro Mode$4.99








