Path Tracer vs UTM SE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Path Tracer
Experience real-time, photorealistic computer graphics on your iPhone. This application leverages Apple's Metal graphics platform to render complex lighting effects and scenes instantly, allowing you to create and manipulate stunning visuals directly on your device.
- Real-time path tracing
- Realistic global illumination
- 30 FPS rendering
- Pre-built and custom scenes
- Adjustable lighting and camera
- Multiple surface texture types
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This app does real time path tracing on your iPhone. A path tracer is software which traces light in order to create realistic looking computer generated graphics. While usually this process takes hours, even days, utilizing the power of Apple's Metal graphics platform this app is able to make the process happen in real time. Key features: -Create realistic computer generated images on your phone. - Realistic lighting effects (global illumination) -Watch the images render in real time at 30 frames per second. -View 5 pre-built scenes, or create your own. -Insert up to 5 spheres in your scene. -Move the camera, adjust lighting and change the wall colors. -Supports three different texture types: diffuse surfaces, mirror surfaces, and glass surfaces.
UTM SE
Experience classic computing by running old-school games and software. This emulator supports various display modes and processor architectures, allowing you to run pre-built systems or configure your own.
- Run classic software and games
- VGA and terminal modes
- Emulates x86, ARM, PPC, RISC-V
- Pre-built or custom machine configurations
- Built from QEMU
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UTM SE is a PC emulator that allows you to run classic software and old-school games. * Supports both VGA mode for graphics and terminal mode for text-only operating systems * Emulates x86, ARM, PPC, and RISC-V architectures * Run pre-built machines or create your own configuration from scratch * Built from QEMU, a powerful and widely used emulator
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Path Tracer at 4.5 against UTM SE's 3.8. Path Tracer also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (79% vs 55%). UTM SE's advantage is update cadence (every 4 months vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (563 vs 31). 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. UTM SE sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Path Tracer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Path Tracer holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: UTM SE has 563 ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Path Tracer's written reviews are positive against 55% of UTM SE's.
Path Tracer ships an update every 13 months, UTM SE every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Path Tracer | UTM SE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (31 ratings) — better | 3.8 (563 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.9% of reviews — better | 54.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 31 | 563 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 1.6 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | People Tech | Turing Software, LLC |
Customer experience
Path Tracer
UTM SE
Bugs and requests
Path Tracer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
UTM SE
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inability to select .img files as floppy boot images
- Crashes when trying to leave a VM
- Crashes when adjusting virtual CD-ROM drive settings
Requested features
3 requests- Add support for JIT compilation to improve performance
- Improve Magic Keyboard support
- Allow exporting VMs to run on other platforms
In-app purchases
Path Tracer
No in-app purchases
UTM SE
- Transistor$0.99
- Chip$4.99
- Computer$9.99
