Comparison

Level Set vs Surface Explorer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Level Set

Create and visualize complex flame dynamics simulations on your mobile device. Explore various simulation parameters, render animations, and analyze flame behavior with detailed charts. Share your creations easily via email or social media.

Highlights
  • Flame dynamics simulations
  • Customizable simulation parameters
  • Animation visualization
  • Surface area charts
  • Shareable snapshots and data
Features
Read full description

Level Set allows you to perform computer simulations of flame dynamics on your iPhone or iPad. You can chose from a variety of simulation parameters, including flow complexity and strength, grid size and the method for surface rendering. You can visualize animations of the flame motion as well as charts of surface area versus time. You can also share flame surface snapshots and chart data via email, Air Drop and social media.

About

Surface Explorer

Features
Read full description

Surface Explorer is a high-performance visualizer for intricate mathematical surfaces — 2D manifolds embedded in three- or four-dimensional space, and 3D slices of four-dimensional hypersurfaces — bringing abstract geometry to life with real-time GPU rendering. KEY FEATURES • Cross Section — slice four-dimensional hypersurfaces and watch their 3D sections change shape as you rotate them in 4D or slide the cutting plane along the fourth axis, even along a 4D camera path. • Ray Marching Engine — real-time rendering of implicit surfaces and signed-distance fields, with procedural displacement, transparency, adjustable shells, and a precise mode for high-degree equations. • Multi-Mesh Surfaces — build figures from several independent grids, each with its own color, transparency, texture and domain. • Geodesic Flow — explore intrinsic geometry on curved manifolds (S³, H²×R, SL(2,R) and more), integrating geodesics from initial conditions. • 4D Spatial Exploration — dedicated controls for hyperspatial rotation (Omega, Phi, Psi), projection, and 3D and 4D camera paths. • 4D Lighting Models — Directional, Observer, and Slice lighting designed for hyperspace. • Dynamic GLSL Scripting — write custom shaders for procedural textures and surface logic in the built-in editor. • Backgrounds — images and procedural effects, fixed on screen or wrapped around the scene as a sphere, cylinder or cube. • Audio-Visual Synthesis — synchronize geometric parameters with a mathematical sound synthesizer. • Video Recording — capture your explorations directly in the app and save them to your device. A library of ready-made presets ships with the app, from classic parametric surfaces to black-hole ergospheres, curved-space tori and slices of the 3-torus, together with a searchable built-in manual. Built with Qt and Metal for smooth, native performance on iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

Level Set3 screens
Surface Explorer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Surface Explorer at fortnightly against Level Set's every 4 months. Level Set's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Level Set ships an update every 4 months, Surface Explorer fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Level Set versus Surface Explorer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLevel SetSurface Explorer
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size506 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRalph AldredgeGAETANO MOSCHETTI

In-app purchases

None

Level Set

No in-app purchases

None

Surface Explorer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Level Set free?
Level Set is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Surface Explorer free?
Surface Explorer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Level Set or Surface Explorer have ads?
Neither Level Set nor Surface Explorer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Level Set or Surface Explorer?
Level Set ships an update every 4 months, and Surface Explorer fortnightly. Most recently, Level Set was updated on October 2, 2026 and Surface Explorer on October 4, 2026.

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