Evolution vs Life
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Evolution
Design and build unique creatures using joints, bones, and muscles. Witness their learning and improvement through evolutionary algorithms and neural networks as they tackle tasks like running, jumping, and flying. Share your creations with friends.
- Creature design with joints, bones, muscles
- Neural network learning
- Evolutionary algorithm improvement
- Tasks: running, jumping, climbing, flying
- Share simulation saves and creature designs
- View source code
Read full descriptionHide full description
Use joints, bones and muscles to build creatures that are only limited by your imagination. Watch how the combination of neural networks and an evolutionary algorithm can enable your creatures to learn and improve at their given tasks all on their own. The tasks include running, jumping, climbing and flying. Can you design the ultimate creature that is good at all of the tasks? The latest update allows you to easily share your simulation saves and creature designs with your friends. Note that this is more of a simulation than a game. There are no real objectives. But there is a lot to learn if you are interested in the basics of machine learning and neural networks. You can even look at the source code if you want. There is also a Mac & PC version available for download and a browser version for you to try out on the main project website (keiwando.com/evolution).
Life
Explore Conway's Game of Life, a cellular automaton where simple patterns evolve into complex structures or disappear. Discover over 90 included patterns, analyze their evolution with built-in statistics, and rewind to observe changes. Export your creations as images or RLE files.
- Conway's Game of Life simulation
- Catalog of 90+ patterns
- Cycle detection and statistics
- Rewind feature for evolution
- Image and RLE export
- Pattern exploration and combination
Read full descriptionHide full description
Explore the iconic 'Life' cellular automaton devised by mathematician John Conway. Study how trivial patterns evolve into complexity - or vanish after a couple of generations. Choose from eight cell shapes and five color schemes, with an optional grid and afterglow trails. A catalog containing more than 100 popular patterns, grouped by family, is included to explore and combine at your leisure. A built-in cycle detection and other statistics provide insight into the current cellular automaton. The rewind feature enables you to go back in time and reverse the last steps of the evolution. Save the worlds you want to revisit and load them again later. Export images or RLE representations to share online or import to other apps.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Life at Free against Evolution's $1.99. Life also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 84%). Evolution's advantage is rating (4.4 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (549 vs 3). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Life is free to download; Evolution costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Evolution holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Evolution has 549 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 84% of Evolution's written reviews are positive against 100% of Life's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Evolution | Life |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (549 ratings) — better | 4.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 549 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #171 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 67 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Keiwan Donyagard | Jan P. Barnholt |
Customer experience
Evolution
Life
Bugs and requests
Evolution
Reported bugs
4 issues- Creatures re-appear after being deleted
- Horizontal distance not recorded properly
- Simulation screen turns white
- Creatures get stuck in a looping state
Requested features
8 requests- Add swimming and flying modes
- Ability to customize creature body parts
- Option to speed up or pause evolution
- Save and load creature designs
- More task types (e.g. grabbing, throwing)
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Multiplayer or competition modes
- Improved camera controls
- Ability to create obstacles or terrain
Life
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Evolution
No in-app purchases
Life
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Evolution free?
Is Life free?
Which has better reviews, Evolution or Life?
Do Evolution or Life have ads?
Which is updated more often, Evolution or Life?
Other comparisons
