# Evolution vs Life

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.

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.

## The numbers

| Metric | Evolution | Life |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $1.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | **[4.4 (549 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/evolution-learning-creatures/id1227314223/reviews)** | [4.0 (3 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/life-the-game/id1617641490/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **549** | 3 |
| Positive reviews | 84.0% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | **#178** | — |
| Size | 67 MB | 2 MB |
| Requires iOS | **13.0** | 15.6 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Keiwan Donyagard](https://appshunter.io/developer/1166607047) | [Jan P. Barnholt](https://appshunter.io/developer/470499844) |

## What reviewers say

### Evolution

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/evolution-learning-creatures/id1227314223)

**Currently charting:** #178 Top Paid · Simulation (US App Store)

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.

**Highlights:** 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

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Great game
- 🚀 Addictive and fun
- 💡 Interesting concept of AI-driven evolution
- 👍 Unique and creative
- 👍 Enjoyable to watch creatures evolve

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Glitches and bugs
- 🐛 Creatures behave erratically
- 🐛 Difficulty creating functional creatures

**Reported bugs**

- Creatures re-appear after being deleted
- Horizontal distance not recorded properly
- Simulation screen turns white
- Creatures get stuck in a looping state

**Requested features**

- 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)


### Life

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/life-the-game/id1617641490)

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.

**Highlights:** 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

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Evolution free?

Evolution costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Life free?

Life is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Evolution or Life?

Evolution is rated higher. Evolution averages 4.4 out of 5 from 549 ratings, while Life averages 4.0 from 3 ratings.

### Do Evolution or Life have ads?

Neither Evolution nor Life shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Evolution or Life?

Evolution ships an update every 2 months, and Life every 2 months. Most recently, Evolution was updated on September 25, 2026 and Life on September 14, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*