Plasma! vs subflow
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Plasma!
Experience a mesmerizing visual display resembling a lava lamp on your mobile device. Enjoy a free color palette or unlock additional options with a one-time purchase. The app runs continuously, making it a dynamic background for your device.
- Lava lamp simulation
- Smoothly morphing colorful blobs
- Free blue-green color palette
- Unlockable color palettes
- Continuous background operation
- Apple Watch compatibility
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Plasma! is like a Lava Lamp in your pocket! Run the app, then place your iPhone or iPad upright on the table. Or just hold it in your hand. Watch as the colorful blobs smoothly morph around the screen. Enjoy the blue-green color palette for free. Then after a one-time purchase, you may choose from 5 different color palettes, or "Cycle All" to rotate amongst them all. If running on an Apple Watch, simply tap on the screen until you find your favorite color. Plasma! will keep going when you're away, so remember to plug in your device to avoid draining the battery. Hope you enjoy it!
subflow
Create dynamic music visualizations for any setting. Control modes, speed, and beat patterns with intuitive screen gestures. Advanced users can leverage UDP and OS2L for complex control with DJ software.
- Gesture-based control for modes, speed, and beats
- Beat pattern customization
- UDP command sequencing
- OS2L integration with DJ software
- Color customization via long press
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Crisp visualizations for your music stage or living room. Tap left or right edge of screen to change modes. Vertical swipes change speed. Tap the upper half of the screen several times to set a beat pattern. Tap the lower half to cancel or to add single beats. Horizontal swipes fine-tune the beat alignment. Long press will change color. You can also send more complex command sequences over UDP, and you can control via OS2L using most DJ software. See http://subflow.org/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: subflow at 4.3 against Plasma!'s 3.7. subflow also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (67% vs 54%). Plasma!'s advantage is iOS requirement (9.3 vs 16.6). On price, ratings volume, 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. Plasma! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. subflow asks for nothing beyond the download.
subflow holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 26 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of Plasma!'s written reviews are positive against 67% of subflow's.
Plasma! ships an update fortnightly, subflow every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Plasma! | subflow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (26 ratings) | 4.3 (17 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.8% of reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 26 — better | 17 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 9.3 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Carl Gorringe | Ello Skelling Productions |
Customer experience
Plasma!
subflow
In-app purchases
Plasma!
- More Colors!$0.99
subflow
No in-app purchases
