BioDive vs Materials VR
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BioDive
Immerse yourself in virtual reality marine biology expeditions. Students act as scientists, exploring diverse ocean ecosystems, collecting data, and documenting their findings in a digital journal to understand environmental impacts.
- Virtual reality ocean exploration
- Scientific inquiry and data collection
- Digital science journal
- Collaboration with peers
- Hypothesis formation
- Diverse marine ecosystems
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In BioDive, students are marine biologists who travel to international dive locations in VR. They will study the impact of abiotic factors on biotic factors across diverse marine ecosystems and then document their learning in their digital science journals in the companion website. As students move through the experience, they go between their own personal digital science journal (https://biodive.killersnails.com/) and expeditions in the field, including the Eastern Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, and Indo-Pacific Oceans. They make observations, collect data, collaborate with fellow scientists, and synthesize their knowledge to write formal hypotheses about the impact of variables on changes to different ocean ecosystems. Players must have access to the digital science journal to view more than the first scene. BioDive was developed by a team of science teachers and scientists to model the process of scientific inquiry and discovery. Students use their devices to make observations and use their laptops to manipulate data and synthesize observations to demonstrate learning. This game was created by an award-winning team co-founded by a practicing marine biochemist. BioDive was developed with support from the National Science Foundation!
Materials VR
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Materials VR uses virtual reality to help students visualize molecular structures. Molecules can be selected from a list and rotated or moved around by the user. The Google Cardboard version includes gaze input which allows the user to gaze at a button for 2 seconds to interact with it. Currently this app only offers a couple molecules to swap between. We are planning on adding more molecules, educational structure, and ways to interact with molecules.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Materials VR at every 2 months against BioDive's every 4 months. 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
BioDive ships an update every 4 months, Materials VR every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on June 11, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BioDive | Materials VR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 372 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Killer Snails | University of Illinois |
In-app purchases
BioDive
No in-app purchases
Materials VR
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is BioDive free?
Is Materials VR free?
Do BioDive or Materials VR have ads?
Which is updated more often, BioDive or Materials VR?
Other comparisons
