Comparison

Kotlin Recipes vs Developer Laboratory

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

Head to head
About

Kotlin Recipes

This app provides runnable Kotlin code examples and SQL queries for developers. It offers a cheat sheet for common syntax needs, covering various language features and database operations. Users can edit and run code directly within the app, with offline access for most features.

Highlights
  • Runnable Kotlin code examples
  • SQL query examples
  • Code editor and runner
  • Offline reference
  • Searchable code snippets
  • Kotlin 2.0 changes
Features
Read full description

Tap Run and the real output appears right under the code, so you know what it does before it goes into your project. No Kotlin to install, no IDE, no setup, no account. 390+ short examples, one task each. Over 95% run on Kotlin 2.4. You know what you need, but not the exact syntax: • How do I fall back to a default value when a variable is null? • How do I return two values from a function? • How do I merge two maps? Each has a working example here. • 24 sections, including strings and dates, collections, nullable types, classes and interfaces, enums, generics, extension functions, lambdas, exception handling, regular expressions, multithreading, files, JSON and XML, algorithms, and design patterns. • What changed from Kotlin 1.4 to 2.0, with before-and-after code: value classes, sealed interfaces, data objects and the improved smart casts in Kotlin 2.0. • Reference, 320+ entries: keywords and standard library functions for strings, collections, files, and coroutines. Tap a word in the code to look it up. • 200+ SQL queries: JOIN, GROUP BY, subqueries, window functions; more than half run on a practice database. • Search looks inside the code: type joinToString to find every example that uses it. • Edit an example and run your version, or write your own. • Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. • Everything except running code works offline. Free version: 210+ Kotlin examples and 120+ SQL queries, the full reference, and 12 runs and 12 edits a day (Kotlin and SQL runs share one limit). Full version: all examples and queries, unlimited edits and examples of your own, and up to 30 Kotlin and 80 SQL runs a day. One-time purchase, no subscription. Built by a developer for developers. The project behind it has been in active development since 2015.

About

Developer Laboratory

This app provides a collection of example code and UI components for iOS developers. It demonstrates various functionalities like app icon creation, image viewing, web page loading, and custom controls. Access the source code to learn implementation details.

Highlights
  • APP icon creation
  • Imitation of WeChat Moments
  • Web page loading
  • Custom UI components
  • QR code scanning
  • Facial tracking
  • Database operations
Features
Read full description

iOS Technical Sharing (APP icon creation, imitation of WeChat Moments, imitation of WeChat image viewer, preventing @mentions on Sina Weibo, imitation of Alipay password prompt, imitation of Post Circle, tags, JS interaction + WK, loading web pages, adaptive cell height, embedding video player in TableView to prevent lag, custom beautiful popups, address selection, time selection, color selection, custom navigation control, carousel, QR code scanning, facial tracking, custom camera, ID card photo capture, iOS media player, AVPlayer encapsulation, dropdown selection popup, Snake game, marquee, adaptive height for TableView, native image download caching, folder operations, database operations, third-party login, sharing, payment, Apple installation agreement, data transfer between apps, acknowledgments for support) https://github.com/HansenCCC/YPLaboratory YPLaboratory is the source code for this project. If you want to see how it's implemented, you can click to view the source code. https://github.com/HansenCCC/YPUIKit-ObjC YPUIKit-ObjC is the framework for this project, providing many out-of-the-box functionalities. It includes in-app purchases, subscriptions, prompt dialogs, app info, user agent retrieval, device info, unique identifiers (persistent even after deletion), badges, useful buttons, common categories, MD5, hooks, regular expressions, hashed colors, image matrices, black-and-white images, base64 images, navigation settings, handy input fields, file management, floating draggable buttons, single-line input, multi-line input, loading dialogs, custom dialogs, local logs, marquee, waterfall flow, carousel, image preview, and more.

Screenshots

Kotlin Recipes4 screens
Developer Laboratory3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Kotlin Recipes at Free against Developer Laboratory's $0.99. Kotlin Recipes also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 60%). Developer Laboratory's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

Kotlin Recipes is free to download; Developer Laboratory costs $0.99 up front. Kotlin Recipes sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Developer Laboratory sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Developer Laboratory holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 6 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Kotlin Recipes's written reviews are positive against 60% of Developer Laboratory's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Kotlin Recipes ships an update every 4 months, Developer Laboratory monthly. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Kotlin Recipes versus Developer Laboratory: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKotlin RecipesDeveloper Laboratory
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.5 (8 ratings)4.7 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings8 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFedor Obraztsov恒盛 程

Customer experience

Kotlin Recipes

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Developer Laboratory

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral40.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Kotlin Recipes

One-time5
  • Оperations with example$0.99
  • Unlock the paid topics$0.99
  • Kotlin Samples$0.99
Show 2 more
  • SQL queries$0.99
  • Full version$2.99
8 purchases

Developer Laboratory

One-time8
  • 0 ice cola$0.99
  • 1 ice cola$0.99
  • A sip of iced cola$0.99
Show 5 more
  • 一元商品$0.99
  • 2 ice cola$1.99
  • 3 ice cola$2.99
  • 4.16 ice cola$3.99
  • 16.5 ice cola$14.99

Questions

Is Kotlin Recipes free?
Kotlin Recipes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Developer Laboratory free?
Developer Laboratory costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Kotlin Recipes or Developer Laboratory?
Developer Laboratory is rated higher. Kotlin Recipes averages 4.5 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Developer Laboratory averages 4.7 from 6 ratings.
Do Kotlin Recipes or Developer Laboratory have ads?
Neither Kotlin Recipes nor Developer Laboratory shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Kotlin Recipes or Developer Laboratory?
Kotlin Recipes ships an update every 4 months, and Developer Laboratory monthly. Most recently, Kotlin Recipes was updated on October 30, 2026 and Developer Laboratory on October 30, 2026.

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