Dr Karl vs MVAC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dr Karl
Explore science through augmented reality with interactive holographic content. Access bonus material, answer intriguing questions, and revisit content from previous books. Requires trigger images from the physical book to activate AR features.
- Augmented reality holograms
- Interactive bonus content
- Access to previous book content
- Trigger image activation
- Science trivia questions
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Prepare yourself for bonus awesome content and watch Dr Karl pop up and introduce each chapter. There’s so much extra stuff, it’s like a book-within-a-book. Click on the hotspot links to access more information related to the topics in his latest book ‘Dr Karl’s Surfing Safari Through Science’. Among other things, Dr Karl asks: - Why can sharpening a pencil in space kill you? - What does a red sunset mean fine weather tomorrow? - How far would the Earth's viruses reach if you laid them end to end? - How can dead fish, and whales, keep swimming – after they’re dead? To experience the Dr Karl ‘holograms’ in augmented reality (AR), you’ll need the trigger images within the book. These are the front cover and the first page of each chapter. If you’d like a taster of the book without the entire stories, you can simply download the trigger images from the Help page within the application and access the augmented reality content by following the instructions. If you’re looking for the AR content for the previous book: ‘Dr Karl’s Random Road Trip Through Science’, don’t worry, it’s all still available through the app! Just look for the Random Road Trip footer in the app to access all that sciency goodness too! The Dr Karl App was developed by the awesome team at auggd.com. Videos were produced with support from the Media Room in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney. The loading image of a Dr Karl shirt is by Luisa Brimble for frankie magazine. Thanks to you all.
MVAC
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Bridge the gap between home and school with the Manning Valley Anglican College app, developed by Digistorm. Receive instant information about Manning Valley Anglican College, push notifications for urgent updates, school newsletters and more. Key features of the Manning Valley Anglican College app: Notices: the Notices module provides Manning Valley Anglican College with the ability to keep their community informed with important information, with push notifications for urgent school notices Calendar: the Calendar module displays all events occurring in the current week or those that are up-and-coming. Events can easily be subscribed to, shared and saved for later Newsletter: the Newsletter module allows Manning Valley Anglican College to share electronic newsletters, directly to the app Other features such as a quick and easy Contact Directory help you to reach Manning Valley Anglican College with the tap of a button Settings allows you to manage the frequency and type of notifications that you receive from MVAC. Developed by Digistorm - Software for Smarter Schools.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: MVAC at every 4 months against Dr Karl's every 18 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.
Dr Karl ships an update every 18 months, MVAC every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dr Karl | MVAC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 30.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 18 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 139 MB | 28 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Augmented Reality Services Pty. Ltd. | Manning Valley Anglican College Anglican Diocese of Newcastle |
In-app purchases
Dr Karl
No in-app purchases
MVAC
No in-app purchases









