Ferromagnetic vs Cymatics Lab
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ferromagnetic
Transform music into real-time visual art with dynamic audio-reactive effects. Enhance personal listening, create ambiance for gatherings, or perform live with captivating visuals that sync to every beat. Offers thousands of unique visual combinations for a fresh experience with every song.
- Real-time audio-reactive visuals
- Multi-band frequency analysis
- Automatic beat detection
- Metal-powered rendering engine
- Multi-layer compositing system
- Customizable visual parameters
- Thousands of unique visual combinations
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Ferromagnetic: Music Visualizer & VJ App for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Ferromagnetic turns Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, and any other sound into stunning real-time visuals. It's a professional audio visualizer for everyone, from home listening and house parties to DJ sets, live shows, and VJ performances. FM Visualizer: Effortless Background Visuals Start a System Broadcast and Ferromagnetic follows the audio of Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, and most other apps on your device. Or use the microphone to visualize anything around you, from a DJ set to a live band. The 12-band frequency analysis and tunable beat detection catch every beat and note, and a GPU-accelerated Metal engine renders it all in multiple layers. Pick a Vibe like Calm, Energetic, Trippy, or Retro to set the mood in one tap. Or let Ferromagnetic take the wheel and build new scenes on its own from over 1,000 combinations. Set how fast the scenes change and choose from ten transition styles, including Morph, Zoom, and Color Distance. Choose from over 20 audio-reactive effects: the signature Ferrofluid and Electromagnetic fields, plus Starfield, Petals, Laser, Glitter, Cloud, Refractions, and more. Build your own scene from three effect layers and particles, each with its own blend mode, and tune every layer to the bass or the highs. Particles burst and flow with the sound, and glitch and shake hit harder as the volume rises. Transform the image with Kaleidoscope, Droste Spiral, Voronoi Mirror, or Tunnel, then shape the look with pixelation, dithering, blur, and color palettes like Vivid, Warm, or Triadic. Show your own logo text on screen, perfect for cafes, bars, and venues. Mirror the visuals to a TV or projector with AirPlay or a cable, and the screen stays awake for as long as the music plays. Visuals render at up to 60 fps. FM Producer: Live Visual Performance On iPad, FM Producer turns Ferromagnetic into a VJ app for live shows. The dual-deck interface works like a DJ controller: prepare the next scene on one deck, then crossfade it in. Add the iPad camera or NDI® sources as live layers, and send your visuals to OBS, Resolume, and other apps with NDI output. Connect a MIDI controller or keyboard, map any control with MIDI Learn, and trigger effects and scenes without touching the screen. FM Producer also unlocks the complete Mac app, with video, image, and 3D model layers, presets, and video recording. Try It Free Download Ferromagnetic for free, then unlock only what you need with an affordable subscription or a one-time purchase. One purchase works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Already on FM Visualizer? Your purchase counts toward FM Producer. NDI® is a registered trademark of Vizrt NDI AB. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Cymatics Lab
Visualize sound as intricate, shifting geometric patterns created by sand particles. Explore different modes, use your microphone or music library as a sound source, and customize the visual effects. Share your creations with a community or use it for live performances.
- Real-time sand particle simulation driven by sound
- Multiple visualization modes (Square, Circle, Cavity, Lissajous, Quasicrystal)
- Sound input via microphone, music library, or frequency engine
- Extensive customization of physics, visuals, and art effects
- Beat-reactive effects synced to music
- Community feed for sharing and remixing creations
- Record videos and take photos for sharing
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Watch thousands of sand particles arrange themselves into geometric patterns in real time, driven entirely by the physics of sound. Cymatics Lab simulates a vibrating plate with accurate physics. Drop particles, play music or speak into your mic, and watch the sand migrate to the stillest points on the surface, forming intricate, shifting geometric shapes. The same science that fascinated Chladni in the 1700s, now running on your phone. 5 WAYS TO SEE SOUND Square — The classic Chladni plate. Rectangular nodal patterns shift and evolve with your sound. Circle — Circular plate with Bessel function eigenmodes. Concentric rings bloom outward like a cymbal frozen in slow motion. Cavity — A 3D resonant chamber. Sand moves through depth, not just across a flat surface. Lissajous — Orbital particle paths inspired by Lissajous figures. Hypnotic, looping geometry. Quasicrystal — Patterns that repeat forever but never tile. Five-fold and higher symmetries in motion. ANYTHING CAN BE A SOUND SOURCE Mic Input — Speak, sing, clap, play an instrument. The sand responds instantly. Apple Music & Spotify — Connect your streaming library and visualize your favorite tracks. Music Library — Play songs stored on your device. Frequency Engine — Dial in exact Hz values and watch the sand snap into resonance. Stack harmonics. Sweep through ranges. MAKE IT YOURS Main Panel — Control sand count, particle size, force sensitivity, and bloom. Physics Panel — Adjust vibration modes, resonance sharpness, frequency multiplier, sand collisions, and experimental effects. View Panel — Orbit the camera freely. Choose skybox environments, room lighting, and plate appearance. Art Panel — Layer on symmetry reflections, energy glow, particle trails, bloom, and color palettes. Studio Panel — Save and load presets. Enable beat-reactive effects that sync to the music: bloom pulses, gravity shifts, burst explosions, sweep waves, color cycling, depth warping, shimmer, ripple, and dissolve. CREATE AND SHARE Publish to the Waves community feed. Browse what others have made and remix their settings as a starting point. Take photos and record videos directly in the app. Use Presentation Mode to cast to a TV or projector for live performances and installations. FREE VS PRO Free includes Square mode, mic input, and basic controls — enough to experience real cymatics. Cymatics Lab Pro unlocks everything for a one-time purchase of $9.99. No subscription. No ads. Yours forever. — All 5 visualization modes — Apple Music, Spotify, and Music Library input — Frequency Engine tone generator — Full Physics, View, Art, and Studio panels — Beat-reactive effects — Community publishing to Waves — All current features Try Pro free for 24 hours before you decide. WHO IS THIS FOR? — Everyone. Browse the Waves community and get lost in patterns others have created, Just scroll and enjoy with your own sounds or music. — Musicians and visual artists who've always felt their sound was something to be seen. Connect your music and watch it take shape. — The curious who want to watch physics happen in real time. Change one setting and see how sound behaves differently. — Educators teaching acoustics, resonance, and wave phenomena. A living, interactive demonstration. — DJs and performers who want a live visual companion on stage or on screen. Cymatics Lab is built by a single developer who cares about the science as much as the art. No ads. No subscriptions. Just sound made visible. See what your music has always looked like.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Ferromagnetic at 4.1 against Cymatics Lab's 3.7. Ferromagnetic also leads on ratings volume (26 vs 3) and device support (3 vs 1). Cymatics Lab's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 80%). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Ferromagnetic sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month and Cymatics Lab sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ferromagnetic holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ferromagnetic has 26 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 80% of Ferromagnetic's written reviews are positive against 100% of Cymatics Lab's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Ferromagnetic ships an update weekly, Cymatics Lab every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ferromagnetic | Cymatics Lab |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (26 ratings) — better | 3.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 26 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 152 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Daniel Eke | Kiefer Studio LLC |
Customer experience
Ferromagnetic
Cymatics Lab
Bugs and requests
Ferromagnetic
Reported bugs
14 issues- Song titles don’t update
- Custom image wasn’t saving in presets (reported fixed)
- Logo makes imported images blurry
- App crashes on launch
- Poorly implemented controls (MacOS)
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- Does not work with Apple Music for some users
- Does not sync with music for some users
- Repeating visualizer scenes
- Shoddy integration with Streamlabs
- Does not work with microphone for some users
- Visuals are seemingly random and endless
- App asks to update when there's no update
- Crashes every time audio input is changed after update
- Recurring shapes pop up every few seconds
Requested features
20 requests- Add a 'go back' button for controls
- Add Airplay mirroring or tvOS app
- More options in visualizer types
- Configurable presets for cycling settings
- Ability to stream to TV without a cable
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- Apple TV app development
- More shaders and 4k-8k resolution options
- More options to customize and create own shaders
- More style options (e.g., retro equalizer, symmetric bars)
- Ability to navigate a catalog or favorite visuals
- Rotation feature for effects
- Output to a file without screen capture
- Choose output frame rate and size
- Get rid of or manipulate recurring shapes
- Remove Source/editor column from viewer window
- Option to load songs directly from user's library
- Transparency option for windows
- More customization options
- Effects inspired by Apple's classic visualizer
- Bug fix for audio input crashes
Cymatics Lab
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ferromagnetic
- FM Visualizer7 Days trial$2.491 Month
- FM Producer3 Days trial$3.991 Month
- A generous tip$0.99
- FM Visualizer One-TIme$14.99
- FM Producer Upgrade$29.99
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- FM Producer One-Time$49.99
Cymatics Lab
- Cymatics Lab Pro$9.99
Questions
Is Ferromagnetic free?
Is Cymatics Lab free?
Which has better reviews, Ferromagnetic or Cymatics Lab?
Do Ferromagnetic or Cymatics Lab have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ferromagnetic or Cymatics Lab?
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