Molecules vs BioViewer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Molecules
Explore and interact with 3D molecular models on your device. Rotate, zoom, and pan structures using intuitive touch gestures. Visualize molecules in different modes and load custom structures from various sources.
- 3D molecule rendering
- Finger-based manipulation (rotate, zoom, pan)
- Ball-and-stick visualization
- Spacefilling visualization
- Load custom molecular structures
- File sharing and iCloud import
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Molecules is an application for viewing three-dimensional renderings of molecules and manipulating them using your fingers. You can rotate the molecules by moving your finger across the display, zoom in or out by using two-finger pinch gestures, or pan the molecule by moving two fingers across the screen at once. These structures can be viewed in both ball-and-stick and spacefilling visualization modes. Molecules can be stored on your handheld device for later viewing and are loaded via a standard document-based file browser. Custom molecular structures can be downloaded to the application via file sharing or iCloud, and obtained via sources like the RCSB Protein Data Bank (http://www.rcsb.org/pdb), an international repository of biological molecules and their 3-D structures, or NCBI's PubChem (http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), a public database of compounds. For more details, please visit our website. Molecules is a BSD-licensed open source project.
BioViewer
Visualize 3D molecular structures from .pdb files on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Features smooth rendering, drag-and-drop support, and publication-quality photo exports for detailed analysis.
- 3D molecular structure visualization
- Supports .pdb and .xyz files
- Drag and drop functionality
- Photo Mode with high-quality exports
- Multi-model PDB support
- Optimized for ProMotion displays
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A .pdb protein visualizer for iOS, iPadOS and macOS. View the 3D representation of any molecular structure from a .pdb file, using our custom Metal-based rendering engine based to allow for a smooth experience even in the biggest proteins. - Full drag and drop support for .pdb and .xyz files. - Photo Mode with publication-quality exports. - Support for multi-model PDBs. - Support for high refresh rate ProMotion displays.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Molecules at 3.6 against BioViewer's 1.0. Molecules also leads on review sentiment (65% vs 33%) and ratings volume (166 vs 1). BioViewer's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Molecules holds the better App Store score, 3.6 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Molecules has 166 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of Molecules's written reviews are positive against 33% of BioViewer's.
Molecules ships an update every 2 months, BioViewer every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on August 5, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Molecules | BioViewer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (166 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 65.5% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 166 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sunset Lake Software | Raul Monton Pinillos |
Customer experience
Molecules
BioViewer
Bugs and requests
Molecules
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when switching between views
- Molecules disappear after reopening the app
- Search function is unreliable and limited
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to build and edit molecules
- Implement a color key for atom types
- Include more basic molecules (H2O, CO2, etc.)
- Allow sorting/organizing downloaded molecules
- Integrate with databases like PubChem and RCSB
BioViewer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Molecules
No in-app purchases
BioViewer
No in-app purchases









