xFractal vs First Light
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
xFractal
Explore the intricate beauty of fractals with real-time GPU rendering. Zoom infinitely into the Mandelbrot and Julia sets, discover various fractal types, and enjoy smooth coloring with multiple palettes. Replay your explorations as animated movies.
- Mandelbrot, Julia, Newton, and Multibrot fractals
- Deep zoom capabilities
- Multiple classic color palettes
- Julia presets and Multibrot exponents
- Exploration replay as animated movie
- Cross-device continuity
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Explore the infinite beauty of fractals with your fingertips. Pinch to zoom, drag to pan, and dive into the endless detail of the Mandelbrot set and its relatives — rendered in real time on your device's GPU. xFractal, first released in 2008, is back — rebuilt from the ground up for today's iPhone and iPad. FEATURES: • Mandelbrot, Julia, Newton and Multibrot fractals • Deep zoom: magnify the Mandelbrot and Julia sets more than a trillion times • Four classic palettes — Hot, Cold, Gray and Chromatic — with smooth coloring • Julia presets (Dendrite, Spiral, Rabbit, Galaxy, San Marco), Multibrot exponents 2–8, three Newton polynomials • Replay: watch your whole exploration animate back as a short movie • Picks up exactly where you left off • Free and open source Deep zoom uses K. I. Martin's perturbation technique.
First Light
Explore the universe's earliest light with real cosmic microwave background data. Pan across the oldest light in the universe, switch between satellites, and observe shifts in frequency bands. This educational app brings real science and cosmic history to your mobile device.
- Explore cosmic microwave background data
- Immersive sky exploration via phone movement
- Switch between COBE, WMAP, and Planck satellites
- Adjust frequency bands to see universe shifts
- Utilizes real scientific data
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Look up. What you're seeing isn't the night sky. It's the afterglow of the Big Bang, captured by three of the most important space missions ever launched. First Light turns real cosmic microwave background data from COBE, WMAP, and Planck into an immersive sky you can explore by simply moving your phone. Pan across the oldest light in the universe. Switch between satellites. Dial through frequency bands and watch the universe shift. This is real data. Real science. And it fits in your pocket.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: First Light at 100% against xFractal's 71%. xFractal's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
xFractal ships an update every 6 weeks, First Light every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | xFractal | First Light |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 71.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 75 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jean Bovet | Thomas Sola |
Customer experience
xFractal
First Light
In-app purchases
xFractal
No in-app purchases
First Light
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is xFractal free?
Is First Light free?
Do xFractal or First Light have ads?
Which is updated more often, xFractal or First Light?
Other comparisons
