Phyto vs MetaMorphos
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Phyto
Learn to identify common marine and freshwater phytoplankton with this educational app. It features a comprehensive identification guide, flashcards, and interactive games to aid learning. Developed with support from NOAA, it's designed for both iPhone and iPad.
- Phytoplankton identification guide
- Marine and freshwater species
- Flash cards for learning
- Interactive identification games
- Species details and photos
- Submit observation results
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Phyto helps you learn to identify phytoplankton and their proper pronunciation. It includes the most common marine and freshwater phytoplankton. --------------------- Phyto Version 2.0 - Completely redesigned! --------------------- - Many new species added with more details and photos. - Freshwater and Marine species now included - Flash Cards and Fast Phyto: two games to help learn how to identify phytoplankton - Species Identification Guide - Phytoplankton Monitoring Network volunteers can submit sample observation results - Embedded news and information browser - Universal App: now works well on both the iPhone and iPad (support for all screen sizes and resolutions) ----------------- This application was developed by the Phytoplankton Monitoring Network which is sponsored by the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
MetaMorphos
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We live in a three-dimensional world and in this, like all living organisms, we have a length, a width and a thickness. The study of animals, The Zoology, involves the understanding of body plans: without describing the structure of an organ or an organic system, the functioning of it is incomprehensible. If we live well in a three-dimensional world, the explanatory means at our disposal still pass most of the time through two-dimensional supports: the blackboard of the professors, the data projector screen, the drawings or the photographs we have give us 2D images of objects or structures that we describe and analyze. MetaMorphos (Metazoan Morphology) is a program that illustrates metazoan structure plans by high quality 3D reconstructions. It is aimed at people who want to understand animal architecture whether naturalist amateurs, professional zoologists, students or professors in biology. MetaMorphos 2.15 is the third version of the program and comprises fifteen organisms: an anthozoan (Cnidaria), a comb jelly (Ctenophora), a flatworm (Platyhelminthes), a polychaete (Annelida), a gastropod (Mollusca), a nematod (Nematoda), a sea cucumber (Echinodermata), an ascidian (Urochordata), etc. The organisms presented in MetaMorphos are avatars, that is to say 3D reconstructions of typical organisms regrouping the major characteristics of high-ranking taxa in the Linnean hierarchy, usually classes. MetaMorphos allows to analyze the external morphology of the avatars as well as its systemic organization. The visualized organic systems are the digestive, excretory, nervous, reproductive, circulatory, and respiratory systems with some other unique systems observed in certain taxa as well (e.g., the ambulacral system of echinoderms). An organic system can be visualized alone or with other systems, either in toto or without representation of the translucent body of the animal. A cursor is used to identify the systemic parts. The avatar can be oriented in all the dimensions of the space and a function "zoom" makes it possible to magnify the part of the body in analysis. A Body Plan is a modeled morphological organization that characterizes a set of species that are part of a high-ranking taxa, usually a phylum or a class. The term "Baüplan" was introduced by the German embryologist Henry Woodger (1945), which he defined as the structure plan common to the species of a monophyletic group. It was mainly at Haeckel (1863, 1866, 1868, 1872, 1874, 1875) to whom we owe the sketch, still strongly present today, of the taxonomic division of metazoans into classes and phyla. In this Haeckel is also the first to divide the set of metazoans into groups comprising species with a similar structure of the body. Realisation: Igor Eeckhaut (zoologis) Nathan Puozzo (graphic designer) After original idea of Igor Eeckhaut.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: MetaMorphos at 8.0 against Phyto's 15.0. 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.
Phyto ships an update every 10 months, MetaMorphos every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Phyto | MetaMorphos |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (6 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 64.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months — better | Every 13 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 81 MB | 1.1 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gano Technologies LLC | Université de Mons |
In-app purchases
Phyto
No in-app purchases
MetaMorphos
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Phyto free?
Is MetaMorphos free?
Do Phyto or MetaMorphos have ads?
Which is updated more often, Phyto or MetaMorphos?
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