Comparison

Phyto vs MetaMorphos

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Phytoplankton identification guide
  • Marine and freshwater species
  • Flash cards for learning
  • Interactive identification games
  • Species details and photos
  • Submit observation results
Features
Read full description

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).

About

MetaMorphos

Features
Read full description

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

Phyto4 screens
MetaMorphos4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Phyto versus MetaMorphos: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhytoMetaMorphos
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews64.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 months — betterEvery 13 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size81 MB1.1 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGano Technologies LLCUniversité de Mons

In-app purchases

None

Phyto

No in-app purchases

None

MetaMorphos

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Phyto free?
Phyto is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MetaMorphos free?
MetaMorphos is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Phyto or MetaMorphos have ads?
Neither Phyto nor MetaMorphos shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Phyto or MetaMorphos?
Phyto ships an update every 10 months, and MetaMorphos every 13 months. Most recently, Phyto was updated on September 21, 2026 and MetaMorphos on September 16, 2026.

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