Comparison

Oovium vs BasicPomo

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

Head to head
About

Oovium

This app is a novel calculation sandbox that combines the functionality of calculators, spreadsheets, concept maps, and programming languages into a single, visually intuitive interface. It aims to make complex computing abilities accessible to a wider audience through explicit visual representations.

Highlights
  • Calculation sandbox
  • Visual programming interface
  • Spreadsheet functionality (GridBub)
  • Concept mapping (TextBub)
  • Custom function definition (MechBub)
  • Object instances (InstBub)
Features
Read full description

Oovium makes my geek heart flutter. - Anne Wind This app is a thing of beauty. - W Smith Jr Wow I love this - OkeyMor57 22nd century calculating - bill knighton This will become Hari Seldon’s Prime Radiant some day. - nicked off Oovium is not an attempt to rehash old outdated inventions, but it subsumes much of their functionality. The calculator, spreadsheet, concept map, programming language: Oovium is all of them and it's none of them. Oovium is the first (but certainly not the last) of an entirely new class of app, the calculation sandbox. It has been made possible by the invention of the touch device and Oovium's clean, efficient and tactile interface, designed for such devices, has been part of its DNA since its inception. At its heart, Oovium aspires to make powerful, sophisticated and complex abilities (such as those currently available only to programmers) accessible to a wider audience. Oovium understands that increasing accessibility does not mean dumbing down an application by hiding complex functionality, it means making that complex functionality understandable by creating explicit visual representations for it. The workspace of Oovium is a two-dimensional surface known as the Aether. Upon this aether a user can place Bubbles. There are currently four types of bubbles: - InstBub is an instance of an object, usually a number, which in turn may be the result of an expression. - MechBub allows the user to define their own functions. - GridBub allows for a tabular arrangement of numbers and expressions similar to a spreadsheet. - TextBub is a node that can be connected to other TextBub nodes in order to create concept maps. These bubbles can be connected to each other in order to render sophisticated calculations in a visual (and aesthetic) way. Libraries of custom functions can be developed and included in other aethers when needed. The concept of Oovium has six different aspects; in its current form it contains only one of these six aspects. It is a highly ambitious project with much more planned, that hopes to empower users; it hopes to change the way people think about and work with their computers; in short, it hopes to change the world! Come help drive its functionality; come help make Oovium happen!

About

BasicPomo

Features
Read full description

BasicPomo is a Pomodoro timer with nothing in the way. Pick a session, watch a piece of fruit count down, and get back to work. Focus for 25 minutes. Take a real break. Repeat. That is the whole method, and this app keeps it that way. No accounts, no dashboards to configure, no streak-shaming. WHAT YOU GET Three rhythms Classic 25/5, quick 20/5, or deep 30/10, with a longer break whenever you need one. Swipe the timer to change duration. Statistics and streaks See how many pomodoros you finished today, how your week is filling up, and how many days in a row you have kept it going. Sessions that finish while your phone is in your pocket still count. Ten fruit themes Tomato, blueberry, avocado, eggplant, carrot, elderberry, vanilla, white mulberry, banana and strawberry. Seasonal surprises turn up during the year. Accurate to the second The timer keeps wall-clock time, so it stays exact while you switch apps, lock your phone, or run in Low Power Mode. Notifications let you start your break without opening the app. Sound and feel Five completion sounds, a silent option, and haptics if you would rather be nudged than chimed at. Siri and Shortcuts Start or pause a session by voice, or drop BasicPomo into a shortcut alongside the rest of your focus routine. Built for everyone VoiceOver reads the countdown as one clear phrase, text scales with your system size, and Reduce Motion is respected throughout. Private by design No account, no ads, no analytics, no network. Your sessions never leave your device. Works on iPhone and iPad, in portrait and landscape. Focus, measured.

Screenshots

Oovium4 screens
BasicPomo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Oovium at Free against BasicPomo's $0.99. Oovium also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

Oovium is free to download; BasicPomo costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Oovium ships an update monthly, BasicPomo every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Oovium versus BasicPomo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOoviumBasicPomo
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews64.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better—
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAepryus SoftwareLars Gregori

Bugs and requests

Oovium

Reported bugs

134 issues
  • Subscription not working
  • Crashes on launch on iPad
  • Links to Dropbox no longer work
  • Update killed everything, crashes on first screen
  • Crashes regularly
Show 129 more
  • App crashes at launch
  • Crashes and lost data before saving
  • Crashes a few times on first use
  • Struggled to get rid of help demo
  • Crashes regularly and feels like a work in progress
  • On-screen hints don't rotate with screen orientation
  • Crashes very frequently
  • Cannot get an aether saved
  • App exits and data is gone
  • Redone calculations multiple times
  • Crashes at launch
  • Launch, crash, launch, crash
  • Splash screen up for a fraction of a second
  • Crashed 5 times in 15 minutes
  • Crash-prone
  • Keeps crashing
  • Is it this update?
  • Forum has no entries since September
  • App still supported/under development?
  • Testing of releases could be better
  • Crashes on start
  • Unusable
  • Landscape mode reverts to portrait
  • Attempts to remove bubble cause a crash
  • Problem with online forum
  • Forum in its infancy
  • Background fades slowly
  • No audio feedback option
  • No statistical functions
  • Too difficult to move and link bubbles
  • Help documentation nonexistent
  • No array of numbers from spreadsheet or data table
  • No zoom
  • No scrollbars
  • Black background poor choice
  • No labels for boxes
  • No separation in box between references and numbers
  • Can't move a box once it's down
  • No visual sign of connections like lines
  • Needs more functions
  • Hard to use and get lost
  • Trippy version of Apple calc
  • Odd to use
  • Subscription is paid but app not usable
  • Mac app not clear, tutorial for iOS only
  • Subscription not automatically renewed
  • App crashes on launch
  • App hasn't been updated in a long time
  • App hasn't kept up with iOS changes
  • Dropbox links no longer work
  • Crashes on launch on iPad
  • Update killed everything
  • Crashes on first screen
  • Crashes regularly
  • Feels like a work in progress
  • Implementation not intuitive enough
  • On-screen instructions are clunky
  • On-screen hints don't rotate
  • Odd, unwieldy interface
  • Tutorial limited to making bubbles
  • Lacks comprehensive help files
  • Video-based information useless for some
  • Interface prevents features from being used
  • Crashes regularly
  • Tedium
  • Custom UI elements instead of standard iOS
  • Not ready for prime-time
  • No statistical functions
  • Too difficult to move and link bubbles
  • Help documentation basically nonexistent
  • No ability to use an array of numbers from a spreadsheet or data table
  • Can't save a calculation web and reuse it
  • Can't zoom in
  • Interface isn't intuitive
  • Can be quite frustrating to begin with
  • Crashes very frequently
  • Can't get an aether saved
  • Once the app exits, it's gone
  • Redone the same calculations 3 times
  • Crashes at launch
  • Launch, crash, launch, crash
  • Splash screen up for a fraction of a second
  • Crashed 5 times in the last 15 minutes
  • GUI needs to be slicker and more polished
  • Crashed a few times on first use
  • Struggled to get rid of the help demo
  • Certain aspects are portrait orientation only
  • In app documentation is terribly lacking
  • Crash-prone
  • Documentation could be much better
  • Managed to crash it 5 times in the last 15 minutes
  • Lack of stability and good documentation
  • Beta at best right now
  • Keeps crashing
  • Is it this update?
  • Could do with a comprehensive set of instructions
  • Forum has no entries since September
  • Is this app still supported/under development?
  • Testing of releases could be better
  • Crashes on start
  • Unusable
  • Landscape mode reverts to portrait
  • Attempts to remove the offending bubble also cause a crash
  • In-app help is very sketchy
  • Price seems high for what seems more like an alpha version than a stable release
  • Limited in-app help
  • Problems with online forum
  • Needs Undo / Redo
  • Needs centering
  • Needs cut/paste formula
  • Needs colors
  • Needs search and save
  • Background fades slowly
  • No audio feedback option
  • No statistical functions
  • Too difficult to move and link bubbles
  • Help documentation is basically nonexistent
  • No ability to use an array of numbers from a spreadsheet or data table
  • No zoom
  • No scrollbars
  • Black is a poor choice of background color
  • No labels for boxes
  • No separation in a box between references from other boxes and numbers entered directly
  • Can't move a box once it's down
  • No visual sign of connections like lines
  • Needs more functions
  • Hard enough to use and once it is set up you get lost quickly
  • Trippy version of the apple calc
  • Kinda odd to use

Requested features

75 requests
  • Better terminology
  • Vastly better documentation
  • Pay-once option
  • Lower purchase price ($3.99 or less)
  • Graphing and graphics capabilities
Show 70 more
  • Loop structure (other than recursion)
  • Overlay for logic and decision making flow chart shapes
  • Link logic operators to number flow
  • Undo feature
  • Random number generator function
  • Loop structure
  • Better handling of labeling and grouped items
  • Standard iOS interface elements
  • Undo/Redo functionality
  • Centering
  • Cut/paste formula
  • Colors
  • Search and save functionality
  • Fade background faster
  • Audio feedback option (beep-boop sounds)
  • Statistical functions
  • Ability to use array of numbers from spreadsheet or data table
  • Scrollbars for canvas navigation
  • Labels for boxes
  • Separation in box between references and numbers
  • Ability to move a box after placement
  • Visual sign of connections (lines)
  • More functions
  • Zoom functionality
  • Scrollbars
  • Labels for boxes
  • Separation in box between references and numbers
  • Ability to move a box once it's down
  • Visual sign of connections like lines
  • More functions
  • Save calculations and functions
  • Improve UI slickness and polish
  • Remove help demo after first use
  • Add cues and clues for using the interface
  • Use standard iOS interface
  • Add simple titles or tips for objects
  • Guidance on aether list usage
  • Create own objects and make calculations based on them
  • Improve stability and error handling/recovery
  • Improve documentation
  • Add strings, constants, and units
  • Fix landscape mode orientation issue
  • Add Undo/Redo
  • Add centering
  • Add cut/paste formula
  • Add colors
  • Add search and save
  • Fade background faster
  • Audio feedback option
  • Statistical functions
  • Ability to use array of numbers from spreadsheet or data table
  • Zoom functionality
  • Scrollbars
  • Labels for boxes
  • Separation in box between references and numbers
  • Ability to move a box once it's down
  • Visual sign of connections like lines
  • More functions
  • Save calculations and functions
  • Improve UI slickness and polish
  • Remove help demo after first use
  • Add cues and clues for using the interface
  • Use standard iOS interface
  • Add simple titles or tips for objects
  • Guidance on aether list usage
  • Create own objects and make calculations based on them
  • Improve stability and error handling/recovery
  • Improve documentation
  • Add strings, constants, and units
  • Fix landscape mode orientation issue

BasicPomo

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Oovium

No in-app purchases

None

BasicPomo

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Oovium free?
Oovium is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BasicPomo free?
BasicPomo costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Oovium or BasicPomo have ads?
Neither Oovium nor BasicPomo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Oovium or BasicPomo?
Oovium ships an update monthly, and BasicPomo every 4 months. Most recently, Oovium was updated on October 31, 2026 and BasicPomo on October 30, 2026.

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