Comparison

The Elements by Theodore Gray vs Universe in a Nutshell

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

Head to head
About

The Elements by Theodore Gray

Explore the building blocks of the universe with this interactive guide to the periodic table. Discover beautifully photographed elements, fascinating stories, and detailed 3D models of over 500 objects, all presented in multiple languages.

Highlights
  • Living periodic table interface
  • Rotating 3D element samples
  • Detailed 3D object models
  • Pinch-zoom and 3D stereo viewing
  • Multilingual support
  • Fascinating stories and facts
Features
Read full description

From Theodore Gray comes a beautifully produced app introducing and educating users on the elements of the periodic table and how they combine to form the world around us. The Elements is a rich and engaging love story, told in words and pictures - allowing you to experience the beauty and fascination of the building blocks of our universe in a way you've never seen before. Start off on a living periodic table where every element is shown with a smoothly rotating sample. To read about gold, tap the gold nugget. Immediately you see the sample filling the screen, photographed to razor sharpness and rotating around a complete circle in front of your eyes. Enjoy the extensive array of facts and figures. Next find a fascinating story about the element, surrounded by carefully photographed objects representing it. Every one of these objects, well over 500 in total, is a freely rotatable, live object that you can examine from all sides and pinch zoom to see in unprecedented detail. Touch the element name at the top of the page and you can see that element’s name in over a dozen different languages. Choose one and you’ll find that the entire book, stories, captions and all, switches to that language: The Elements includes both the full English original text and over a dozen full translations. Pinch-zoom or tap any object to bring it up full screen, where you can split into a pair of stereo 3D images, allowing you to see all 500 objects pop off the screen in 3D, and you can spin the objects, in 3D, with the touch of a finger. This book will show everyone there’s a lot more to the periodic table than a bunch of numbers and letters. Features include: • Beautifully composed pages for every Element in the periodic table • Fun stories and fascinating facts • All objects pinch-zoom with amazing detail and rotate in 3D • Engaging introduction explaining the structure of the periodic table • Engaging introduction explaining the structure of the periodic table • Fully translated into English, Catalan, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish ------------ Reviews: “The iPad’s splendor and power may be best shown by The Elements... it’s not like any ebook you’ve seen. The periodic table of elements comes to life.” – USA Today

About

Universe in a Nutshell

Explore the vastness of the universe, from subatomic particles to distant galaxies, through an interactive, swipe-based journey. Understand true scale by comparing objects and discover fascinating facts about over 250 animated illustrations. Immerse yourself in the cosmos with original music.

Highlights
  • Interactive scale exploration
  • Seamless zooming from 10^-35m to 10^26m
  • Fun facts about objects
  • Explanations for each object
  • Over 250 animated illustrations
  • Original music soundtrack
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The range of size in the universe, from the tiniest particles to the epic galaxies - we take you on a journey of size that lets you explore it all with a single swipe. How big is a planet, compared to a human? And how small is an atom really? You can’t fully wrap your head around the scope of things by just reading about them – so this app lets you experience them in comparison to get a feeling for their true scale. By simply swiping you can zoom in and out all the way from the world of fundamental particles up to the largest stars at the edge of the observable universe. Seamless zooming between the scales of 10^-35 meters to 10^26 meters (no math required) Amazing fun facts for various scale levels, like the smallest bacterium and the largest black hole Tap any object for an explanation of what it is and how it works Beautifully animated illustration of more than 250 objects Original Kurzgesagt music to complement your experience

Screenshots

The Elements by Theodore Gray4 screens
Universe in a Nutshell4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Universe in a Nutshell at $2.99 against The Elements by Theodore Gray's $9.99. Universe in a Nutshell also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 months) and rating (4.9 vs 4.6). 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

The Elements by Theodore Gray costs $9.99 and Universe in a Nutshell $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Universe in a Nutshell holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Universe in a Nutshell has 2.5K ratings behind it against 123, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of The Elements by Theodore Gray's written reviews are positive against 89% of Universe in a Nutshell's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Elements by Theodore Gray ships an update every 3 months, Universe in a Nutshell every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
The Elements by Theodore Gray versus Universe in a Nutshell: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Elements by Theodore GrayUniverse in a Nutshell
Price$9.99$2.99 — better
Rating4.6 (123 ratings)4.9 (2.5K ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.1% of reviews89.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1232.5K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank—#127 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.5 GB320 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNatureGuides Ltd.in a nutshell - kurzgesagt GmbH

Customer experience

The Elements by Theodore Gray

All ratings122 ratings
Positive89.3%
Neutral3.3%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews479 reviews
Positive73.1%
Neutral9.6%
Negative17.3%

Universe in a Nutshell

All ratings2,508 ratings
Positive97.6%
Neutral0.8%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews449 reviews
Positive89.1%
Neutral3.1%
Negative7.8%

User reviews

The Elements by Theodore Gray

From 123 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Stunning visuals and 3D animations
  • 📚 Comprehensive information on elements
  • 🎨 Engaging and humorous writing style
  • 🏫 Excellent educational tool for all ages

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Difficult to navigate and find specific elements
  • 🔌 Massive file size takes up a lot of storage
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • 💰 Expensive for the limited content

Universe in a Nutshell

From 2.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🤩 Fascinating and educational
  • 🎨 Beautiful artwork and animations
  • 🎶 Relaxing background music
  • 📚 Comprehensive information on a wide range of topics
  • 🔍 Intuitive and easy to navigate

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes on some devices, especially older iPhones
  • 🔍 Difficulty comparing sizes of objects due to positioning
  • 🕹️ Laggy animations and transitions on some devices
  • 🌐 Lack of offline functionality

Bugs and requests

The Elements by Theodore Gray

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Element descriptions cut off on iPhone 6 Plus
  • Crashes when switching landscape orientations
  • Unable to download app after initial purchase

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add option to disable animations
  • Improve periodic table navigation
  • Include more detailed scientific information
  • Support multiple languages and spellings

Universe in a Nutshell

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashes on launch for some users
  • Overlapping hit boxes make it difficult to select certain objects

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more objects to explore (e.g. Uranus, Eris, more moons, etc.)
  • Implement a search function to quickly find specific objects
  • Add the ability to compare multiple objects side-by-side
  • Include more in-depth scientific information and facts
  • Provide an option to have the descriptions read aloud
Show 1 more
  • Improve the smoothness of zooming and panning

In-app purchases

None

The Elements by Theodore Gray

No in-app purchases

None

Universe in a Nutshell

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Elements by Theodore Gray free?
The Elements by Theodore Gray costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Universe in a Nutshell free?
Universe in a Nutshell costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, The Elements by Theodore Gray or Universe in a Nutshell?
Universe in a Nutshell is rated higher. The Elements by Theodore Gray averages 4.6 out of 5 from 123 ratings, while Universe in a Nutshell averages 4.9 from 2.5K ratings.
Do The Elements by Theodore Gray or Universe in a Nutshell have ads?
Neither The Elements by Theodore Gray nor Universe in a Nutshell shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Elements by Theodore Gray or Universe in a Nutshell?
The Elements by Theodore Gray ships an update every 3 months, and Universe in a Nutshell every 4 days. Most recently, The Elements by Theodore Gray was updated on November 6, 2026 and Universe in a Nutshell on November 7, 2026.

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