Comparison

The Elements by Theodore Gray vs Universal Zoom

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

Universal Zoom

Explore the universe's vastness and intricacy through interactive visual comparisons. Seamlessly zoom from subatomic particles to the observable universe, gaining intuition about scale and size with stunning imagery and clear explanations.

Highlights
  • Seamless zooming across scales
  • Visual comparisons of objects
  • Jargon-free scientific explanations
  • Audio narration
  • Over 270 objects presented to scale
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

The universe is endlessly vast. A single atom is impossibly small. And somewhere between those two extremes lies everything that has ever existed. We believe that feeling — the electric, spine-tingling sense of scale — belongs to everyone. Not just scientists. Not just students. Everyone. That's why we built Universal Zoom. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Zoom seamlessly from the Planck length to the edge of the observable universe — about 300 objects presented to perfect scale. • Compare any two objects side by side: how many Earths fit inside Jupiter? How does a virus measure up against a skyscraper? Instant, visual, intuitive. (No other scale app lets you do this.) • Go deeper with audio narration and short, accessible explanations — the facts that matter, in plain language. WHAT YOU'LL EXPLORE • Elementary particles — quarks, leptons, and bosons. Atomic nuclei, atoms, and DNA. Living cells. Animals and landmarks. Planets, stars, and galaxies. A deep dive into physics, biology, and astronomy — with short, plain-language articles that make even particle physics easy to grasp — in 40 languages, with metric, imperial, or powers-of-ten units. • Real high-resolution photos and electron microscope images, where possible. Original artwork for things that can't be photographed — like elementary particles and DNA structures. • No ads. No in-app purchases. Pure discovery. BUILT WITH YOU We're a team of two (Andrey and Oksana) from Canada who have poured a decade into this app because we genuinely love science. Most objects come from community suggestions — carefully fact-checked and updated with every new discovery. Over 200 more are already in the queue. FOR EDUCATORS Used by teachers worldwide to visualize scale, build measurement intuition, and turn abstract numbers into "aha" moments. Available at 50% off for schools via Apple School Manager (20+ copies). FOLLOW THE JOURNEY Sneak peeks and upcoming additions: @gamifyitapps on X, YouTube, and TikTok. Feedback and ideas: gamifyitapps.com/contact

Screenshots

The Elements by Theodore Gray4 screens
Universal Zoom4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Universal Zoom at 97% against The Elements by Theodore Gray's 73%. Universal Zoom also leads on price ($5.99 vs $9.99) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On ratings volume, 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

The Elements by Theodore Gray costs $9.99 and Universal Zoom $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Universal Zoom holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 123 and 363 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of The Elements by Theodore Gray's written reviews are positive against 97% of Universal Zoom's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Elements by Theodore Gray ships an update every 3 months, Universal Zoom every 4 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
The Elements by Theodore Gray versus Universal Zoom: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Elements by Theodore GrayUniversal Zoom
Price$9.99$5.99 — better
Rating4.6 (123 ratings)4.8 (363 ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.1% of reviews96.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings123363 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS17.015.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.5 GB175 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNatureGuides Ltd.GamifyIt

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%

Universal Zoom

All ratings356 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral2.0%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews389 reviews
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.8%

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

Universal Zoom

From 363 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fascinating and informative
  • 🚀 Smooth and seamless experience
  • 💡 Puts things into perspective
  • 👍 Great learning tool for all ages
  • 👍 Visually appealing and well-designed

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 🔇 Background music could be improved

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

Universal Zoom

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Incorrect information for some objects
  • Compatibility issues on older devices
  • Typos and minor errors in text

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more objects and comparisons
  • Customizable object feature
  • Support for more languages
  • Ability to toggle between metric and imperial units
  • Search and filtering options

In-app purchases

None

The Elements by Theodore Gray

No in-app purchases

None

Universal Zoom

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 Universal Zoom free?
Universal Zoom costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, The Elements by Theodore Gray or Universal Zoom?
Universal Zoom is rated higher. The Elements by Theodore Gray averages 4.6 out of 5 from 123 ratings, while Universal Zoom averages 4.8 from 363 ratings.
Do The Elements by Theodore Gray or Universal Zoom have ads?
Neither The Elements by Theodore Gray nor Universal Zoom shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Elements by Theodore Gray or Universal Zoom?
The Elements by Theodore Gray ships an update every 3 months, and Universal Zoom every 4 months. Most recently, The Elements by Theodore Gray was updated on October 24, 2026 and Universal Zoom on October 24, 2026.

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