The Elementals vs U.S. Army STARS Elements
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Elementals
Explore a vibrant periodic table where each element is brought to life with unique personalities. Learn about their melting and boiling points, and delve into the fascinating world of electron configurations in an engaging and interactive way.
- Interactive periodic table
- Elements with personalities
- Melting and boiling points
- Electron configurations
- Educational science app
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A fun periodic table where the elements have personality. Discover the melting and boiling points of each of the elements or the configuration of the electrons.
U.S. Army STARS Elements
Explore the world of chemistry with interactive tools to build atoms, learn chemical bonds, and discover elements. Test your knowledge with engaging challenges designed for students, teachers, and enthusiasts.
- Atom Builder
- SmashBond game
- Interactive Periodic Table
- STARS Challenge quiz
- 3D atom construction
- Bohr's model visualization
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U.S. Army STARS Elements is a fun and exciting way to learn chemistry. Build your own atom, play a game to help you learn about chemical bonds, explore the periodic table, and test your chemistry knowledge. Elements is great for students, teachers, and anyone interested in chemistry. U.S. Army STARS Elements includes... Atom Builder - A simple, powerful tool that let’s you construct and discover atoms. Add and subtract protons, neutrons, and electrons and see, in 3D, what you can create. SmashBond - Use the octet rule to bond elements and score points in SmashBond. Swap elements to make 2, 3, or 4 element bonds, and grab bonuses to get a SMASHBOND. It’s a really fun way to help you become familiar with the octet rule and learn common chemical bonds by their type, symbol, name and Lewis dot diagram. Periodic Table - Use the table to view trends and detailed information about each of the 118 elements. See an interactive Bohr’s model and learn interesting facts about the elements. It’s like a regular periodic table, but interactive and fun. STARS Challenge - When you’re ready to test your knowledge, take the STARS Challenge. You’ll be presented with questions in 3 areas (elements, bonding, and atomic configuration). Can you master them all? No matter what your level of experience with chemistry, U.S. Army STARS Elements makes learning fun. Easy to use lesson plans and teacher guides are available at http://usarmystars.com/lessons to help integrate Elements into the classroom.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: U.S. Army STARS Elements at 100% against The Elementals's 52%. U.S. Army STARS Elements also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.5). The Elementals's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (583 vs 18). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
U.S. Army STARS Elements holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Elementals has 583 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of The Elementals's written reviews are positive against 100% of U.S. Army STARS Elements's.
The Elementals ships an update every 2 months, U.S. Army STARS Elements every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Elementals | U.S. Army STARS Elements |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (583 ratings) | 4.7 (18 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 52.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 583 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 213 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Simon Madine | Army Game Studio |
Customer experience
The Elementals
U.S. Army STARS Elements
Bugs and requests
The Elementals
Reported bugs
2 issues- Electron configurations not accurately represented
- Some elements have spelling errors or inconsistencies
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to mix and combine elements
- Include more detailed information about each element (properties, uses, etc.)
- Implement Bohr and Lewis models of atoms
- Allow customization and personalization of elements
- Incorporate animations and sounds to make it more engaging
U.S. Army STARS Elements
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
The Elementals
No in-app purchases
U.S. Army STARS Elements
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is The Elementals free?
Is U.S. Army STARS Elements free?
Which has better reviews, The Elementals or U.S. Army STARS Elements?
Do The Elementals or U.S. Army STARS Elements have ads?
Which is updated more often, The Elementals or U.S. Army STARS Elements?
Other comparisons
