Comparison

Chaos Lab vs Magnetic Pendulum

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

Head to head
About

Chaos Lab

Explore the beauty of chaos through interactive simulations of mathematical objects, chemical reactions, and celestial mechanics. Manipulate parameters with device tilt and touch to create stunning visual art and understand complex scientific principles.

Highlights
  • Interactive strange attractors
  • Chemical oscillator simulations
  • 3-body chaos simulation
  • Julian fractal morphing
  • Real-time parameter control
  • Multiple attractors included
Features
Read full description

Chaos Lab puts the beauty of chaos in your hands. With a tilt of your device, you control the parameters of beautiful mathematical objects called strange attractors, the reaction rates of a chemical oscillator, the position of two stars in a 3-body chaos simulation, and the shape of the Julian fractal. Now you can be an experimentalist and an artist. Using real-time integration of over 6,000 points for the attractors whose parameters are tied to your motion, over 7,000 data points for a fractal which morphs at your command, ten "asteroids" demonstrating chaotic sensitivity to initial conditions in a jittering twin-star system where the stars move with your tilt (can you keep them from escaping?), and a real-time BZ-reaction simulation which you control by both tilt and touch, this is chaos as you've never seen it before. Chaos Lab comes loaded with four of the most stunning attractors in chaos theory. The Rössler and Lorenz attractors are well known, but the Thomas and Newton-Leipnik attractors are relatively new and quite amazing! This work has been supported in part by grant PHY-0754081 from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Nonlinear Dynamics Research Group at Drexel University (directed by Dr. Robert Gilmore), and the Department of Physics at Drexel University. Please note, some of these experiments will run slower on the older models of iPhones and iPod touch devices. Find the beauty in the chaos!

About

Magnetic Pendulum

Explore the fascinating, chaotic motion of a metallic pendulum interacting with magnets. Adjust simulation parameters like gravity and friction to generate unique fractal patterns. This free educational tool is designed for learning and discovery.

Highlights
  • Pendulum motion simulation
  • Adjustable gravity and friction
  • Fractal generation
  • Educational purposes
  • Ad-free experience
Features
Read full description

This app simulates the chaotic movement of a metallic pendulum above three magnets - You can change simulation settings such as gravity and friction - Create beautiful fractals based on your gravity and friction settings This app is completely free without any ads or purchase options and intended entirely for educational purposes.

Screenshots

Chaos Lab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Chaos Lab at 4.9 against Magnetic Pendulum's 4.0. Chaos Lab also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 56 months). Magnetic Pendulum's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 69%) and iOS requirement (15.2 vs 18.0). On price, ratings volume, 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chaos Lab holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 69% of Chaos Lab's written reviews are positive against 100% of Magnetic Pendulum's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chaos Lab ships an update every 3 days, Magnetic Pendulum every 56 months. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Chaos Lab versus Magnetic Pendulum: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChaos LabMagnetic Pendulum
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (7 ratings) — better4.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews68.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 56 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS18.015.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTimothy D. JonesDonkeyCat GmbH

Customer experience

Chaos Lab

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive68.8%
Neutral12.5%
Negative18.8%

Magnetic Pendulum

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Chaos Lab

No in-app purchases

None

Magnetic Pendulum

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chaos Lab free?
Chaos Lab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Magnetic Pendulum free?
Magnetic Pendulum is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chaos Lab or Magnetic Pendulum?
Chaos Lab is rated higher. Chaos Lab averages 4.9 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while Magnetic Pendulum averages 4.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Chaos Lab or Magnetic Pendulum have ads?
Neither Chaos Lab nor Magnetic Pendulum shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chaos Lab or Magnetic Pendulum?
Chaos Lab ships an update every 3 days, and Magnetic Pendulum every 56 months. Most recently, Chaos Lab was updated on October 1, 2026 and Magnetic Pendulum on October 10, 2026.

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