Chaos Lab vs Magnetic Pendulum
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Interactive strange attractors
- Chemical oscillator simulations
- 3-body chaos simulation
- Julian fractal morphing
- Real-time parameter control
- Multiple attractors included
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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!
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.
- Pendulum motion simulation
- Adjustable gravity and friction
- Fractal generation
- Educational purposes
- Ad-free experience
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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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
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.
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.
| Parameter | Chaos Lab | Magnetic Pendulum |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (7 ratings) — better | 4.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 56 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.2 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Timothy D. Jones | DonkeyCat GmbH |
Customer experience
Chaos Lab
Magnetic Pendulum
In-app purchases
Chaos Lab
No in-app purchases
Magnetic Pendulum
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chaos Lab free?
Is Magnetic Pendulum free?
Which has better reviews, Chaos Lab or Magnetic Pendulum?
Do Chaos Lab or Magnetic Pendulum have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chaos Lab or Magnetic Pendulum?
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