Comparison

Chaos Lab vs MARVLS

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

MARVLS

Explore quantum computing concepts through interactive augmented reality models. Requires a Merge Cube to visualize and manipulate topics like superposition and entanglement. Navigate through various educational modules to deepen your understanding.

Highlights
  • Augmented reality visualization
  • Interactive quantum concepts
  • Merge Cube integration
  • Topics: superposition, entanglement, qubits
  • Logic gates visualization
  • Nuclear and electron spin models
Features
Read full description

View augmented reality models of quantum computing concepts through your phone. You'll need a Merge Cube (link included to download). Click on different button to navigate to different topics. Tap the camera icon and point your camera towards the Merge Cube to visualize and interact with our MARVLS. Topics include observer dependency, superposition, entanglement, bits, qubits, nuclear and electron spin, logic gates, and trapped ions. Developer support provided by Leo Vanderlofske.

Screenshots

Chaos Lab4 screens
MARVLS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Chaos Lab at 4.9 against MARVLS's 1.0. Chaos Lab also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 weeks) and ratings volume (7 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, 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 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chaos Lab has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Chaos Lab's written reviews are positive against 67% of MARVLS's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chaos Lab ships an update every 3 days, MARVLS every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Chaos Lab versus MARVLS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChaos LabMARVLS
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (7 ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews68.8% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings7 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB168 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTimothy D. JonesMichele McColgan

Customer experience

Chaos Lab

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

MARVLS

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

Chaos Lab

No in-app purchases

None

MARVLS

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chaos Lab free?
Chaos Lab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MARVLS free?
MARVLS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chaos Lab or MARVLS?
Chaos Lab is rated higher. Chaos Lab averages 4.9 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while MARVLS averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Chaos Lab or MARVLS have ads?
Neither Chaos Lab nor MARVLS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chaos Lab or MARVLS?
Chaos Lab ships an update every 3 days, and MARVLS every 4 weeks. Most recently, Chaos Lab was updated on June 1, 2026 and MARVLS on September 9, 2026.

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