Comparison

Back in Time vs Future Earth

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

Head to head
About

Back in Time

Explore the history of the Universe, Earth, Life, and Civilization through an immersive, interactive journey. This app uses custom animations, timelines, and interesting facts to bring historical events to life. It's designed to help users understand the connections between events and see the bigger picture.

Highlights
  • Interactive timeline of events
  • Custom animations and videos
  • Over 350 remarkable images
  • Little-known interesting facts
  • Offline access
  • Multilingual support
Features
Read full description

• "The coolest history textbook you’ll find on the iPad" - The New York Times • Winner of the WSA Mobile Award • Top1 iPad Book in US, UK, FR, ES, China… and 34 more Countries • Featured by The New York Times (Top10 iPad Apps of the year) • Featured by the American Photo Magazine (Top 10 Photo eBooks of the year) For iPhone/iPod touch download - Back in Time for iPhone Back in Time will take you on a stunning exploration of the history of our Universe, Earth, Life and Civilization. A journey through time where each event is documented with social and historical context, several images, an illustrative timeline and little-known interesting facts. Custom made animations bring those events to life, creating an interesting, immersive learning experience. An imaginary clock will guide you through this quest, proposing a simple analogy: the entire Universe started 24 hours ago. The Big Bang, the source of time and space, is the first event in our journey – the clock reads 0:00 hours. Today, 13.7 billion years later, the clock reads midnight. In between is a sequence of key events that has brought us to where we are today. Explore them, place them in perspective, see how they relate and understand the connections. We invite you to take a step back and see the whole picture. :::: REVIEWS :::: “...a beautifully executed lesson on the history of the universe and the evolution of life on earth. Great for high school students or parents who’d like to tutor younger children and enjoy a first-rate experience of their own...” - Bob Tedeschi, The New York Times “The iPad could use more apps like this one.” - The Daily “...the best iPad apps are those that combine coffee table-styled books with the fluid nature of the iPad’s interface. Back in Time is just that, it’s the story of the entire history of our universe made interactive on the iPad.” - Casey Chan, Gizmodo (App of the Day) “Back in Time is utterly gorgeous in its presentation. (...) The app is so easy to navigate that it is a delight to explore. Landka could scarcely have done a better job in putting everything together.” - Gwen Phua, Appmodo :::: FEATURES :::: Designed for iPad; 47 chapters; Over 350 remarkable images; 60+ amazing animations and videos; 40+ illustrated timelines; More than 200 little-known interesting facts; Music by the composer Rodrigo Leão; Developed in 7 different languages (English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese); No internet connection required.

About

Future Earth

Explore potential future geological changes on Earth over the next 250 million years. This app visually depicts the evolution of continents and oceans based on scientific understanding of plate tectonics and geologic history.

Highlights
  • Future geological simulations
  • Continental evolution visualization
  • Oceanic change depiction
  • Plate tectonics based predictions
  • 250 million year timeline
Features
Read full description

Would you like to continue your travels forward in time? Well, jump on the Ancient Earth time machine app and travel forward in time to see how the world might change in the next 250 million years. This version of Ancient Earth vividly illustrates how continents and oceans might evolve. How long will the Atlantic Ocean continue to open? Is the world likely to see a new supercontinent? If so, what will it look like? Based on accumulated knowledge of plate motion and geologic history, Future Earth presents one possible future of the world’s continents.

Screenshots

Future Earth4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Future Earth at $1.99 against Back in Time's $7.99. Future Earth also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months) and device support (3 vs 1). Back in Time's advantage is review sentiment (84% vs 60%). On rating, 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

Back in Time costs $7.99 and Future Earth $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Back in Time against 4.6 for Future Earth. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 25 and 49 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Back in Time's written reviews are positive against 60% of Future Earth's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Back in Time ships an update every 7 months, Future Earth every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on June 9, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Back in Time versus Future Earth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBack in TimeFuture Earth
Price$7.99$1.99 — better
Rating4.6 (25 ratings)4.6 (49 ratings)
Positive reviews83.7% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2549 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size836 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLandkaThomas L. Moore

Customer experience

Back in Time

All ratings25 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews43 reviews
Positive83.7%
Neutral7.0%
Negative9.3%

Future Earth

All ratings49 ratings
Positive87.8%
Neutral6.1%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

In-app purchases

None

Back in Time

No in-app purchases

None

Future Earth

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Back in Time free?
Back in Time costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Future Earth free?
Future Earth costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Back in Time or Future Earth?
Back in Time and Future Earth are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 25 and 49 ratings respectively.
Do Back in Time or Future Earth have ads?
Neither Back in Time nor Future Earth shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Back in Time or Future Earth?
Back in Time ships an update every 7 months, and Future Earth every 2 months. Most recently, Back in Time was updated on June 9, 2026 and Future Earth on September 10, 2026.

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