Comparison

Back in Time vs Universal Zoom

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

Universal Zoom

Explore the universe's vastness and intricacy through interactive visual comparisons. Seamlessly zoom from subatomic particles to the observable universe, gaining intuition about scale and size with stunning imagery and clear explanations.

Highlights
  • Seamless zooming across scales
  • Visual comparisons of objects
  • Jargon-free scientific explanations
  • Audio narration
  • Over 270 objects presented to scale
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

The universe is endlessly vast. A single atom is impossibly small. And somewhere between those two extremes lies everything that has ever existed. We believe that feeling — the electric, spine-tingling sense of scale — belongs to everyone. Not just scientists. Not just students. Everyone. That's why we built Universal Zoom. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Zoom seamlessly from the Planck length to the edge of the observable universe — about 300 objects presented to perfect scale. • Compare any two objects side by side: how many Earths fit inside Jupiter? How does a virus measure up against a skyscraper? Instant, visual, intuitive. (No other scale app lets you do this.) • Go deeper with audio narration and short, accessible explanations — the facts that matter, in plain language. WHAT YOU'LL EXPLORE • Elementary particles — quarks, leptons, and bosons. Atomic nuclei, atoms, and DNA. Living cells. Animals and landmarks. Planets, stars, and galaxies. A deep dive into physics, biology, and astronomy — with short, plain-language articles that make even particle physics easy to grasp — in 40 languages, with metric, imperial, or powers-of-ten units. • Real high-resolution photos and electron microscope images, where possible. Original artwork for things that can't be photographed — like elementary particles and DNA structures. • No ads. No in-app purchases. Pure discovery. BUILT WITH YOU We're a team of two (Andrey and Oksana) from Canada who have poured a decade into this app because we genuinely love science. Most objects come from community suggestions — carefully fact-checked and updated with every new discovery. Over 200 more are already in the queue. FOR EDUCATORS Used by teachers worldwide to visualize scale, build measurement intuition, and turn abstract numbers into "aha" moments. Available at 50% off for schools via Apple School Manager (20+ copies). FOLLOW THE JOURNEY Sneak peeks and upcoming additions: @gamifyitapps on X, YouTube, and TikTok. Feedback and ideas: gamifyitapps.com/contact

Screenshots

Universal Zoom4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Universal Zoom at 356 against Back in Time's 25. Universal Zoom also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (97% vs 84%). On update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Back in Time costs $7.99 and Universal Zoom $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Universal Zoom holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Universal Zoom has 356 ratings behind it against 25, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Back in Time's written reviews are positive against 97% of Universal Zoom's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Back in Time ships an update every 7 months, Universal Zoom every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Back in Time versus Universal Zoom: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBack in TimeUniversal Zoom
Price$7.99$5.99 — better
Rating4.6 (25 ratings)4.8 (356 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.7% of reviews96.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings25356 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS16.015.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size836 MB175 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLandkaGamifyIt

Customer experience

Back in Time

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

Universal Zoom

All ratings356 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral2.0%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews389 reviews
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.8%

Bugs and requests

Back in Time

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Universal Zoom

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Incorrect information for some objects
  • Compatibility issues on older devices
  • Typos and minor errors in text

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more objects and comparisons
  • Customizable object feature
  • Support for more languages
  • Ability to toggle between metric and imperial units
  • Search and filtering options

In-app purchases

None

Back in Time

No in-app purchases

None

Universal Zoom

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Back in Time free?
Back in Time costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Universal Zoom free?
Universal Zoom costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Back in Time or Universal Zoom?
Universal Zoom is rated higher. Back in Time averages 4.6 out of 5 from 25 ratings, while Universal Zoom averages 4.8 from 356 ratings.
Do Back in Time or Universal Zoom have ads?
Neither Back in Time nor Universal Zoom shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Back in Time or Universal Zoom?
Back in Time ships an update every 7 months, and Universal Zoom every 4 months. Most recently, Back in Time was updated on October 7, 2026 and Universal Zoom on October 18, 2026.

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