Meanwhile vs Anomaly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Meanwhile
Explore a mad scientist's wonderland and make choices that shape your adventure. This interactive comic offers thousands of branching paths, leading to various outcomes, from doom to success. Experience a unique story with full audio accessibility.
- Branching narrative paths
- User-driven story choices
- Thousands of adventure outcomes
- Infinite scrollable canvas
- Full audio accessibility (VoiceOver)
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MEANWHILE: an interactive comic by Jason Shiga On the way home from the ice cream store, little Jimmy discovers a mad scientist’s wonderland: an experimental mind-reading helmet, a time machine, and a doomsday device that can annihilate the human race. Which one would you like to test out first? MEANWHILE is not an ordinary comic. YOU make the choices that determine how the story unfolds. MEANWHILE splits off into thousands of different adventures. Most will end in DOOM and DISASTER. Only one path will lead you to happiness and success. - A thrilling adventure of quantum physics, self-discovery, and kids getting into trouble. (We mentioned the doomsday device, right?) - Completely redesigned by the author for an infinite scrollable canvas. - Full audio accessibility with VoiceOver; every panel and choice can be spoken.
Anomaly
Experience a groundbreaking graphic novel with interactive parallax animation and professional voice acting. Choose your path through a 320-page sci-fi/fantasy epic, enhanced with over 175 informational touchpoints and 3.5 hours of audio.
- Interactive graphic novel
- Parallax animation
- Professional voice acting
- 320-page sci-fi/fantasy story
- 175+ informational touchpoints
- 3 reading modes
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ANOMALY the Interactive Graphic Novel. Combines parallax animation and interactivity to create a multimedia experience of unparalleled proportions. Far beyond any book or eBook, the ANOMALY APP lets YOU choose how YOU want to enjoy this groundbreaking work that’s setting the publishing world on fire! At the heart of this adventure is a cast of 15 actors, drawn from FILM, TELEVISION and VIDEO GAMES, lending their amazing voice talents to bring over 90 speaking roles to life! Enjoy the first chapter for free and then unlock the rest of the content to experience: -300 Page Epic Sci-fi/Fantasy Story -Over 1500 Panels of Art with Incredible Parallax Animation -3 and a Half Hours of Professionally VoiceActed Audio -Over 175 Informational Touch Points to learn the story behind the story -3 Different reading modes Discover more at Facebook.com/ExperienceAnomaly *** FEATURING ACTORS YOU KNOW AND LOVE!!! *** Vincent Corazza, Olivia D’Abo, Dave Fennoy, Ryan Cooper, Nana Visitor, John Bentley, Hudson Leick, Richard Doyle, Lauren Storm, Joseph Culp, Anthony Cistaro, David Lodge, Molly Hagan, Keith Szarabajka & Vic Polizos. Don’t just take our word for it. IMDB them! *** MORE BACKSTORY CONTENT THAN MOST BOOKS HAVE AS THEIR MAIN COURSE!!! *** Over 175 TOUCHPOINTS bring an ADDITIONAL 100 PAGES of back story to life with DOZENS of ORIGINAL PAINTED IMAGES, SKETCHES and INTERACTIVE 3D MODELS! *** HAVE THE BOOK “ACTED OUT” TO YOU…WITH FULL VOICEOVERS!!! *** A Graphic novel is nice. A Graphic novel that reads to you with movie-level voice acting is what previous generations could only dream of in their wildest fantasy! That dream is now REALITY! This is much more than “book-on-CD” type narration. This is “digital books” done in a way you’ve NEVER experienced before! Explore each gorgeous panel at your leisure. Go ahead. We can wait… Extensive PARALLAX lends motion in ways no static page ever could. Simply tap when you’re ready to move on. *** LET THE BOOK PLAY LIKE A MOVIE!!! *** Sit back and relax… Auto-play will “act out ANOMALY for you” without any additional input. Don’t want the letters in the way? Turn them off! This is as close as any graphic novel gets to a theater experience without being fully animated!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Anomaly at Free against Meanwhile's $4.99. Anomaly also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.1) and ratings volume (54 vs 10). Meanwhile's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 12 months vs every 35 months). On review sentiment, ads and device support 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
Anomaly is free to download; Meanwhile costs $4.99 up front. Anomaly sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Meanwhile asks for nothing beyond the download.
Anomaly holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Anomaly has 54 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Meanwhile's written reviews are positive against 84% of Anomaly's.
Meanwhile ships an update every 12 months, Anomaly every 35 months. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Meanwhile | Anomaly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (10 ratings) | 4.7 (54 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 79.2% of reviews | 84.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 10 | 54 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months — better | Every 35 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #173 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 204 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Zarfhome Software Consulting | Anomaly Productions, Inc. |
Customer experience
Meanwhile
Anomaly
In-app purchases
Meanwhile
No in-app purchases
Anomaly
- Full Unlock$0.99
