ARTLENS vs Invisible Ground
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ARTLENS
Transform your smartphone into a personal museum guide. Explore artworks, navigate galleries with an interactive map, and access in-depth information. Plan your visit, create custom tours, and discover highlights from home or within the museum.
- Interactive museum map
- Artwork search by artist, title, accession number
- Image recognition for artwork details
- Customizable tour creation and browsing
- Save favorite artworks
- Real-time updates on exhibits and events
Read full descriptionHide full description
Turn your smartphone into a pocket guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art with the new and reimagined ArtLens App. Use the app as a companion within the museum, or as a way to explore from home. Download before arriving, plan your visit, and browse tours. While visiting, use the interactive map as a guide to navigate the museum, and keep track of your favorite artworks and gain in-depth information about every object on view. The ArtLens App uses Bluetooth technology to connect to the museum’s iconic ArtLens Wall and ArtLens Gallery interactives, and updates in real-time ensuring that users have access to the most accurate information available. The ArtLens App features six main categories: 1. Search Search the CMA's collection by artist name, artwork title, and accession number to discover works on view in the museum. Here you can find a scrollable list of featured artists and popular artworks. 2. Explore Homepage that provides a snapshot of everything the ArtLens app has to offer and allows for quick access to dive deeper. Discover today's museum hours, popular artworks on view, get answers to your questions, and more. 3. Map · Galleries are color-coded and grouped thematically to facilitate easier navigation. Tap any gallery number to see a gallery description and all artworks in that gallery. · Wayfinding: Push the “Find Me” button at any time to find your exact location in the museum. · Content: Includes every artwork on view, including more than 1,500 videos, available for selected artworks. Changes to any object on view are dynamically and immediately updated from the backend systems across the app and throughout the museum. · Filter for restrooms, elevators, and exits. · Bluetooth: ArtLens App uses Bluetooth to connect to ArtLens Wall and all interactives in ArtLens Exhibition, making synchronization seamless. 4. Favorites Favorited artworks on the Wall and the App and artworks played in ArtLens Exhibition interactives are automatically saved in "Favorites.” Favorites can be used to learn more, find specific artworks, or share on social media. 5. Tours Select from "All," "Featured," "Guided," and Visitor-Created" tours in the ArtLens App. The mapping feature locates specific artworks and navigates the entire tour. 6. ArtLens Gallery Access detailed information to guide your visit with the third and most innovative iteration of ArtLens Gallery, designed to remove the intimidation of an art museum and give people the tool sets to look closer and dive deeper. Features include physical docking at every interactive, accessing guided tactile descriptions, and more.
Invisible Ground
Experience local history through augmented reality and immersive audio storytelling. Explore historical sites with digital overlays and listen to place-based documentaries that bring the past to life in the exact locations where events occurred.
- Augmented reality historical site overlays
- Place-based documentary audio stories
- Multisensory historical engagement
- Explore community history
- Immersive storytelling experience
Read full descriptionHide full description
Invisible Ground is an Athens, Ohio-based multimedia project that utilizes audio, augmented reality, visual elements, and place-based storytelling to engage people in their communities' history. Invisible Ground has successfully created 17 Immersive Historic Sites and documentary-style podcast episodes at locations across southeast Ohio. The project focuses on the region's diverse history and the stories of everyday people, places, and events in southeast Ohio. After downloading the Invisible Ground app on their mobile device, participants will access an augmented reality view of the historical site, where a digital image of the past is overlaid on the present-day camera view. The accompanying Invisible Ground podcast highlights these stories through engaging, place-based documentary storytelling. The audio in the Invisible Ground app provides the audience with an experience that podcast audio alone cannot offer, as it enables them to hear the voices connected to the story while in the same physical space. It is a multisensory storytelling experience designed to bring the past to life.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: ARTLENS at every 5 weeks against Invisible Ground's every 8 months. ARTLENS also leads on ratings volume (34 vs 4). Invisible Ground's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Invisible Ground holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ARTLENS has 34 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.
ARTLENS ships an update every 5 weeks, Invisible Ground every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ARTLENS | Invisible Ground |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (34 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 73.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 34 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 132 MB | 543 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cleveland Museum of Art | Brian Koscho |
Customer experience
ARTLENS
Invisible Ground
In-app purchases
ARTLENS
No in-app purchases
Invisible Ground
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ARTLENS free?
Is Invisible Ground free?
Which has better reviews, ARTLENS or Invisible Ground?
Do ARTLENS or Invisible Ground have ads?
Which is updated more often, ARTLENS or Invisible Ground?
Other comparisons















