EarthViewer vs Inside Earth
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
EarthViewer
Explore Earth's 4.5 billion-year history with this interactive time machine. See how continents, oceans, and climate have changed over eons, track landmarks and fossils, and visualize scientific data like temperature and biodiversity. Discover the dynamic evolution of our planet.
- Continental reconstructions over billions of years
- Sea level and temperature maps
- Track landmark and fossil movements
- Visualize atmospheric composition and biodiversity
- Explore geological eons, eras, and periods
- Automated play modes and animations
Read full descriptionHide full description
What did Earth’s continents and oceans look like 250 million years ago, or even 1 billion years ago? What do we know about the climate back when our planet formed? How has sea level changed since the melting of the last ice age and what does the future hold? EarthViewer is like a time machine for exploring Earth’s deep history. Based on the latest scientific research, it lets you scroll through the last 4.5 billion years with your fingertips. Follow a favorite landmark, be it Greenland or New York City, as its position shifts through time, or watch a famous fossil like Tiktaalik make an incredible journey from its origin to its current location. Layer your view of shifting continents with data on atmospheric composition, temperature, biodiversity, day length, and solar luminosity, to get a more complete view of our dynamic planet. EarthViewer features include: • Continental reconstructions and accompanying data dating back billions of years • Sea level maps for the last 21,000 year and for 8,000 years into the future • Global temperature maps for the last 100+ years • Ability to manipulate the globe and zoom to any location • Locations of modern cities tracked back over 500 million years • In-depth features on major geological and biological events in Earth history • Clickable details on geologic eons, eras, and periods • Automated play modes • Animations between globe and flat map projections • Extensive reference list • Suggestions for classroom use The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is a non-profit medical research organization that ranks as one of the nation’s largest philanthropies. HHMI’s BioInteractive initiative opens a window on cutting-edge science through interactive web features, short films, virtual labs, and scientific animations. Since teachers play a pivotal role in launching the careers of future scientists and in helping the public understand the beauty and import of science, the BioInteractive team partners with the teaching community to create and distribute media that is engaging and relevant to the science curriculum.
Inside Earth
Explore the Earth's interior by virtually peeling back its layers. Understand the composition of the crust, mantle, and core. Learn about tectonic plates, volcanism, and earthquakes.
- Interactive layer peeling
- Tectonic plate visualization
- Volcanism and earthquake explanation
- Compositional learning
- Geological process discovery
Read full descriptionHide full description
What's inside our planet? Peel away layers to discover their composition. Learn how earth's crust is divided into tectonic plates. Discover how volcanism and earthquakes occur wherever these plates meet.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Inside Earth at 4.7 against EarthViewer's 4.4. Inside Earth also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 83%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). EarthViewer's advantage is iOS requirement (9.3 vs 13.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Inside Earth holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 107 and 82 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of EarthViewer's written reviews are positive against 100% of Inside Earth's.
EarthViewer ships an update every 2 months, Inside Earth fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | EarthViewer | Inside Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (107 ratings) | 4.7 (82 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 107 — better | 82 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.3 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 108 MB | 190 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Howard Hughes Medical Institute | Sebastian Andre |
Customer experience
EarthViewer
Inside Earth
Bugs and requests
EarthViewer
Reported bugs
12 issues- App cannot be closed normally - requires force quit or device restart
- App freezes when switching from flat map to globe view
- Australia appears in incorrect locations in ancient Earth viewer
- Grid coordinates (latitude/longitude) not displaying
- Globe transparency and image distortion on iPad
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Geological Events toggle switch not functioning
- Incompatible with iOS 13 and newer versions
- Timeline scrolling limited when entire era not visible
- App won't open or close on some devices
- Hadean Epoch atmosphere incorrectly shown as blue
- Antarctica appearance inconsistent between Paleo and Ice Age views
- Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum information inaccurate
Requested features
16 requests- Add Pangea Proxima/Pangea Ultima supercontinent visualization
- Add Kenorland supercontinent (2500 Mya)
- Include future Earth continental drift predictions (0-250 million years)
- Add Pleistocene ice age details with smaller time increments
- Include ground-level view of Earth with animals and landscapes
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- Add 2D map projection option (Plate Carree, Mollweide)
- Add period/stage names to timeline
- Implement location services to show current user location
- Add search functionality for extinct species
- Increase zoom capability for detailed regional analysis
- Add plate tectonics layer with labeled plates and spreading zones
- Include other planets and solar system formation
- Add French language support
- Add smooth video-like morphing between time periods
- Fixed rotation axis option for Earth
- Multiple globe views from different vantage points
Inside Earth
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
EarthViewer
No in-app purchases
Inside Earth
No in-app purchases









