goREACT vs U.S. Army STARS Elements
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
goREACT
Explore chemistry by virtually mixing elements to create hundreds of reactions. Discover element properties, view molecules, and follow guided experiments. Educational resources are also available.
- Nearly 300 virtual chemical reactions
- Drag-and-drop element mixing
- Molecule visualization with images/videos
- Interactive Periodic Table with facts
- Guided and free play modes
- Themed reaction menus
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With goREACT, you can become a virtual chemist. Whether you're a novice or expert, the free play and guided modes make it fun and fascinating. - Initiate nearly 300 virtual chemical reactions by dragging elements into the Reaction Area. - Amazing images and videos illustrate the molecules you create. - Select alternate views of the Periodic Table to discover different aspects of the elements’ chemical properties. - Touch any of the Periodic Table's 118 elements to see an image and fun fact about it. - With helpful hints about reactions to try, there’s always something exciting to explore. - “Featured Reactions” menus guide you through themed sets of chemical reactions related to particular applications, such as the environment, beauty products or cars. - Learn more about how the Periodic Table is organized, and follow links to additional educational resources.
U.S. Army STARS Elements
Explore the world of chemistry with interactive tools to build atoms, learn chemical bonds, and discover elements. Test your knowledge with engaging challenges designed for students, teachers, and enthusiasts.
- Atom Builder
- SmashBond game
- Interactive Periodic Table
- STARS Challenge quiz
- 3D atom construction
- Bohr's model visualization
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U.S. Army STARS Elements is a fun and exciting way to learn chemistry. Build your own atom, play a game to help you learn about chemical bonds, explore the periodic table, and test your chemistry knowledge. Elements is great for students, teachers, and anyone interested in chemistry. U.S. Army STARS Elements includes... Atom Builder - A simple, powerful tool that let’s you construct and discover atoms. Add and subtract protons, neutrons, and electrons and see, in 3D, what you can create. SmashBond - Use the octet rule to bond elements and score points in SmashBond. Swap elements to make 2, 3, or 4 element bonds, and grab bonuses to get a SMASHBOND. It’s a really fun way to help you become familiar with the octet rule and learn common chemical bonds by their type, symbol, name and Lewis dot diagram. Periodic Table - Use the table to view trends and detailed information about each of the 118 elements. See an interactive Bohr’s model and learn interesting facts about the elements. It’s like a regular periodic table, but interactive and fun. STARS Challenge - When you’re ready to test your knowledge, take the STARS Challenge. You’ll be presented with questions in 3 areas (elements, bonding, and atomic configuration). Can you master them all? No matter what your level of experience with chemistry, U.S. Army STARS Elements makes learning fun. Easy to use lesson plans and teacher guides are available at http://usarmystars.com/lessons to help integrate Elements into the classroom.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: U.S. Army STARS Elements at 100% against goREACT's 18%. U.S. Army STARS Elements also leads on rating (4.7 vs 2.2). goREACT's advantage is ratings volume (96 vs 18) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 11.0). On price, update cadence, 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.
U.S. Army STARS Elements holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: goREACT has 96 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 18% of goREACT's written reviews are positive against 100% of U.S. Army STARS Elements's.
goREACT ships an update every 4 months, U.S. Army STARS Elements every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | goREACT | U.S. Army STARS Elements |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.2 (96 ratings) | 4.7 (18 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 18.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 96 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 213 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago | Army Game Studio |
Customer experience
goREACT
U.S. Army STARS Elements
Bugs and requests
goREACT
Reported bugs
9 issues- Black screen on launch
- App won't load
- App crashes on opening
- Information pop-up too short
- Wrong atomic symbol for Terbium
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- Incorrect formula for Zirconyl hydroxyl chloride
- Cannot make certain compounds (e.g., NO2, H2O2, cocaine)
- Categories are bizarre
- App doesn't work on newer iOS versions
Requested features
12 requests- Display reaction on the same page
- Include organic reactions
- Allow multiple elements to be moved at once
- Add better instructions
- Add history feature
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- Implement a points system for challenges
- Add more reactions
- Featured reactions with chemical name search
- Toggle for timed vs. manual pop-ups
- More apps like this for biological molecules
- Allow creation of ionic molecules
- Longer list of reactions
U.S. Army STARS Elements
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
goREACT
No in-app purchases
U.S. Army STARS Elements
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is goREACT free?
Is U.S. Army STARS Elements free?
Which has better reviews, goREACT or U.S. Army STARS Elements?
Do goREACT or U.S. Army STARS Elements have ads?
Which is updated more often, goREACT or U.S. Army STARS Elements?
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