Comparison

Periodic Playground vs Materials Lab

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Periodic Playground

Features
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- 3D Periodic Table - Select elements and learn more about their structures and the history behind their discoveries - See the visible emission spectrum for each Element - Visualize the shells and electrons for each Element - Explore the elemental groups

About

Materials Lab

Features
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ZenSee Materials Lab is an interactive visualization workspace for materials science and engineering. The first release focuses on CrystalLab, a lightweight 3D crystal structure viewer for learning, teaching, and report graphics. Choose common crystal structures, inspect unit cells and atoms, rotate the model smoothly, review key structural parameters, and export clean PNG images for slides or notes. Current features: - Simple cubic, body-centered cubic, face-centered cubic, and hexagonal close-packed structures. - Classic teaching examples including diamond cubic, rock salt, cesium chloride, and perovskite structures. - Point-defect examples for vacancy, substitutional, and interstitial defects. - Interactive 3D viewport with rotation, zoom, pan, and mobile-friendly control locking. - Unit-cell frame, atom spheres, Miller guide lines, and neighbor-bond display options. - XYZ and CIF import for simple structure previews. - PNG export for teaching materials, reports, and classroom notes. - Local-first experience with no account requirement. ZenSee Materials Lab is designed for students, teachers, and engineering learners who need a professional, focused way to understand and communicate crystal structures. It is not a finite-element solver, molecular dynamics engine, molecular dynamics production tool, or certified engineering simulation package. Privacy Policy: http://mindkey.xyz/index.php/zensee-studio/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Periodic Playground4 screens
Materials Lab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Materials Lab at Free against Periodic Playground's $0.99. Periodic Playground's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Materials Lab is free to download; Periodic Playground costs $0.99 up front. Materials Lab sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Periodic Playground asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 2 level
Periodic Playground versus Materials Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPeriodic PlaygroundMaterials Lab
Price$0.99Free โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac โ€” better
Requires iOS13.0 โ€” better15.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size157 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZubin Hasham็ขง็ ๅˆ˜

In-app purchases

None

Periodic Playground

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Materials Lab

One-time1
  • Materials Lab Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Periodic Playground free?
Periodic Playground costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Materials Lab free?
Materials Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Periodic Playground or Materials Lab have ads?
Neither Periodic Playground nor Materials Lab shows ads.

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