Comparison

Shader Playground vs Nomo

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

Head to head
About

Shader Playground

Create and edit Metal shaders in real-time on your iPhone or iPad. Instantly preview your code at 60 FPS, utilize a built-in library of shaders, and export your creations as images or videos. Perfect for graphics programmers and visual artists.

Highlights
  • Real-time 60 FPS shader preview
  • Metal Shading Language syntax highlighting
  • Built-in shader library with 10 examples
  • Multi-pass rendering for complex effects
  • Touch input mapping to shader uniforms
  • Export shaders as PNG images or MP4 videos
Features
Read full description

Shader Playground is a powerful real-time shader editor built for iPhone and iPad. Write Metal fragment shaders, see results instantly at 60 FPS, and export your creations as images or videos. REAL-TIME PREVIEW Write code and watch your shader come alive instantly. The live preview renders at 60 FPS with full support for standard uniforms: iTime, iResolution, iMouse, and iFrame. SHADER EDITOR WITH SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING A dedicated code editor with Metal Shading Language syntax highlighting, monospace font, and smart keyboard tools — designed for comfortable coding on mobile. BUILT-IN SHADER LIBRARY Get started immediately with 10 ready-to-use shaders including plasma, Mandelbrot fractals, raymarched 3D scenes, Voronoi patterns, ocean waves, and more. Learn by exploring and modifying working examples. MULTI-PASS RENDERING Build complex effects with up to four buffer passes. Chain textures between passes to create feedback loops, blur effects, and advanced post-processing pipelines. TOUCH INPUT Map touch and drag gestures directly to shader uniforms. Create interactive visual experiences that respond to your fingertips. SAVE & LOAD PROJECTS Save your shaders locally and pick up where you left off. Build your personal library of custom effects. EXPORT Capture the perfect frame as a PNG image or render smooth MP4 videos at custom resolution, duration, and frame rate. Save directly to your Camera Roll or share anywhere. Whether you're a graphics programmer, creative coder, student learning GPU programming, or a visual artist exploring generative art — Shader Playground gives you a complete Metal shader development environment in your pocket. Thanks for your support and do visit nitrio.com for more apps for your iOS devices.

About

Nomo

Monitor the status of AI services and track your usage limits in real-time. Get instant alerts for outages and view your coding agent sessions directly on your home screen and dynamic island. Offers robust privacy features and supports multiple AI providers.

Highlights
  • Live AI service status monitoring
  • Usage limit tracking
  • Coding agent session display
  • Home screen widgets
  • Lock Screen integration
  • Dynamic Island notifications
  • End-to-end encryption
Features
Read full description

See when AI is down and how much you have left — at a glance, on your Home Screen. Nomo is a fast, private companion for people who live in AI tools. It tracks live service status, your usage limits, and your coding-agent sessions, and surfaces them where you actually look: widgets, the Lock Screen, notifications, and the Dynamic Island. LIVE STATUS Know the instant a provider has an outage. Nomo reads public status pages and shows a clear up / degraded / down signal, with the last 90 days of uptime and beautiful animated widgets you can drop on any Home Screen. USAGE LIMITS Keep your rate limits in view. Sign in with the provider's own login and Nomo shows your session and weekly usage on a widget and in the app — so you never hit a wall mid-task. Your tokens stay on your device; they're never sent to us. CODING SESSIONS (Nomo Pro) Pair your computer with a quick QR scan and watch your coding-agent sessions run live — working, done, or waiting on you — on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, with the active model and session title. Get a heads-up the moment an agent finishes or needs a decision — and answer it right there, without going back to your desk. On the same Wi-Fi, updates can travel directly between your phone and your computer for lower latency. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Sessions are end-to-end encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The encryption key is created on your computer and transferred only by scanning the QR code — it never leaves your devices. Our relay is blind: it stores only encrypted data it cannot read. Decryption happens on your phone. SMART ALERTS Choose which services to watch and get notified when status changes or your usage runs low. Alerts are dynamic and battery-friendly. WORKS WITH THE TOOLS YOU USE Nomo supports 7 providers today — Claude (Anthropic), OpenAI (ChatGPT / Codex), Cursor, Grok (xAI), Antigravity (Google), Kimi (Moonshot AI), and DeepSeek — for live status, most with usage tracking too, plus live coding sessions for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Cursor. More on the way. NOMO PRO Unlock live Sessions with Nomo Pro, an auto-renewing subscription. Status, usage widgets, and alerts are free. JUST WANT A LOOK? Turn on sample data in Settings to see Usage, Sessions, and the widgets filled with placeholder content — no account or pairing required. Available in English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (Simplified & Traditional). — Unofficial app. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic, OpenAI, Cursor (Anysphere), xAI, Google, Moonshot AI, or DeepSeek. Status data comes from their public status pages. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Shader Playground4 screens
Nomo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Nomo at Free against Shader Playground's $2.99. Shader Playground's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Nomo is free to download; Shader Playground costs $2.99 up front. Nomo sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Shader Playground asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Shader Playground versus Nomo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShader PlaygroundNomo
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews—0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequency—Every 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHeng Jia LiangPok Man Li

In-app purchases

None

Shader Playground

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Nomo

Subscriptions2
  • Nomo Pro$4.991 Month
  • Nomo Pro$34.991 Year

Questions

Is Shader Playground free?
Shader Playground costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Nomo free?
Nomo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Shader Playground or Nomo have ads?
Neither Shader Playground nor Nomo shows ads.

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