Comparison

Quantum Atlas vs Physics Playground App

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

Head to head
About

Quantum Atlas

Explore the fundamental building blocks of reality with interactive simulations and clear explanations of quantum physics concepts. This pocket-sized reference makes complex theories accessible through a particle table, concept cards, and hands-on experiments.

Highlights
  • Interactive particle table
  • 12 concept cards for quick learning
  • 22 touchable physics simulations
  • Theory atlases for deeper understanding
  • Decay and Spectra explorers
  • Offline and private usage
Features
Read full description

Quantum Atlas is a beautiful, pocket-sized reference for the building blocks of reality. From the seventeen particles of the Standard Model to the ideas behind quantum mechanics, field theory, electrodynamics, and the strong force — it turns dense physics into something you can actually explore. And play with. A PERIODIC TABLE FOR PARTICLES Browse all 17 quarks, leptons, and bosons of the Standard Model in a clean, tappable table. Each particle card lays out mass, charge, spin, the forces it feels, its antiparticle, the year and team that discovered it, how it decays, and a plain-English explanation of the role it plays in the universe. No textbook required. LEARN THE CONCEPTS A deck of 12 concept cards covers wavefunctions, superposition, entanglement, spin, uncertainty, tunneling, the photoelectric effect, decoherence, gauge symmetry, vacuum fluctuations, and more — each one designed to be read in a minute and remembered for longer. INTERACTIVE LAB — 22 SIMULATIONS YOU CAN TOUCH Don't just read about physics. Play with it. Every simulation is a real, working experiment that you steer with your finger. The new flagships: • Hydrogen Spectrum — drag an electron between energy levels and watch the photon fall onto its exact wavelength • CHSH Game — a coordination game where classical strategies cap at 75% and entanglement breaks the ceiling at 85.4% The classics: • Double-slit, Mach–Zehnder interferometer, Quantum tunneling • Wave packet spreading, the Uncertainty principle • Spin measurement, Sequential Stern–Gerlach, Bell test • Bloch sphere, Two-state Rabi cycles, Quantum gates playground • Decoherence, Particle in a box, Harmonic oscillator • Photoelectric effect, Blackbody radiation • Atom builder, Orbital shapes • Particle decay tree, Feynman diagram builder GO DEEPER Four theory atlases — 34 entries in all — collect the key results and intuition for each domain: • Quantum Mechanics — wavefunctions, measurement, uncertainty, the foundations • Quantum Field Theory — fields, particles as excitations, virtual processes • Quantum Electrodynamics — photons, vertices, the running of the coupling • Quantum Chromodynamics — quarks, gluons, confinement, asymptotic freedom The Decay Explorer follows 11 unstable particles through their full chains of products, weighted by real measured branching ratios. Run it once and you get one outcome; run it again and you get a different one — exactly like the real universe. The Spectra Explorer renders the real emission lines of 98 elements at their true wavelengths, grouped by periodic-table family — every fingerprint that astronomers actually use to identify atoms across the galaxy. WHO IT'S FOR • Physics students who want to feel concepts, not just read them • Science teachers who need a visual aid that actually demonstrates • Engineers and developers brushing up on quantum • Anyone who has ever wanted to ask "but how does it actually work?" OFFLINE AND PRIVATE No accounts. No ads. No tracking. No analytics. Everything works offline, and nothing about your usage ever leaves your device. SIMPLE, ONE-TIME UNLOCK The Standard Model, the Concepts deck, and the Quantum Mechanics atlas are free, forever. Unlock everything else — the Lab's 22 simulations, the three remaining theory atlases (QFT, QED, QCD), the Decay Explorer, and the Spectra Explorer — with a single one-time purchase. Family Sharing supported. Designed with a premium dark interface, hand-built for iPhone and iPad.

About

Physics Playground App

Features
Read full description

Physics & Math, made playable. Touch a slider and watch the equation rewrite itself. Tilt a ramp and feel the friction. Aim a cannon, dial in a Lorentz factor, swing a double pendulum into chaos. Every idea has a hands-on playground that responds in real time. One app. The entire universe of physics and math - from counting blocks to category theory, from throwing a ball to the Theory of Everything. WHAT'S INSIDE • 55+ topics across Physics and Math, organized by tier - Classical, Modern, Frontier, plus Math Foundations, Intermediate, and Frontier. • A live difficulty slider that rewrites every explanation in real time for Child, Teen, Undergrad, or PhD. • Interactive playgrounds for every topic. Sliders, simulations, force diagrams, and SpriteKit physics that actually behave like physics. • Mini-games that earn you badges - predict chaos, balance crates, dial in gamma, win at quantum measurement, escape a black hole. • A concept map that shows how every idea connects to every other - drag, zoom, tap a node and dive in. • A constellation of earned badges that grows as you master the subjects. PHYSICS, FROM "WHAT IF" TO "WHY" Newton's Laws. Projectile motion. Energy & momentum. Orbits. Waves. Pendulum chaos. Thermodynamics. Fluids. Optics. Electromagnetism. Special Relativity. Spacetime. Photoelectric effect. Double-slit. Heisenberg uncertainty. Quantum tunneling. Stern-Gerlach spin. Atomic orbitals. The Standard Model. Statistical mechanics. Condensed matter. Lasers. Black holes. The Big Bang. String theory. Loop quantum gravity. Entanglement. Quantum computing. And the prize at the end - a Theory of Everything badge for mastering them all. MATH THAT BUILDS Counting → addition → subtraction → multiplication → division → fractions → decimals → percents and ratios → the number line. Then algebra, geometry, trigonometry, functions, exponents and logs, sequences, probability, and statistics. Then limits, derivatives, integrals, linear algebra, differential equations, complex analysis, topology, and category theory. HOW IT WORKS Pick a topic. Read a leveled explanation that matches your background. Scroll to the live equation strip and watch the variables update as you drag. Play with the simulator. Take on the challenge, earn the badge. Tap a related topic to follow the thread - every page links to its prerequisites and to the ideas it unlocks. BUILT FOR FOCUS • Beautiful, calm visuals on a deep-space backdrop. • Smooth 60fps animations, gentle haptics, and confetti for the wins. • No ads. No accounts. No tracking. • Designed for iPhone and iPad with full split-view support. • Offline-first - everything is on device. WHO IT'S FOR Curious kids who want to know what makes things go. Students who'd rather feel an equation than memorize it. Self-learners coming back to math years later. Grad students looking for the cleanest one-page mental model of a topic. Teachers and parents who want a single shareable demo for any concept that comes up. If you've ever wondered why airplanes turn the way they do, why time slows down at high speeds, why a pendulum can be predictable AND chaotic, or what a quantum bit actually is - this is the app. One scroll. One slider. One badge at a time. The universe, unlocked.

Screenshots

Quantum Atlas4 screens
Physics Playground App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Physics Playground App at none against Quantum Atlas's 1. Quantum Atlas's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18). On price, ads and device support 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

Both are free to download. Quantum Atlas sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Physics Playground App asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Quantum Atlas versus Physics Playground App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQuantum AtlasPhysics Playground App
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequency—Every 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better18
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperElisha PerelmanAJA Digital LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Quantum Atlas

One-time1
  • Quantum Atlas Pro$2.99
None

Physics Playground App

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Quantum Atlas free?
Quantum Atlas is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Physics Playground App free?
Physics Playground App is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Quantum Atlas or Physics Playground App have ads?
Neither Quantum Atlas nor Physics Playground App shows ads.

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