Comparison

Strangely Attractive vs Surface Explorer

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

Head to head
About

Strangely Attractive

Features
Read full description

Strangely Attractive turns the equations of chaos into something you can watch. Six classic strange attractors β€” Lorenz, RΓΆssler, Aizawa, Thomas, Halvorsen, and Chen β€” each drawn live as a single glowing trajectory that never quite repeats. A handful of simple rules, tracing an endlessly intricate shape. β€’ See it in 3D. Orbit the attractor in a real phase space, or flip to a clean 2D canvas. β€’ Read the math. The exact differential equations behind each system, set beautifully on screen. β€’ Learn by doing. Guided lessons walk through sensitive dependence β€” the butterfly effect β€” the Lyapunov exponent, and how Euler and RK4 integration drift apart. β€’ Tune it. Adjust each system's parameters and watch the shape transform. β€’ Home Screen widgets. Pin a favorite attractor where you'll see it. No account, no tracking, no network. Just the strange beauty of deterministic chaos. Made by Luke Steuber.

About

Surface Explorer

Features
Read full description

Surface Explorer is a high-performance visualizer for intricate mathematical surfaces β€” 2D manifolds embedded in three- or four-dimensional space, and 3D slices of four-dimensional hypersurfaces β€” bringing abstract geometry to life with real-time GPU rendering. KEY FEATURES β€’ Cross Section β€” slice four-dimensional hypersurfaces and watch their 3D sections change shape as you rotate them in 4D or slide the cutting plane along the fourth axis, even along a 4D camera path. β€’ Ray Marching Engine β€” real-time rendering of implicit surfaces and signed-distance fields, with procedural displacement, transparency, adjustable shells, and a precise mode for high-degree equations. β€’ Multi-Mesh Surfaces β€” build figures from several independent grids, each with its own color, transparency, texture and domain. β€’ Geodesic Flow β€” explore intrinsic geometry on curved manifolds (SΒ³, HΒ²Γ—R, SL(2,R) and more), integrating geodesics from initial conditions. β€’ 4D Spatial Exploration β€” dedicated controls for hyperspatial rotation (Omega, Phi, Psi), projection, and 3D and 4D camera paths. β€’ 4D Lighting Models β€” Directional, Observer, and Slice lighting designed for hyperspace. β€’ Dynamic GLSL Scripting β€” write custom shaders for procedural textures and surface logic in the built-in editor. β€’ Backgrounds β€” images and procedural effects, fixed on screen or wrapped around the scene as a sphere, cylinder or cube. β€’ Audio-Visual Synthesis β€” synchronize geometric parameters with a mathematical sound synthesizer. β€’ Video Recording β€” capture your explorations directly in the app and save them to your device. A library of ready-made presets ships with the app, from classic parametric surfaces to black-hole ergospheres, curved-space tori and slices of the 3-torus, together with a searchable built-in manual. Built with Qt and Metal for smooth, native performance on iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

Strangely Attractive4 screens
Surface Explorer4 screens

Verdict

The call

Strangely Attractive and Surface Explorer are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters β€” price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them β€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Strangely Attractive ships an update every 2 weeks, Surface Explorer fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Strangely Attractive versus Surface Explorer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStrangely AttractiveSurface Explorer
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac β€” better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size12 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLanguageCraftGAETANO MOSCHETTI

In-app purchases

None

Strangely Attractive

No in-app purchases

None

Surface Explorer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Strangely Attractive free?
Strangely Attractive is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Surface Explorer free?
Surface Explorer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Strangely Attractive or Surface Explorer have ads?
Neither Strangely Attractive nor Surface Explorer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Strangely Attractive or Surface Explorer?
Strangely Attractive ships an update every 2 weeks, and Surface Explorer fortnightly. Most recently, Strangely Attractive was updated on September 27, 2026 and Surface Explorer on October 4, 2026.

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