Comparison

Playground Physics vs Relay Smart Agent

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

Head to head
About

Playground Physics

Record videos of motion, trace paths, and analyze physics concepts like forces and energy. This tool helps educators bring Newton's Laws to life with interactive graphs and slow-motion playback. Ideal for middle and high school science.

Highlights
  • Record and analyze motion in videos
  • Trace paths and examine movement
  • Interactive scrubbable graphs
  • Slow-motion playback
  • Calculate forces and energy
  • Save and share performance videos
Read full description

Discover and explore the physics in your own movements. Record a video of you or your friends, tap points along the way to trace a path of motion, and discover the motion, forces, and energy involved. Educators can make Newton’s Laws of motion come alive with an app that was named one of Fast Company’s Top 10 mobile apps! Join a community of educators making inspiring learning experiences with Noticing Tools. “Playground Physics is one of the most fun units that I’ve done in a long time. I’ve been teaching about 12 years, and everybody had a great time.” - Stacey, 8th grade science teacher In Playground Physics, you can: * Record a video of a performance or choose a stock video. * Tap points along the video to trace a path of motion. * Examine your performance closely with scrubbing video controls. * Enter known measurements (height of an object, mass of the object being tracked) in English or metric units to reveal accurate data of your performance. * Explore interactive, scrubbable graphs synchronized to the video playback. Graphs display the distance traveled and speed along the path in horizontal and vertical vectors. * Add stickers to mark important moments in the performance (and for a laugh!). * Play your video back in slow motion to closely examine your movements. * Explore how distance, speed, and direction changes when things move. * Understand how a person's or object's potential and kinetic energy change as they move. * Save your performance as videos with data overlays or editable scenes. * Share your performance videos or transfer editable scenes to other cloud services and apps through use of the Files app. Ideal for middle and high school school science classrooms, Playground Physics and accompanying curriculum activities are aligned to and embody the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) by integrating core ideas, scientific practices, cross-cutting concepts, and delight! The new 2023 edition of the curriculum is freely available at: https://noticing.nysci.org/apps/playground-physics/ Playground Physics is one of the Noticing Tools (TM) from the New York Hall of Science. The full suite includes Choreo Graph, Fraction Mash, Size Wise, Volumize, and Picture Dots. Noticing Tools were developed in collaboration with Local Projects, an award-winning media design firm based in New York. http://localprojects.com/

About

Relay Smart Agent

This application offers web filtering and safety features for iOS devices, ensuring CIPA compliance for schools. It provides on and off-campus protection and reports on student activity, acting as a hardware-free cloud solution.

Highlights
  • CIPA compliant web filtering
  • On/off campus safety
  • Student activity reporting
  • Hardware-free cloud solution
  • Anytime, anywhere filtering
Read full description

This app provides anytime, anywhere filtering, safety, and reporting on iOS devices for schools using the Relay web filter from Lightspeed Systems. With the Relay Smart Agent for iOS, schools get: CIPA compliant web filtering On/off campus safety Reporting on student activity A hardware-free cloud solution And more!

Screenshots

Relay Smart Agent1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Playground Physics at 4.6 against Relay Smart Agent's 1.2. Playground Physics also leads on review sentiment (40% vs 0%). Relay Smart Agent's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (33 vs 5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Playground Physics holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 1.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Relay Smart Agent has 33 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Playground Physics's written reviews are positive against 0% of Relay Smart Agent's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Playground Physics ships an update every 5 months, Relay Smart Agent every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Playground Physics versus Relay Smart Agent: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlayground PhysicsRelay Smart Agent
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (5 ratings) — better1.2 (33 ratings)
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings533 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNew York Hall of ScienceLightspeed Solutions, LLC

Customer experience

Playground Physics

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral6.7%
Negative53.3%

Relay Smart Agent

All ratings32 ratings
Positive6.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative93.8%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

None

Playground Physics

No in-app purchases

None

Relay Smart Agent

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Playground Physics free?
Playground Physics is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Relay Smart Agent free?
Relay Smart Agent is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Playground Physics or Relay Smart Agent?
Playground Physics is rated higher. Playground Physics averages 4.6 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Relay Smart Agent averages 1.2 from 33 ratings.
Do Playground Physics or Relay Smart Agent have ads?
Neither Playground Physics nor Relay Smart Agent shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Playground Physics or Relay Smart Agent?
Playground Physics ships an update every 5 months, and Relay Smart Agent every 2 months. Most recently, Playground Physics was updated on November 1, 2026 and Relay Smart Agent on November 2, 2026.

Other comparisons