Comparison

Earth Primer vs CloudLabs What is Light?

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

Head to head
About

Earth Primer

Explore Earth's geological processes through interactive play. Sculpt mountains, create volcanoes, and manipulate natural forces to understand planetary science in a fun, engaging way.

Highlights
  • Discover how Earth works through play
  • Control natural forces like volcanoes and tectonic plates
  • 20 different tools to unlock
  • Richly interactive geological simulations
  • Five chapters: Earth's Interior, Surface, Water Cycle, Biomes, and Sandbox
  • Sandbox mode for open-ended play
Read full description

Discover how our planet works through play! Create volcanoes, sculpt mountains, and control the forces of nature with your fingertips. Earth Primer defies existing genres, combining aspects of science books, toys, simulations, and games. It is a new kind of interactive experience which joins the guided quality of a book with open ended simulation play. • App Store Best of 2015 • Best New App • Featured Education App • "BEAUTIFUL ... ENGAGING ... WELL DESIGNED." –Kristie Lu Stout | CNN “EFFORTLESSLY BEAUTIFUL... perfectly...realizes the promise of a truly interactive textbook.” –John Brownlee | Fast Company "THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION... sets a high benchmark for what educational apps should be aspiring to." –Luke Dormehl | Cult of Mac “INSPIRING ... a reminder that interactive media is a young and undeveloped world itself.” –Kyle VanHemert | WIRED “PLAYFUL, child-like, beautifully designed reenvisioning of the book” –IndieCade “The MOST AWESOME APP EVER for teaching Geomorphology to a young audience” –Alan Parkinson | Award Winning Teacher “one of the most deluxe, and memorable educational apps available... AN ABSOLUTE MUST” 5/5 –Trevor Sheridan | Apple n Apps “A TOUR DE FORCE” –Bret Victor "This is much more than a toy. It is a catalyst for thinking about our world. ... TRULY A JOY." –Samuel Arbesman | WIRED "I want every book to be this awesome. ...ABSOLUTELY WORTH EVERY CENT." –Owen Williams | The Next Web Features • Discover how Earth works through play. • The forces of nature are at your fingertips—make volcanoes, shape sand dunes, form glaciers, sculpt mountains, push around tectonic plates, paint with wind, heat up magma—and more! • 20 different tools to unlock. • Richly interactive geological simulations. • Five chapters: Earth's Interior, Surface, Water Cycle, Biomes, and Sandbox. • Sandbox mode.

About

CloudLabs What is Light?

Explore the nature of light through interactive simulations. Classify natural and artificial light sources and experiment with how light interacts with various materials. This educational tool offers a hands-on approach to understanding fundamental physics concepts.

Highlights
  • Classify natural and artificial light sources
  • Simulate light travel through materials
  • Interactive educational experiments
  • Understand light physics concepts
Features
Read full description

In this simulation, it is necessary to classify, among several elements, those that generate natural light and those that generate artificial light. In addition, a test must be performed with different objects to identify the way in which light travels through different materials.

Screenshots

CloudLabs What is Light?1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: CloudLabs What is Light? at Free against Earth Primer's $9.99. CloudLabs What is Light? also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and device support (3 vs 1). Earth Primer's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (35 vs 1). On ads and in-app purchases 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

CloudLabs What is Light? is free to download; Earth Primer costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CloudLabs What is Light? holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Earth Primer has 35 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Earth Primer ships an update every 3 weeks, CloudLabs What is Light? every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Earth Primer versus CloudLabs What is Light?: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEarth PrimerCloudLabs What is Light?
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (35 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings35 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS7.0 — better10.0
Further details — not scored
Size185 MB171 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperChaim GingoldJiovany Orozco

Customer experience

Earth Primer

All ratings35 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews65 reviews
Positive75.4%
Neutral3.1%
Negative21.5%

CloudLabs What is Light?

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Earth Primer

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • 🐛 Grayed out options in sandbox mode on iOS 12.1.3
  • 🐛 Unreadable on iPad Pro
  • 🐛 Broken software on iPad Pro
  • 🐛 Still not working on iPad Pro
  • 🐛 Does not work on iPad Pro
Show 6 more
  • 🐛 Stuck in table of contents on iPad Pro
  • 🐛 Does not render correctly on iPad Pro
  • 🐛 App not working well on new iPad Pro
  • 🐛 App gets stuck on loading screen
  • 🐛 Cannot get past the second slide, no directions
  • 🐛 Never able to get beyond the "surface" screen

Requested features

15 requests
  • Add a sandbox version for 2D earth
  • Add 3D models for volcanoes
  • Include simulated volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis
  • Add a sandbox simulation program for these phenomena
  • Add humans and animals to sandbox mode to observe civilization building and impact
Show 10 more
  • Allow adjustment of time passing rate and pausing time
  • Increase surface area in sandbox mode for larger landscapes
  • Add more features and content
  • Add humans, animals, apes, tsunamis, waterfalls
  • Add aliens or dinosaurs
  • Add hurricanes and twisters to sandbox mode
  • Add a time speed option
  • Add volcanoes and magma to sandbox mode
  • Add a pollution feature
  • Add meta-material about algorithms and models for professional teaching

CloudLabs What is Light?

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Earth Primer

No in-app purchases

None

CloudLabs What is Light?

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Earth Primer free?
Earth Primer costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is CloudLabs What is Light? free?
CloudLabs What is Light? is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Earth Primer or CloudLabs What is Light??
CloudLabs What is Light? is rated higher. Earth Primer averages 4.7 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while CloudLabs What is Light? averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Earth Primer or CloudLabs What is Light? have ads?
Neither Earth Primer nor CloudLabs What is Light? shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Earth Primer or CloudLabs What is Light??
Earth Primer ships an update every 3 weeks, and CloudLabs What is Light? every 6 months. Most recently, Earth Primer was updated on October 24, 2026 and CloudLabs What is Light? on October 7, 2026.

Other comparisons