"This is doodling for digital natives . . . mind blowing." — Wired Magazine
"Uzu for iPad is endlessly complicated, simply fun." — Ars Technica
Uzu is a generative design playground — a math-physics-art toy for anyone who ever loved spirographs, fireworks, planetariums, lava lamps, light painting, kaleidoscopes, or graphing calculators. Touch the screen and watch thousands of particles swirl, spiral, and bloom in real time. Change the entire feel by simply changing how many fingers you use.
Relax. Play. Meditate. Create wallpapers. Or lose yourself for an hour tweaking symmetry, animation modes, and effects. Uzu is endlessly deep and simply fun.
Now completely rebuilt with a native Metal engine and a beautiful SwiftUI interface — smoother, richer, and more powerful than ever.
FEATURES
• Fully dynamic generative particle system
• 21 animation modes for each touch count (0 through 10)
• Rotational, translational, and reflective symmetry
• 100 factory presets plus unlimited user presets
• 9 visual effects: Glow, Warp, Kaleidoscope, Sparkle, Feedback, Color, Pixelate, Scanlines, and Vignette
• Export and import presets — save, share, and back up your creations
• Fast preset switching, shake to hide the menu, adjustable quality settings
• Freeze mode, microphone reactivity, and thousands of possible combinations
• Create stunning backgrounds for iPhone and iPad
ACCLAIM
• Winner of Apple's "App of the Week"
• Apple Rewind: Best Generative Art and Sound App
• Reached #1 on the App Store
• Featured in Apple's "App Store Essentials Hall of Fame"
• Seen in the "Year of the iPad" video at the iPad keynote
• Featured as an Apple Staff Favorite
SUPPORT
Questions or stories? We'd love to hear from you.
jason@colordodge.com
www.colordodge.com
Uzu is absolutely brilliant! Love it! Thank you for making it sound reactive (I’m one of the people who requested that).My request: Please please please extend Uzu to the Apple Watch. I realize that much of its UI, like creating custom presets, wouldn’t exist on the watch, and if the preset list is too cumbersome it could just go with whichever one is currently selected on the paired iPhone. Turning the crown could bring up the options (autoplay, screenshot, sound react, etc.). If the watch’s processor is not up to the task, put a ceiling on the number of particles that is goverened by what cpu the app encounters (more on the series 9, less on the series 5, etc). Having Uzu ever-present on one’s wrist makes it THE watch fidget for those of us who need fidgets for anxiety (haptics would enhance that aspect). A adult could trigger 3-4 behavior changes on the small screen, and my 2yo granddaughter (who’s fascinated with my Apple Watch already anyway) could probably fit 5-6 fingers, squealing with delight. If you want to make putting it on the watch a premium feature, I would definitely pay a fat one-time in-app purchase for that. Thank you for considering it. I sincerely hope you go for it.
So much fun! Please update soon!!!
Lilredsheep
I love this app. It is probably my favorite way to play with color digitally. Little ones think it is magic. I love being able to save images and use them for a whole host to purpose. They print beautifully. I would like the ability to adjust background color. Hopefully that is something that can come up in a future update. Speaking of that. I hope there is an update soon. I would really hate to see this one fall win iPadOS advances. I see that the developers website has also gotten dark. I’m hoping maybe he’s just in a really organizing phase and comes back to this wonderful little bit of magic we all enjoy so much. I would legit pay a subscription to keep being able to have it supported.
Now I get it!!
Daffodil girl
Great visual entertainment! However, where are the instructions about how to save your own formula? I press + to add a new title, but then if I press Done and then make changes in the design parameters and color choices, they don't "Save". What's step one, then step 2, etc. Thanks for your quick response! 👏👏👏 After I wrote the review I thought, maybe it works in an opposite way to what I thought. So I chose a preset that I liked but wanted to tweak. It worked! Love that the user can create their own. It would have saved a lot of time & frustration, however, if a brief paragraph of instructions were included. Hoping you'll consider adding one next update. Changing my 3 🌟 🌟 🌟 to 5 now that I know how to do my own presets. Thanks again!
Developer Response
Thanks for the feedback. Sorry you're having issues with the UI. When you create a new preset by pressing the "+" button, you're saving the current state of all the controls in that new preset. I made it this way to help from accidentally saving over something you already like. So all you need to do is play with the controls until you get something you like, then just create a new preset from those settings.
Usage permissions
Huntington, WV
I’ve been using this app for a very long time. It’s great for a visual relaxation. It’s eye candy. And it’s fun just to interact with. My question to the developer is this: can I use screenshots from the app for my own personal use? I am in the process of brainstorming and working to develop my own Tarot card deck. I wanted to know if I had permission to use screenshots from the app to layer as a background on my cards. I sent a message on the Facebook page, but haven’t heard anything back. I would certainly include the app and the developer when giving credits. Please let me know. And thanks in advance.
Based on user feedback, I have brought back all the factory presets from version 3.0. There is now a section in the preset list called 'Legacy Presets' that contains all of the presets from version 3.0. The 'Factory Presets' section has the new presets from version 4.0.
---------------------- Version 4.1 ----------------------
• Added 45 factory presets
• Added all 55 legacy factory Presets
• You can now tap the Preset section header to quickly jump to a specific section
• Added grid mode to the preset panel - access it by tapping the preset section header
---------------------- Version 4.0 ----------------------
Uzu has been completely rebuilt from the ground up — faster, more beautiful, and more powerful than ever.
• All-new Metal rendering engine for smoother, richer particle visuals
• Redesigned SwiftUI interface that's cleaner and easier to use
• 9 new shader effects: Glow, Warp, Kaleidoscope, Sparkle, Feedback, Color, Pixelate, Scanlines, and Vignette
• 67 refreshed factory presets, ready to explore
• Export and import presets — share your creations or back them up
• Fast preset switching — jump between presets from the screen edges
• Shake to show or hide the interface for an uninterrupted light show
• Choose render quality from Low to Ultra
• Reorder your user presets
• Save over the current preset when tweaking a favorite look
Thank you for being part of Uzu's journey since 2010. We hope you love this new chapter.
Version 4.1
The developer, Colordodge Labs, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Jason K Smith
Size
15.4 MB
Category
Entertainment
Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 17.6 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 14.6 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.