Fractal Dive

A fractal is one simple rule, repeated without end. The result is a shape that never runs out: the closer you look, the more there is. Fractal Dive lets you see that for yourself — and keeps computing where other apps give up. PINCH, AND KEEP PINCHING Nearly every fractal app stalls around a thousand trillion times magnification. That is no coincidence: it is exactly where the precision of ordinary computer numbers runs out, and the picture breaks into blocks. Fractal Dive works differently. One orbit is computed on the processor using numbers of arbitrary length; the graphics chip then computes only the differences from it. Tested to four times ten to the power 331 — a magnification with 331 zeros — and there is still no bottom in sight. PRESS DIVE No idea where to look? Press Dive. The app finds the richest part of the shape by itself and travels there, for minutes if you like, deeper all the while. No two dives end up in the same place. MADE TO LOOK AT Six colour schemes, from quiet silver to full rainbow. The colouring reweighs itself at every depth, so a deep zoom never turns into one flat wash. Save or share any picture. THREE FAMILIES The classic Mandelbrot set, the same rule with a third power, and a mirrored variant with sharp points instead of bulbs. All three go equally deep. NO MATHS REQUIRED Twelve named places with a one-line explanation each, so you start somewhere beautiful straight away. Along the way the app tells you how small you are looking: like a magnifying glass, like a microscope, smaller than a cell, smaller than an atom — and further still. ON ALL YOUR DEVICES The same app on iPhone, iPad and Mac. On the Mac with keyboard, scroll wheel and trackpad. HONEST No account, no ads, no in-app purchases. Fractal Dive never connects to the internet and collects nothing about you.