June 1, 2014 (Vol. 34, No. 11)
URL:
Rating:
Strong Points: Beautiful graphics, customizable circuits
Weak Points: No tutorials, aggressive advertising for subscription service
Platform:
iPad/iPhone/Android
Cost:
Free
Summary:
Designed to teach the basics (and not-so-basics) of electronics and circuits, the EveryCircuit app presents app users with elegant graphics and animations of circuits in actions. Users can build their own circuits or modify the example circuits included in the app by adding or subtracting circuit elements such as resistors or capacitors, all the while observing the effects these changes have on voltage or current traces. While beautifully presented, the app suffers from a lack of tutorials, including even a basic description or key explaining which circuit element is denoted by a given symbol. This makes it somewhat inaccessible for people who are really new to electronics. The app also somewhat aggressively pushes users to register for an account, which comes with a number of additional perks like cloud storage and synchronization of circuits across devices, but also an annual subscription fee of $10.