Last updated on January 23rd, 2026 at 02:10 pm
Golly – Simulation Game Review
Golly is a Simulation game from Andrew Trevorrow, first launched in 28th August 2012.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 45+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Golly Stand Out
Golly is an open source, cross-platform application for exploring Conway's Game of Life and many other types of cellular automata.
Key features:
Supports bounded and unbounded universes, with cells of up to 256 states.
Supports multiple algorithms, including Bill Gosper's super fast hashlife algorithm.
Many different types of CA are included: John von Neumann's 29-state CA, Wolfram's 1D rules, WireWorld, Generations, Langton's Loops, Larger than Life, etc.
Reads RLE, macrocell, Life 1.05/1.06, dblife, and MCell files.
Can extract patterns and rules from zip files.
Can download patterns and rules from online archives.
Includes a state-of-the-art pattern collection.
Unlimited undo/redo.
Extensive help, with an integrated Life Lexicon.
This Simulation game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Golly is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 17th September 2024
Recent improvements include:
Fixed a number of bugs that caused the app to freeze.
Rule files are displayed alphabetically.
Auto-correction when editing text has been disabled.
The app always runs in Light mode.
Download & Availability
Golly is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 / iPad Mini 3 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 4 / iPad Mini 4 (Cellular) or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We like how theres different engines & how u can run it super fast but pookies ima be honest im not using it bc it doesnt support continuous automata (like Lenia for example) and it also doesnt support multi layer automata like Widelife which is our ruleset and the whole reason we got this… We get that continuous automata is rlly hard to run but like multi layer is not so it would be nice to have that yk… Til then ill use tiamat for most stuff but we like how the universe is gigantic yet u can do millions of cycles per second.
We looked at every Conways Game of Life app, and this is by far the best. Not only does it allow a huge field thats very easy to zoom in to draw, but you can switch between Draw and Move modes so you dont accidentally draw while youre trying to zoom in or out. Of course it comes with all the other features youd expect but a lot of GOL dont have. A pretty large library of patterns comes with it, and as a bonus theres documentation on each pattern. And best of all, you can even change the ruleset to explore other interesting universes.
This would be complete if made Universal.
Pls add support for weighted life.
We've been using Golly on our desktop since 2008. It is, without competition, the best program for discovering and simulating 2D cellular automat. The intuitive yet powerful Rule Table format for defining rules, combined with scripting, make it excellent for finding interesting rules, and the Python scripting combined with Hashlife make discovering and engineering patterns easier than in any other program we have used.
Ok, golly has always been our absolute favorite GOL simulator. It's so customizable and versatile, and now it's on mobile? Boy am we happy.
We have Golly on our PC as well as on our IPad and we were surprised at how easy it was to use. It is amazing what you can create with this :) It doesnt work on IOS 10 though.
We love game of life, we're hooked. But this DEFINITELY surpassed our expectations. We were happily surprised when we saw the save and load options, the preset patterns and a DOWNLOAD BUTTON! We think this is the best yet.
Golly has been around for a while and comes from a traditional programming tradition long before iPads, Windows 7, and the like. This is a good implementation for the iPad and has afforded us many hours of fun and learning about Conway's Game of Life. There are other cellular simulations, but Life is the real stuff.
To those of you NOT already familiar with Conway's Game of Life, this is not an actual game. It is a simulation of cellular automata. You'll want to do a bit of research before you'll want this app. We suggest running a glider with pencil and graph paper for a few generations, so that you really appreciate this app. :-) we downloaded a bunch of GOLs, and this is "the one". Infinite universe (no wrapping), amazing zoom/pan, amazing speed, amazing library of patterns, great user interface. We can't think of any improvements that don't involve telepathy.
This app even has John Von Neumann's self replicating machine.
We were writing our own version, but this is very very fast and so complete, we think there is not much that can be done in this field, but we're happy as this is so good.
This is the best cellular automata/life app by far.
This is an awesome and quality app. Thanks to the devs! Very interesting topic with infinite possibilities. Check it out, be creative, it's good for the brain.
Blazingly fast, huge pattern library. Interface and icon could be prettier but who cares, this is The One.
THEY ACTUALLY MADE THIS INTO AN APP FOR THE iPAD Sorry, got a bit carried away.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.5
- Size: 14.42 MB
- iOS: 13.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: [Andrew Trevorrow]()
Last updated: 17th September 2024 | Genre: Simulation | Developer: Andrew Trevorrow