Molecule World for Apple
Molecule World is back — completely redesigned for Apple's modern ecosystem. Developed, in part, with funding from the National Science Foundation* and recognized for its contributions to science education, it has been rebuilt from the ground up as a single, unified app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac (via Mac Catalyst). Protein and DNA structures have never looked better!
Explore molecular structures in 3D
Students, educators, and researchers can interactively explore proteins, DNA, RNA, and small molecules in a fully three-dimensional environment. Rotate, zoom, and pan through structures with smooth, high-quality rendering built for clarity and scientific understanding.
Bring in structures from the major databases
Open files you already have, or fetch structures right inside the app — search the Protein Data Bank, PubChem, and NCBI by ID or keyword and have them download and open in seconds.
Powerful visualization tools
- Smooth, interactive 3D — rotate, zoom, and pan
- Multiple representation styles: ball-and-stick, space-filling, tubes, ribbon/cartoon, and molecular surfaces
- Focused selections — show just proteins, nucleic acids, ligands, backbones, or alpha-carbon traces
- Scientific color schemes — by element, chain, residue, secondary structure, charge, and hydrophobicity
- Clear, context-aware legends that explain exactly what you're looking at
Designed for education and discovery
Molecule World is used in classrooms and laboratories to support teaching in structural biology, chemistry, and molecular science. Educators can illustrate key concepts — protein folding, molecular interactions, and the structure of DNA and RNA — with visuals students manipulate themselves.
Built across the Apple ecosystem
One app runs natively on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Optional iCloud support keeps your library of structures — and your place in them — in sync across all your devices.
New in this version
- iCloud sync to keep your structures on all your devices
- Smoother, higher-quality ribbon, surface, and wire mesh rendering
- B-factor coloring
- Domain-based coloring that reveals how a structure is organized
- Sugar (glycan) residues colored by standard SNFG conventions
- Clearer annotations for modified nucleotides
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And this is just the beginning — more is coming soon.
*NSF awards IIP 1315426 and DUE 2055036
Molecule World is developed by Digital World Biology LLC.