Tinkerhall

What it does

Tinkerhall is a small museum of working models. Each one is an exhibit you can start, stop, slow down and look inside: a lock and its pins, a heart as a pump with valves, a lever, a pair of gears, a circuit, a volcano in a glass tank. The picture opens on a close-up of the part that matters, with a ring and a short label that follow it as it moves.

Look closely, then step back

• Close-up and Overview: the model opens on the working part, in strong colour, and one tap shows the whole exhibit.
• Play, pause and slow motion at ¼×, ½×, 1× and 2×. Pausing freezes everything, so you can look at one moment as long as you like.
• Pinch, drag and zoom to look at any corner; Fit brings the model back.

Try it yourself

• Real controls for each model: try the right key and the wrong key in the lock, change how hard the heart pumps, move the load on the lever, close the switch in the circuit.
• A three-step tour for every model, and three facts with a quick quiz.
• Blueprint: turn the model you are looking at into a picture card with its facts, to save or share.
• Inventor Passport: five badges for the models you explore, the tours you finish and the blueprints you draft.

Made for curious teens and adults

• Mechanical
• Electronics
• Everyday tech
• Nature and Earth
• Your body, as machines
• Science bench

The models are teaching sketches: simplified on purpose, with illustrative numbers. They explain how something works; they are not engineering drawings or medical advice.

On every device

• MacmacOS 14 or later.
• iPhoneiOS 17 or later; the picture gets nearly the whole screen.
• iPadThe same models with room for the controls beside the picture.
• AndroidPhones and tablets. In the works: the store badge above turns on when it is released.

Privacy in one paragraph

There is no account, no ads, no tracking and no analytics, and nothing is sent to the developer. Every model is drawn on your device and the app makes no network requests. Your favourites and badges stay on your device. Read the privacy policy.