# Celestron SkyPortal

> Astronomy suite for exploring the night sky and controlling compatible telescopes. (iPhone/iPad app by Celestron, LLC.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/celestron-skyportal/id877780544 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Celestron, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/445142854)
- Category: Education, Reference
- Price: Free
- Rating: 3.60/5 from 350 App Store ratings · 146 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.6 · 708 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, European Portuguese and 4 more
- Released: 2014-05-22
- Data updated: 2026-08-13
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/celestron-skyportal/id877780544/reviews.md

## What is Celestron SkyPortal?

Celestron’s newest planetarium app is an astronomy suite that redefines how you experience the night sky.  Explore the Solar System, 120,000 stars, over 200 star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, and dozens of asteroids, comets, and satellites—including the ISS. SkyPortal includes everything you need to experience the night sky in an exciting new way. When connected to a compatible Celestron WiFi telescope, you can automatically point the telescope to any object in the database and view it with great detail.

Planetarium Features
Simulate the night sky and plan your observing session with a custom list of tonight’s best objects based on your exact time and location. Look ahead to see when Jupiter’s Great Red Spot will be visible, animate transits, eclipses, and other celestial events. View hundreds of photos or listen to more than four hours of audio narration to enhance your stargazing experience.

•Simulate the night sky from anywhere on planet Earth, up to 100 years in the past or future.
•Compass Mode (with compatible devices): Hold your device up to the sky for a real-time synchronized display of celestial objects – from star names, constellations, planets, to nebulae and galaxies.  
•Control compatible Celestron WiFi telescopes with sophisticated mount modeling for quick and accurate go-to alignment.
•Animate transits, conjunctions, eclipses, and other events with SkyPortal's Time controls.
•Explore the sky with Night Vision turned on, and preserve your eyesight after dark.
•Learn the history, mythology, and science of the heavens with SkyPortal's hundreds of object descriptions.
•Browse hundreds of astronomical photographs and NASA spacecraft images
•Access over 4 hours of audio commentary to guide you through the best celestial objects.
Computerized Telescope Control
Pair your device to your compatible Celestron WiFi telescope, align with Celestron’s patented SkyAlign™ technology, and you’re ready to explore! Identify objects instantly. Tap any object and your telescope automatically centers it in the eyepiece.

SkyPortal’s telescope alignment incorporates advanced mount modeling, providing better pointing accuracy than other telescope systems which rely on a dedicated computer.

## Key features

- Explore 120,000 stars and celestial objects
- Simulate night sky past/future
- Real-time sky synchronization
- Control compatible WiFi telescopes
- Animate celestial events
- Audio narration and object descriptions
- Night Vision mode

## What do users think of Celestron SkyPortal?

Overall sentiment: neutral

**Pros**

- 👍 Great app
- 🚀 Transforms stargazing
- 💡 Wonderful features
- 👍 Convenient control
- 👍 Incredible for free

**Cons**

- 🐛 Alignment issues
- 🐛 Connectivity problems
- 🐛 Laggy controls
- 🐛 Inaccurate compass
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Lacks deep sky objects
- 🐛 Unreliable and unresponsive

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Fails to align telescope
- Telescope points in wrong direction
- Disconnects frequently
- Doesn't show deep sky objects
- Crashes on startup
- Incompatible with iOS 14

**Most requested features**

- Add red night mode
- Improve focus motor control
- Integrate weather data
- Provide RA/DEC coordinates
- Add more celestial objects
- Improve video streaming
- Enhance user interface

## Recent user reviews (10 of 146)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/celestron-skyportal/id877780544/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Will no longer connect or align

*2026-06-30, version 4.0.1*

It appears that the Scope feature is no longer working so you’re no longer able to align or connect to the SkyPortal Network.

### 5/5 — Perfectly neat

*2026-06-09, version 4.0.0*

Everything in this app is so tidy and it doesn’t show too many stars from further distances like with other apps it shows stars you can even see from earth and just makes it overcomplicated when looking for a certain star most certainly deserves a 5 star rating

### 1/5 — Awful

*2026-05-01*

Truly one of the single worst, least intuitive, least user friendly apps I’ve ever had the misfortune of being forced to use.

### 4/5 — Quite a bit inaccurate on determining the location of planets, stars, nebulas, and etc.

*2026-04-01*

I’ve tried to get my telescope centered using this app by aligning it to the moon’s location, and I’m being dissatisfied by the app’s performance as when I tried to aligning the telescope through the app, the lens showed a blank sky because the telescope was offset to the right of the telescope’s direction of focus. I had to literally manually align the telescope due to this. I do have a screenshot of what I am speaking of. Finding planets took me time because of a similar scenario. It would be great if the app could make improvements with aligning the iPhone so that telescope users won’t have to turn on their  battery powered laser that comes with their StarSense explorer telescopes or any other telescope of this brand.

### 1/5 — New version sucks

*2026-03-27*

Harder to use, Crashes on iOS, Can’t navigate like I could with the previous version. If it’s not broken don’t change it !!

### 4/5 — Good app but misleading

*2026-02-24*

The only reason I gave this app 4 stars is that the box from my telescope says to download this app but to take pictures with the telescope on your phone all you need is the camera app. But overall pretty decent app but if you want to take pictures with the telescope you don’t need this app 🙂

### 5/5 — Amazing

*2025-10-24, version 3.5.0*

I got a telescope to my daughter and got this app. Amazing. Chef’s kiss

### 5/5 — Incredible app for free

*2025-06-08*

I keep finding more features. It shows the sky at your current location and time with ability zoom, rotate and change location and time. Click on any object for a long description and history.

Perfect for any backyard astronomer, and no ads or in app purchases.

### 4/5 — Feature Request

*2025-04-19, version 3.5.0*

I don’t see why the hand controller and base firmware couldn’t be automatically updated via the App.
Updating via a PC is not simple and the Celestron help in the CFM are is extremely poor.

### 4/5 — No problems

*2025-02-18, version 3.5.0*

I’ve read various reports about how this app doesn’t work or the wifi is flaky , but to be honest I think most of the issues are user related. If you disable your wifi connections and allow the Celestron wifi to connect you will have no problems, it’s only because your home wifi puts out a stronger signal that sky portal disconnects. There are plenty of videos on utube , to name one Lucas Campos, this is the one I followed and I have 98% success rate. Even the most expensive apps can have issues, sit down , work through calmly and slowly and you will get there.

## Frequently asked questions about Celestron SkyPortal

### What does Celestron SkyPortal do?

Celestron SkyPortal is an astronomy app that allows you to explore the night sky, simulate celestial events, and learn about stars, planets, and galaxies. It also offers the ability to control compatible Celestron WiFi telescopes.

### What are the key features of SkyPortal?

Key features include simulating the night sky up to 100 years in the past or future, real-time sky synchronization with Compass Mode, controlling compatible Celestron WiFi telescopes with advanced alignment, animating celestial events, and accessing hundreds of object descriptions and over four hours of audio narration.

### Is Celestron SkyPortal free to use?

Yes, the application is available for free. There are no in-app purchases or advertisements mentioned in the description.

### What devices are compatible with SkyPortal?

The app is compatible with devices that have compass functionality for its Compass Mode. For telescope control, it requires a compatible Celestron WiFi telescope. Specific device compatibility for the app itself is not detailed but it is a mobile application.

### How does SkyPortal help with stargazing?

SkyPortal enhances stargazing by providing a simulated view of the night sky, identifying celestial objects in real-time, offering detailed information and audio narration about them, and allowing users to plan observing sessions. For telescope owners, it simplifies finding and viewing objects.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 4.0.1 — 2026-06-23

Support for SkyPortal WiFi module hardware update
Miscellaneous UI improvements

### 4.0.0 — 2026-03-12

Fixes issue preventing switching WiFi Network Connection from Direct Connect to Access Point mode
Improved “look and feel”
Various other bug fixes and performance improvements

### 3.5.0 — 2023-07-05

Added support for StarSense AutoGuider

### 3.4.4 — 2022-06-04

Improved WiFi connections.

### 3.4.3 — 2022-04-08

Bug fixes and performance enhancements.

## Apps similar to Celestron SkyPortal

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Star Gazer: Sky Map& Astronomy](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-gazer-sky-map-and-astronomy/id1441048929) | 3.8 (6,827) | Free | Education |
| [SkyView® Lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/skyview-lite/id413936865) | 4.5 (18,741) | Free | Education |
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| [Stars and Planets - Astronomy](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stars-and-planets-astronomy/id1170904676) | 4.7 (1,206) | Free | Education |
| [Star Walk 2 Plus: Live Sky Map](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-walk-2-plus-live-sky-map/id1112481571) | 4.6 (94,543) | Free | Education |
| [Star Walk：Find Stars & Planets](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-walkfind-stars-and-planets/id295430577) | 4.7 (25,023) | Free | Education |

## More apps by Celestron, LLC

- [Micro Fi](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/micro-fi/id818703782)
- [Celestron StarSense Explorer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/celestron-starsense-explorer/id1368600689)
- [Celestron Origin](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/celestron-origin/id1523697872)

All apps by Celestron, LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/445142854

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-13.*