# Distant Suns 5 — Astronomy for the whole family > Realistic and easy-to-use personal guide to the cosmos for all ages. (iPhone/iPad app by Mike Smithwick.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/distant-suns-5/id363418936 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Mike Smithwick](https://appshunter.io/developer/294198918) - Category: Education, Lifestyle - Price: $2.99 with in-app purchases (on sale, was $6.99) - Rating: 4.30/5 from 97 App Store ratings · 328 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 14.0 · 815 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2010-04-01 - Data updated: 2026-08-18 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/distant-suns-5/id363418936/reviews.md ## What is Distant Suns 5? Distant Suns: The night sky, reimagined. 2013 finalist in the Family category of TabTimes' best tablet app contest; "I am putting together some mobile astronomy apps for our local "Sky's the Limit" Observatory in Twentynine Palms, CA. I have been searching for something as good as, or better than, Distant Suns. Short answer: I have not found it yet. ...nothing portrays the night sky as well as Distant Suns. Distant Suns has been your personal guide to the cosmos since 1985. First on the desktop, now right in your hands. While others play games, you can travel to the stars. Award-winning Distant Suns has the reputation of both having one of the most realistic displays of the night sky, while being one of the easiest to use astronomy apps for casual sky watchers as well as serious astronomers. •Named in the "100 Essential Apps" by iLounge •Featured on NPR's MarketPlace Features include: •No Internet required. Just a sense of wonder. •View from the Earth or out in the solar system •Simply aim and gaze. •Over 18 million pinpoint stars scintillating like diamond dust in the palm of your hand (18 mil? Yup.) •Integrated with NASA's Night Sky Network space events in your area (US only at present) •What's Up? Gives a quick one snapshot overview of the evening's sky •Realistic ghostly band of the Milky Way •Stories behind each constellation •Viewpoint Lock keeps any object centered •Current weather patterns on the earth, updated daily •Change the look of the stars •Galaxies, nebula and star clusters •Hubble Space Telescope images •All 8 planets (or 9 for you purists) •GPS aware •Special color mode preserves your night vision. •Touch the sky to reveal hidden data for each object •Planetary data and information First Light is a proud member of Moms with Apps, a collaborative group of family-friendly developers with family-friendly apps. Twitter: @distantsuns Support: www.distantsuns.com ## Key features - Realistic night sky display - View from Earth or solar system - Over 18 million stars - Integrated NASA space events - Stories behind constellations - Night vision color mode - Hubble Space Telescope images ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: $2.99. **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Hubble Guide Star Catalog | $0.99 | one-time | ## Chart rankings - #189 in Top Paid · Education (US App Store) ## What do users think of Distant Suns 5? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🌟 Excellent astronomy app - 🔭 Comprehensive features for stargazing - 🌍 Helpful for learning about the night sky - 🔍 Useful for planning observing sessions - 🌌 Stunning visuals and graphics **Cons** - 🐛 Crashes and bugs in recent updates - 🤔 Confusing or unintuitive interface changes - 📱 Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions - 🔍 Difficulty finding and selecting objects - 🔍 Missing or inaccurate information **Commonly reported bugs** - Crashes when accessing preferences - Inability to sync with iCloud - Unresponsive or freezing app - Incorrect or outdated information displayed - Compatibility issues with newer iOS devices **Most requested features** - Add more detailed information on celestial objects - Improve compass and tracking functionality - Provide better support for astrophotography - Introduce a dark mode for night viewing - Add more customization options for the user interface ## Recent user reviews (10 of 328) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/distant-suns-5/id363418936/reviews.md ### 2/5 — GPS no longer recognized *2026-06-03, version 5.0.6* On my iPhone17 with iOS26, Distant Suns only captures the GPS location on first run. After that, no matter what permissions you give the app you will have to enter a lat/long manually or select a ‘nearest city’. If this is a dealbreaker for you then choose another app. ### 4/5 — Distant Suns 5 *2024-12-14, version 5.0.5* I purchased this to replace an 12 year old iphone app, kind of sorry in the app’s performance. I’m staring at the 1st quarter moon one hour before sun set but this app can’t seem to find the moon. 60+years amateur astronomer with Iphone 14+ running IOS 18.2 and some basic knowledge of the sky. I give it a polite 2 star rating. Update My iphone received an up date and the app started to work as intended. If the text was more readable for senior eyes I would rate higher. ### 2/5 — Distant Suns 5 *2024-12-10* I purchased this to replace an 12 year old iphone app, kind of sorry in the app’s performance. I’m staring at the 1st quarter moon one hour before sun set but this app can’t seem to find the moon. 60+years amateur astronomer with Iphone 14+ running IOS 18.2 and some basic knowledge of the sky. I give it a polite 2 star rating. ### 1/5 — iCloud *2023-08-12, version 5.0.3* Constantly telling me I’m not logged in to iCloud. I most certainly am. App used to wok ### 5/5 — Still my Favorite *2023-03-27, version 5.0.3* I’ve been using Distant Suns since the Amiga days. Still my go-to app for star gazing. ### 2/5 — What happened? *2023-03-14, version 5.0.3* Maybe it’s just me, but I find this version extremely user unfriendly compared to earlier versions. Uninstalled. ### 1/5 — Wird wohl nicht mehr gepflegt *2022-10-09, version 5.0.3* War mal super Aber das ist schon lange her ### 3/5 — syncing services don't work *2022-06-02, version 5.0.3* Although I am very much signed in to iCloud the application will not recognize that and as a result won't sync properly. Crashes after toggling permissions in settings. This becomes permanent. After uninstalling and reinstalling the application no longer presents anything but a blackscreen after the tutorial is finished. This is perhaps what others are running into as well. iPad Pro 12.9" 5th Gen. iOS 15.5 This is super disappointing, but I understand your best. We had DS on Mac OS 7.5 in the 90s and it was largely responsible for my unending fascination with the cosmos. How do you look at the solar system or other objects from different angles? That was one of the best and most important features of the early Distant Sun Programs. ### 1/5 — Broken *2021-08-01, version 5.0.3* Simply fails to open on an iPad mini using iOS 14.6. Tried deleting the app, then redownloading and reinstalling it, but it’s still broken. ### 1/5 — Now it just crashes. *2021-05-17, version 5.0.3* I have owned Distant Suns apps for many, many years. It used to be really awesome. In recent years I have had several problems with Distant Suns Max (Now Distant Suns 5, I guess). I have tried to contact the developer but never gotten a reply. Now it won’t even open on my iPad. It just crashes. I tried deleting the app and re-downloading; no change. I need to find another astronomy app. IPad Pro 10.5 inch, iPadOS 14.5.1 ## Frequently asked questions about Distant Suns 5 ### What does Distant Suns 5 do? Distant Suns 5 is a personal guide to the cosmos that offers a realistic display of the night sky. It allows users to explore stars, planets, constellations, and celestial events with detailed information and visuals. ### What are the key features of Distant Suns 5? Key features include a realistic night sky display, the ability to view from Earth or out in the solar system, over 18 million stars, integrated NASA space events, stories behind constellations, and a night vision color mode. ### Is Distant Suns 5 free to use? The app is free to download and use, but it offers in-app purchases for additional content or features. The description indicates it has in-app purchases and no ads. ### What kind of devices is Distant Suns 5 compatible with? The app is available for mobile devices, as it is described as being 'right in your hands' and was a finalist in a tablet app contest. It also mentions GPS awareness and weather patterns, suggesting it runs on modern smartphones and tablets. ### Who is Distant Suns 5 designed for? This app is designed for a wide audience, including families, casual sky watchers who want to learn about the night sky, and serious astronomers looking for a realistic and informative tool. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 5.0.6 — 2025-01-04 - UI tweaks - Addition of musical tracks ### 5.0.5 — 2024-10-17 Now with Comet Tshuchinshan ### 5.0.4 — 2024-04-19 Constellation names and labels for the grids are now oriented correctly for southern hemisphere uses. There is a new Overview menu item that shows a tiny version of the What's up window on iPads. The Event's menu item was removed as the information source now requires an account to access. Lunar landmark labels are now available for some of the smaller craters. And they fade out towards the edge of the lunar limb so they are no longer bunching up as they were previously. A new option was added to the stellar preference panel: Enhanced Colors, making the stellar coloring more evedent. Also the colors were based on a specific spectral chart for more accurate rendition, Some small cosmetic errors were fixed. ### 5.0.3 — 2021-04-14 * Has a higher resolution texture for the moon * Constellations now have boundaries * Add a small WhatsUp? Type display, "overview" * Updated the Milky Way image * of course there are the usual bugs dealt with. ### 5.0.2 — 2020-05-29 * Added a new feature in Extra preferences, to use the compass just for heading, leaving the elevation manual. That can make it easier to follow objects high in the sky without having to hold the iPad/iPhone over your head * Removed the "Boing" menu item * Made the momentum swipe a little smoother. * The local horizon with cardinal points defaults on for new installs * Dimmed the compass rose a little and made it a bit smaller from a user request * The Events display will now show only local events and not those from across the country * Fixed a bug in star preferences that could cause a crash. * The local events feature should now show only those events near you, and not all across the country * Numerous other small bugs and feature tweaks ## Apps similar to Distant Suns 5 | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Star Walk 2 Pro: Sky Map Live](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-walk-2-pro-sky-map-live/id892279069) | 4.7 (67,054) | $2.99 | Education | | [Star Walk 2 Plus: Live Sky Map](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-walk-2-plus-live-sky-map/id1112481571) | 4.6 (94,916) | Free | Education | | [SkyView® Lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/skyview-lite/id413936865) | 4.5 (18,744) | Free | Education | | [StarMap 3D](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/starmap-3d/id324038407) | 4.8 (1,369) | $1.99 | Education | | [Pocket Universe](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocket-universe/id306916838) | 4.5 (254) | Free | Education | | [Stars and Planets - Astronomy](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stars-and-planets-astronomy/id1170904676) | 4.7 (1,222) | Free | Education | ## More apps by Mike Smithwick - [KeckWatch](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/keckwatch/id953228443) - [Apollo360-VR](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/apollo360-vr/id1568902206) - [Cloqworks](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cloqworks/id6475178682) - [CattGPT](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cattgpt/id6747798457) All apps by Mike Smithwick: https://appshunter.io/developer/294198918 --- *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 2026-08-18.*