# Moon Atlas — user reviews

> 57 indexed App Store user reviews of Moon Atlas by Julian James, rated 4.00/5 from 6 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/moon-atlas/id302171459/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/moon-atlas/id302171459.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 4 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 1 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 1

## Newest reviews (10 of 57)

### 3/5 — Missing important feature

*2016-03-17*

This is a good app for what it does, but for astronomers it’s missing a very important feature: There is no way to set the calendar for a specific date and time and read what the current day is in 10ths of a day, e.g., 9.2 days old. It would also be helpful to know the longitude of the terminator.

### 3/5 — Nice but not great

*2015-10-24*

Interesting features and detailed information about the moon.
Some missing items though. The moon is not shown in its real position, turning clockwise during at the sky. 
It would also be nice to include eclipse effects on the moon.
Otherwise nice program in addition to a planetarium.

### 4/5 — Muito bom o aplicativo, porém carece de maior resolução.

*2013-07-11*

O aplicativo Moon Atlas possui um vasto catálogo de crateras, montes e depressões lunares, muito dinâmico quanto à amostragem do relevo lunar. Porém como é um aplicativo com a função de demonstrar e contribuir no estudo da Lua, o Moon Atlas deixa a desejar quanto a resolução das imagens quando se está mais próximo. Para um atlas lunar seria importante aumentar a resolução, dinamizando e ampliando a visão das crateras e detalhes mais específicos. Astrônomos e pesquisadores da Lua através de observações ficariam contentes e certamente baixariam com mais intensidade tal aplicativo.

### 4/5 — Colongitude

*2012-03-27, version 2.0.5*

Great addition of colongitude in latest version.  Important information for observing.

### 3/5 — It' ok.

*2011-10-16*

Please add autofill in search box. I'd also like better resolution of images when zooming in. Also, add layers - for example, lunar landing layer that shows the sites. For now, users need to to manually enter every site individually (again, auto populate would be nice). Unless you know the site locations, that is a bit of a hassle. The layer feature would be really nice because right now if you zoom out at all you lose the site you just found. Another layer could be "impact craters" and would only show those. I give it a "3"for now. If you enhanced everything but the resolution I would give strong 4 stars. If you improved the resolution I'd give a very strong 5 stars. Right now, I wont't use this app much in its current form. Very expensive for what it is right now. Sorry I took the chance. Am using first gen iPad.

### 5/5 — Great App!

*2011-06-20, version 2.0.3*

Superb App, with a great deal of information.  Works great as a useful observational tool and lunar calendar, as well as pure fun.  Excellent graphics and very informative.

### 4/5 — Great, easy to use app

*2010-10-16, version 0*

Fast loading moon atlas. Plenty of good detail including moon landing sites and all major moon features. A couple of points stop it getting five stars. First is the font size is a touch small.could do with a tool to adjust. Second, the night sight feature is great but to access it the peel back effect in solid white blows your night sight away getting there! Could do with a main screen toggle. Kudos though for not charging extra for an HD version for the iPad.

### 5/5 — Superb!

*2010-07-31*

I love this app. Very clever use of iPad. You can view the moon in three dimensions, rotate it to find places of interest, find locations where various missions have landed, and info about those.

This is just an example of what I liked about it.

Extremely well-executed app.

### 5/5 — Mondansicht macht Spass

*2010-07-16, version 0*

Ob aus der eigenen Ortsansicht oder von weit aus dem Weltraum gesehen, diese pfiffige App schafft fast perfekte Mondansichten. Mit wählbarer Anzeige aller wichtigen Details (Krater, Gebirge, Mare) und sogar der Weltraummissionen der USA und UDSSR, natürlich abschaltbar und mit Koordinaten versehen.
Der Mond läßt sich von allen Seiten betrachten, auch die Perspektiven kann man so schalten, wie die Sicht mit dem Teleskop es gebietet: Auf dem Kopf stehend und seitenverkehrt und dazu in von Astronomen gewünschte "rote" Nachtbeleuchtung.
Der iPad unterstützt die Ansichten durch das kinderleichte Zoomen, Drehen, Verschieben der Mondansicht in idealer Weise. Sehr gut!

### 4/5 — Needs a little work...

*2010-05-20*

I wish I could love this app a little more, but there is potential.

You can spin the moon and zoom in on anything. Looks great but the images get blurry pretty quickly. I don't expect a google earth degree of detail of course, but a higher degree of resolution should be available. Also, the zoom and pan features are really touchy. It can be frustrating when zooming in or out as the screen will just jump and you lose what you were looking at.

More information on key structures would be nice. You only get a couple of lines on The Sea of Tranquility and Appalo 17. Taping on these labels should give you a lot more info and some photos. This app have the potential to be a lot more then a virtual telescope (and a tempermental telescope at that).

But, overall, it is still a wonderfull and useful app.

The Mars Atlas on the other hand, is a complete mess. Crashes within 5 seconds of launch every single time. Still waiting for a reply on the e-mail I sent the developper. Very disappointing...

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Nett für's erste, jedoch für 'Einsteiger' nicht empfelenswert

*2011-03-30, version 2.0.3*

Bei dem Wunsch, mehr Einzelheiten der Mondoberfäche zu sehen,  versagt diese App, was jeder leicht beim Vergleich mit der App.: 'Moon Globe' sofort selber sehen kann. Gerade der Reichtum der Mondoberfläche dieses der Erde nächsten Himmelskörpers interessiert den Betrachter, der ja mehr sehen möchte, als z.B. mit einem sehr guten Feldstecher. Bildmaterial ist ja hinlänglich vorhanden (siehe Material der Nasa usw.) Hinzu kommt in diesem 'Moon Atlas' die unfachliche Darstellung des 'Terminators' (so bezeichnet man in der Astronomie die Licht/Schattengrenze). Auch hier hat man es sich zu einfach gemacht. Schade. Dagegen vermittelt 'Moon Globe' fast spielerisch viele weitere Einzelheiten, die Spaß machen, mehr zu erfahren.

### 1/5 — Must have net connection

*2010-11-19, version 0*

On the ipad the app crashes as soon as it sees there in no net connection.

### 1/5 — I'm impressed

*2010-10-08, version 0*

I wish google earth ran this smoothly.  This app is great and is every bit as useful as "moon atlas pro", functionality wise, except now you don't need to lug your laptop out to your 'scope.  Excellent - I nearly didn't because of the price point (we're getting used to everything being 59 pence these days) but I'm very glad I did, it's worth the money.  Pinch and stretch isn't quite 100% fingertip accurate but apart from that I can't fault it. Well done.

### 2/5 — No Better

*2012-11-02*

This app is not any better or offer any other features that free apps for lunar observation. Disappointed. Would like a search option that would not "transport" you there, just show it on the map. Also a tap feature to identify something would be nice rather than having to zoom in to try to find a label.

### 2/5 — Resolution

*2012-09-16, version 2.0.5*

For 6 bucks you better work on the res. Mars hd is far better for the price

### 2/5 — l'idée est bonne, mais c'est tout

*2012-03-03, version 2.0.4*

A ce prix la on s'etend quand même des de image de qualité ... et bien non, il est même possible de faire des images de meilleur qualité chez sois avec un petit telescope et un apareil numerique !

en tout cas ne vaut pas son prix !

### 2/5 — Viel zu teuer

*2010-08-24, version 0*

Viel zu teuer, wenn man den geringen Informationsgehalt mit anderen Astronomieanwendungen vergleicht. Der Meinung über das gute Bildmaterial der anderen Rezensenten kann ich mich auch nicht anschließen.

Außerdem wäre für Nicht-Astronomen eine Hilfe mit mehr Inhalt wichtig, von einer deutschen Übersetzung ganz zu schweigen.

### 2/5 — Meh

*2010-06-18, version 0*

I was hoping this would be as good as moon globe for iPhone. No even close. I wasted about 4 bucks on this. Way over priced for what it is.

### 3/5 — En attente

*2019-09-19, version 2.6.4*

En attente Fonction d’affichage pour les latitudes équatoriales 
C’est à dire Ouest et Est à la verticale

### 3/5 — Very featureful, but low rez images makes this useless with telescope

*2019-07-09*

Pros:
+ Takes into account libration and viewers position
+ Dynamic labeling based on zoom (clearest labeling I’ve seen among apps!)
+ Provides extra data (including libration plot), not just the map itself!
+ Has upside-down & mirror mode, and night vision (red) mode.
+ Full 3D globe if you want or explore from other angles.
+ All imagery has a good (though static) lighting angle such that terrain relief is clear.

Cons:
+ This turned out to be a BIG one for me: Lowest resolution imagery or any of the moon maps. When out observing with my small (130mm) reflector Telescope, I can clearly see much smaller details than shown in this image. Indeed, the in app chart is such low resolution that I had a hard time identifying craters because identifying details were missing. I ditched for another app that, while worse at showing labels, gave me the detail necessary to identify features accurately.

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Fantastic

*2025-03-10, version 3.0.8*

Great moon atlas with a lot of detail - and the app that was with me for literally a decade at this time. I love it!

### 5/5 — Fun and informative

*2023-07-23, version 3.0.2*

I used binoculars with this app to identify the area of the first moon landing in seconds, and named all the visible craters and mares in no time at all. Really like the tap for more info feature! Useful for beginners and advanced amateurs alike.

### 5/5 — Best Lunar App

*2022-09-11*

This app contains many hundreds of lunar features utilizing a dynamic zoom labeling relationship. I find the map very clear and easy to use. 
The app also makes use of current libration mapping for time of observation. I highly recommend this app.

### 5/5 — Everyone Will Enjoy This Atlas!

*2020-06-24*

Everyone can enjoy all of these atlases as works of art as well as reliable references. They are easy to use and fill the needs of astronomers of all ages. They are well worth the modest fee. It’s an investment in program improvements, and hopefully the creation of atlases for other planets.

### 5/5 — AWSOME

*2016-07-15, version 2.5.0*

don't understand why the "update" isn't available

### 5/5 — Great moon atlas! :)

*2015-11-20, version 2.2.2*

Downloaded this today, and tonight it has come in so handy already finding out the names of the features on the moon. Like the way when you pinch to zoom in you get more information of some of the finer details on view. Great app, great value and great to use! Recommended! :)

### 5/5 — Love this app - Highly recommended

*2012-05-09*

Moon Atlas is a handy app that does exactly what it is supposed to do - show you lunar details on a 3D Moon. I use this app on my iPhone and iPad.   I love it, especially when hosting a Moon Party for friends and family.  A note to the developers... one enhancement I would like to see is the ability to save screen shots as graphic files.

### 5/5 — Darn near perfect

*2012-04-30, version 2.0.5*

I've used paper atlases at the eyepiece for years, the best of which are the Times Lunar Atlas & Antonin Rükl's Lunar Atlas. The Sky & Telescope foldable Lunar Quadrant map is also very useful. Lunar atlases on computers are available and, well, laptops are awkward at the eyepiece. So I was very interested in this app as it was supposed to display librations and the terminator properly. It does. Very easy to navigate, smooth scrolling and just enough detail without overwhelming the view. If you need more detail, then Moon Map Pro compliments Moon Atlas Pro well. It would be nice to access the date & time function from the main screen. As it is now, you have to go into Settings and then into Date & Time. Minor quibble. Currently, this is the best at what it does and does it well. Recommended.

### 5/5 — Excellent lunar app

*2012-03-29*

The addition of colongitude makes this the first app to my knowledge to provide this important info. THANKS!  I do a lot of lunar observing and find this to be a handy and useful iPhone app. I no longer feel compelled to haul out an atlas or notebook.  Worth the money.

### 5/5 — Moon Atlas Rocks!

*2011-08-27*

This app is great for lunar aficionados!  I love the ability to find spacecraft sites and see some facts on each one (note: the develoer needs to correct the Surveyor 3 date - it did not land on the same day as Apollo 11!).  I like the night mode for use without destroying your night vision and the ability to flip the view to match that in your telescope.  I rarely buy aps, but this one is worth it.

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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 2026-09-09.*