Comparison

Alt vs CamSextant

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Alt

This app calculates your precise altitude above sea level using your device's barometer or GPS. It offers a realistic, retro design and automatically calibrates for local atmospheric pressure, with optional manual calibration for advanced users.

Highlights
  • Barometer-based altitude calculation
  • GPS fallback for devices without barometer
  • Automatic local pressure calibration
  • Optional user calibration
  • Retro-style interface
  • Precise height above sea level
Read full description

Alt-O-Meter uses the barometer (air pressure sensor) in your late-model iPhone or iPad to calculate your precise height above sea level. Great for hiking, skiing, driving through mountain passes, flying, and more! • Reads ambient air pressure for a more precise reading than GPS. • Realistic, retro style. Looks like a classic airplane's altimeter! • Automatically calibrates for local atmospheric pressure. • ...also allows precise user calibration (optional; for advanced users) • Uses GPS hardware in devices that lack a barometer. • Completely free! No ads or in-app purchases.

About

CamSextant

This app functions as a celestial navigation tool, enabling users to take altitude measurements of celestial bodies using their phone. It provides real-time star and planet identification, automatic astronomical position calculations, and a perpetual nautical almanac.

Highlights
  • Celestial object altitude measurement
  • Real-time star and planet identification
  • Automatic astronomical position calculation
  • Perpetual nautical almanac
  • Audio star name and altitude announcement
  • Horizon calibration
Features
Read full description

CamSextant is the easiest celestial navigation tool. It allows taking altitudes of celestial objects, using your phone as a sextant. It is a complete celestial navigation solution, with instrument, nautical almanac and celestial calculator. Point a celestial object and tap the image to capture the altitude and time. Stars and planets shown on screen in real time. Show constellation names and lines. Identify planets and navigation stars (from Hipparchus 150 catalog). The program can also speak the star names and altitudes (audio). Astronomic Position (AP) is automatically calculated once you have two sights. Calculate your astronomical position with less than 10 clicks. Perpetual nautical almanac using Astronomical Algorithms ( book by J. Meeus). If you take altitude observations of the same object, the average time/altitude are shown. You can calibrate the sextant horizon by reading the sea horizon altitude. Note that the phone is more like a bubble sextant: you don't need the sea horizon to use CamSextant. Anyway, click [Calibrate] button to save the correction. Calibration angle is subtracted from raw sensor reading. If you have a marine sextant at hand, you can edit the altitudes captured by the phone and get serious celestial navigation work done. Translations for en, es, fr, it, pt ( program texts and voice ) For more information check: http://www.tecepe.com.br/nav/CamSextant/

Screenshots

Alt3 screens
CamSextant4 screens

Verdict

The call

Alt and CamSextant both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 76% of Alt's written reviews are positive against 50% of CamSextant's. CamSextant's advantage is update cadence (every 5 months vs every 15 months) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Alt against 4.4 for CamSextant. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 7 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Alt's written reviews are positive against 50% of CamSextant's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Alt ships an update every 15 months, CamSextant every 5 months. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Alt versus CamSextant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAltCamSextant
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (8 ratings) — better4.4 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings8 — better7
Update frequencyEvery 15 monthsEvery 5 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJoshua HinmanOmar reis

Customer experience

Alt

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral17.6%
Negative5.9%

CamSextant

All ratings6 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral16.7%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

Alt

No in-app purchases

None

CamSextant

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Alt free?
Alt is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CamSextant free?
CamSextant is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Alt or CamSextant?
Alt is rated higher. Alt averages 4.5 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while CamSextant averages 4.4 from 7 ratings.
Do Alt or CamSextant have ads?
Neither Alt nor CamSextant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Alt or CamSextant?
Alt ships an update every 15 months, and CamSextant every 5 months. Most recently, Alt was updated on November 2, 2026 and CamSextant on November 2, 2026.

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