Mars Info Lite vs DISCS
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mars Info Lite
Explore the surface of the Red Planet with an interactive 3D globe. Discover significant locations like volcanoes, craters, and mountains, and view detailed information about each. This version offers a curated selection of points of interest.
- Interactive 3D Mars globe
- Rotate, tilt, and zoom controls
- Pinpoint key locations
- View location details (name, type, size, coordinates)
- List of selectable locations
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Explore Mars using simple gestures to rotate a globe, tilt, zoom and select locations. Credits - Viking Orbiter MDIM 2.1 map of Mars - NASA NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio: GMM-3 MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) Topography map GMM-3 Free-Air Mars Gravity map GMM-3 Bouguer Mars Gravity map GMM-3 Crustal Mars Thickness map Features: - Ability to pinpoint about 80 the most interesting areas on the map of Mars, including volcanos, craters, plains, mountains, spacecrafts. - Displaying some information about the location, such as its name, type, short description, size and coordinates. - Ability to select locations on the 3D globe and on the plain list. - Zoom, rotation, tilt of the globe. Lite version is limited to display 7 locations for each category, i.e. you will see 42 places vs 80 (currently) in a full version.
DISCS
Contribute observations about local crop conditions and drought impacts to a scientific community. View your reports alongside data from NASA satellites, NOAA rainfall, and ground sensors.
- Report crop conditions
- Upload photos
- View drought data
- See rainfall information
- Monitor vegetation health
- Observe satellite data
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The smartphone app “Drought Information Supported by Citizen Scientists” (DISCS) was created by researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to facilitate the sharing and delivery of hydrologic and agricultural information from citizen scientists to the scientific community and partners involved in the monitoring of drought conditions. Users, as Citizen Scientists, are encouraged to contribute photos of local crop conditions along with information about crop type, crop health, soil moisture conditions, and other notes about drought impacts. In exchange, users of the app can observe their reports alongside reports of other Citizen Scientists, and view their information in the context of drought information from the U.S. Drought Monitor, recent rainfall data from NOAA, soil moisture information from ground sensors or through NASA modeling approaches, and view information about vegetation health and stress as observed from NASA’s constellation of satellites.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Mars Info Lite at 96% against DISCS's 50%. Mars Info Lite also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.0) and ratings volume (200 vs 3). DISCS's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Mars Info Lite holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mars Info Lite has 200 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 96% of Mars Info Lite's written reviews are positive against 50% of DISCS's.
Mars Info Lite ships an update every 3 months, DISCS every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mars Info Lite | DISCS |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (200 ratings) — better | 2.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 96.0% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 200 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 210 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Viktor Goltvyanytsya | NASA |
Customer experience
Mars Info Lite
DISCS
Bugs and requests
Mars Info Lite
Reported bugs
2 issues- Pinpoints shifted 90 degrees in longitude
- Crashes immediately on iPhone 4s
Requested features
4 requests- Implement geomorphology data
- Add ability to zoom out and see Mars alignment with other planets
- Add VR support
- Add apps for other planets
DISCS
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mars Info Lite
No in-app purchases
DISCS
No in-app purchases








