Mars Info Lite vs ISS Explorer
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.
ISS Explorer
Explore a detailed 3D model of the International Space Station. Rotate, zoom, and select individual components to learn about their function and systems. Organize your view by turning parts and labels on or off.
- Interactive 3D ISS model
- Rotate and zoom functionality
- Selectable parts with isolation
- Detailed information on components
- Hierarchical part organization
- Toggle parts and labels
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The ISS explorer is an interactive tool for exploring the parts and pieces of the International Space Station (ISS). The application allows the user to view a 3D model of the ISS, rotate it, zoom into it, and select different parts and pieces. When the application starts, you can see a view of the entire ISS with category labels. Tabs are available on the left hand side of the screen which allow you access to information, the hierarchy, settings and application information. From this point, you can zoom into the station, revealing more labels of visible parts. The station can also be rotated to view from different angles. If a part is selected, the part is isolated so that you can focus on the specific piece. The information tab shows information about the currently isolated part. Inside the hierarchy tab, you can turn parts on or off, turn labels for parts on or off, turn parts transparent, or select a part to focus on. The parts are organized in a hierarchy to allow for systems to be described and displayed. This includes things such as truss, modules, and external platforms. The Information tab shows information about the current isolated part, system, or the full ISS if the entire station is shown.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ISS Explorer at 4.9 against Mars Info Lite's 4.4. ISS Explorer also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Mars Info Lite's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 10 months) and ratings volume (200 vs 16). On price, review sentiment, 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.
ISS Explorer holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mars Info Lite has 200 ratings behind it against 16, 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 100% of ISS Explorer's.
Mars Info Lite ships an update every 3 months, ISS Explorer every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mars Info Lite | ISS Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (200 ratings) | 4.9 (16 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 96.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 200 — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 10 months |
| 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 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 210 MB | 747 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Viktor Goltvyanytsya | NASA |
Customer experience
Mars Info Lite
ISS Explorer
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
ISS Explorer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mars Info Lite
No in-app purchases
ISS Explorer
No in-app purchases
