Comparison

Astrospheric vs Fotocast

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

Head to head
About

Astrospheric

This app offers advanced weather forecasting and astronomical data for stargazers and astrophotographers. It provides detailed hourly forecasts, cloud and sky transparency reports, and alerts for celestial events. It also includes tools for astronomical societies and offline site setup.

Highlights
  • 84-hour hourly weather forecast
  • Ensemble cloud forecast
  • Kp index for Aurora
  • ISS flyover paths
  • Integrated smoke forecast
  • Sky and ground data
  • Rise and set times
  • Solar and Lunar eclipse data
Features
Read full description

Astrospheric provides advanced weather tools for professional astronomers and astrophotographers, and supports hundreds of astronomical societies with tools that help members stay connected. Are you using what the pros use? Features • 84 hour, hour-by-hour forecast • Free notification reminders for major astronomical events, customized for your location • Ensemble cloud forecast lets you quickly compare the major forecast models with hourly updates (Astrospheric Pro) • Extended cloud forecast • Kp index for Aurora viewing (and alerts with Pro) • International Space Station (ISS) flyover paths and times • Astrospheric is the only astronomy service that integrates the smoke forecast into the transparency report • Sky data: cloud, sky transparency, seeing • Ground data: wind, temperature, and humidity • Precise rise and set times for both the sun and moon • Get weather alerts when conditions meeting your requirements are met (Astrospheric Pro) • Details Solar and Lunar eclipse data Astronomical Societies • Stay connected with chat, image sharing, and event planning with all of your members. • Qualifying astronomical societies can get Pro features for all of their members Site Mode • Information necessary to quickly set up your GOTO tracking mount • Available even if you don’t have a network connection Astrospheric Professional is now available to enable Weather Alerts, Ensemble cloud forecast, and more! • Astrospheric Professional is billed monthly or yearly and will auto-renew unless turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current subscription period. The renewal cost will be the same as the initial sign-up cost of the subscription. Any changes in cost will be communicated before renewal takes place. • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase • Subscriptions may be managed by you and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the your Account Settings after purchase. A link to these settings is made available within Astrospheric "My Profile" for easy access. • The terms of use and privacy policy may be found at https://www.astrospheric.com/privacypolicy.php, purchasing a subscription shows agreement to these terms. PLEASE NOTE: Weather data is not available for Hawaii due to the domain area covered by the Canadian Meteorological Center. However, satellite and light pollution map layers, as well as other features will work in Hawaii. More information on Astrospherics forecast domain can be found here: https://www.astrospheric.com/dynamiccontent/datadomain.html

About

Fotocast

This app provides hyperlocal weather forecasts specifically tailored for outdoor photographers. It offers unique tools like a "Fotoscore" for optimal conditions, sunrise/sunset quality predictions, and minute-by-minute precipitation alerts. Plan your photo sessions with confidence, get gear-based suggestions, and access historical weather data.

Highlights
  • Hyperlocal weather forecasts
  • Fotoscore™ for photography conditions
  • Sunrise & Sunset quality prediction
  • Minutely precipitation alerts
  • Daylight phases (blue hour, golden hour)
  • Photo suggestions based on weather & gear
  • Photo session manager
  • Animated radar & weather maps
Features
Read full description

Fotocast is the only revolutionary hyperlocal weather forecast app designed for outdoor photographers. With weather info like any other high-rated weather forecast app, it is custom made for photography with many additional photography weather tools you won't find in any other app. And best of all, it's ad-free! ▶ Introducing Fotoscore™ See a simple score from 0 to 10 telling you if conditions outside are optimal for photography, based on your photographer type! ▶ Sunrise & Sunset Quality Know if sunrise or sunset is likely to be colorful & beautiful based on weather conditions that have been known to affect the quality of the sky at that magical hour. ▶ Real-time Minutely Hyperlocal Forecasts Never get your camera wet again! See precipitation information minute by minute, configure alerts when rain is starting, and more. ▶ Intuitive "Daylight Phases" See the times for blue hour, golden hour, high noon, sunrise, sunset, and more... like never before. Designed just for photographers. ▶ Photo suggestions based on weather conditions and the gear you own! See helpful photography tips automatically based on weather conditions and the type of photographer that you are! Save your photography gear into the intuitive database and configure which weather conditions you need them for! ▶ Photo Session Manager Program your future photography sessions into Fotocast and get notified when bad weather is expected. Don't wonder if you and your clients will get wet at that park you are shooting at next week! ▶ Trip Log Record your photography session mileage on the go. ▶ Inspiration See photos from other photographers automatically based on your current weather condition and photographer type for quick inspiration on the go! ▶ Alerts, Notifications & Customizations Configure more types of weather alerts than any other weather app. Want to know if the wind speed is going to be low at your favorite pond or lake so you can get some nice reflection shots on the water? Fotocast has you covered. Want to know if it's going to be foggy so you can take some creatively killer shots? Fotocast does that too! The interface of Fotocast is fully customizable, as well. Pick any color you want to use as a theme, and hide weather conditions that aren't important to you! ▶ Animated Radar & Maps Track the path of precipitation around you with animated radar. Fotocast also includes many other weather maps for any type of weather condition... even a light pollution map for night time photographers! ▶ Almanac (Historic Weather) With Fotocast's built in Almanac, you can research what the weather conditions were on any day for many years in the past. Take it a step further than any other weather almanac by automatically analyzing weather conditions on that day for the past 50 years, and produce an average weather condition! ▶ Sunny 16 Rule Indicator Automatically changing Sunny 16 rule indicator based on current weather! ▶ Photography Calculators There are more than 10 handy photography calculators! ▶ Sun/Moon Direction Tool Plan your outdoor photography by knowing which direction the Sun will be in at any time, on any date, any location! ▶ Live Aurora Borealis Info Never miss the northern lights! ▶ A lot more! There's a lot more features and tools for photographers we can't fit into this description! Download Fotocast today to see what the hype is about. Some features require a subscription of $4.99/month or $29.99/year for Fotocast Premium. Subscriptions are charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and automatically renew each month or year, unless turned off in your iTunes settings 24 hours before the end of the current period. Any unused portion of the trial period, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. You may manage subscriptions and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Terms of Use: https://bit.ly/2HVHi7p

Screenshots

Astrospheric4 screens
Fotocast4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Astrospheric at 87% against Fotocast's 30%. Astrospheric also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.8) and chart position (#90 vs unranked). Fotocast's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.1). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Astrospheric sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Fotocast sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Astrospheric holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Astrospheric has 484 ratings behind it against 88, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of Astrospheric's written reviews are positive against 30% of Fotocast's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Astrospheric ships an update every 2 weeks, Fotocast fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Astrospheric versus Fotocast: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAstrosphericFotocast
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (484 ratings) — better3.8 (88 ratings)
Positive reviews86.8% of reviews — better30.0% of reviews
Number of ratings484 — better88
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#90 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.111.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB188 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel FiordalisDunbar Technology, LLC

Customer experience

Astrospheric

All ratings481 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews151 reviews
Positive86.8%
Neutral5.3%
Negative7.9%

Fotocast

All ratings88 ratings
Positive67.0%
Neutral6.8%
Negative26.1%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive30.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative65.0%

User reviews

Astrospheric

From 484 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Precision tool for astrophotography
  • 🔍 Detailed weather forecasts
  • ⭐ Accurate and reliable
  • 💻 Comprehensive data and features
  • 📊 Helpful for planning observing sessions

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional inaccurate forecasts
  • 🔍 Missing some weather data (e.g. wind)
  • 💰 Subscription required for full functionality
  • 🔌 Compatibility issues on some devices

Fotocast

From 88 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Great idea for photographers
  • 👍 Useful for planning photography
  • 💡 Concise and useful information
  • 💡 Replaces multiple apps
  • 👍 Active and responsive developer (historically)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes frequently
  • 🐛 App doesn't load location
  • 🐛 No data available
  • 🐛 Subscription issues
  • 🐛 Abandoned app

Bugs and requests

Astrospheric

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App crashing or not loading on some devices
  • Inconsistent temperature and wind data

Requested features

4 requests
  • Notification system for clear skies
  • Widgets for quick access to data
  • More detailed transparency and seeing data
  • Ability to flip east and west in the app

Fotocast

Reported bugs

44 issues
  • Nothing working
  • No data available
  • Never updated to my location
  • App is abandoned
  • Nothing loads in any category
Show 39 more
  • Completely useless app
  • Never loads my location
  • Watch app crashes immediately
  • No updates to fix
  • App will not load info
  • Crashes constantly
  • Free version never worked
  • Apps that haven’t been updated within a year
  • Nothing geht (German for nothing works)
  • App now stops on age consent form
  • Will not open on Apple Watch
  • Crashes trying to read terms of use
  • Dunkelmodus funktioniert nicht (German for dark mode not working)
  • Location not updating
  • GPS auto update not working
  • Radar is premium subscription
  • Double dip (billing issue)
  • Sunrise/Sunset quality scores are useless
  • Quality Scores update retrospectively
  • Fotoscore number is random
  • Bugs with regards to notifications
  • My Location (Auto GPS) doesn’t update location
  • App crashes as soon as I open it
  • Crashes every time I open the app
  • App installs well and asks to locate for forecasting, etc. when you give approval it follows by crashing
  • Latest version crashes upon opening
  • Whenever I select a location it automatically quits out
  • App will not work. Each time I open the app it crashes
  • App crashes within a split second when I try to open it
  • Thinks it's clear when loads of clouds and vice versa
  • Can't get the current weather right
  • Reverts to other locations
  • Attempt to edit gear causes app to force close
  • Address search results in “my photo places” cannot be selected and improperly displays
  • Use of the camera in the “my photo places” results in force close of app
  • In app support fails to send
  • Can’t add locations
  • Can’t make it use location services
  • Thinks it is nighttime when it is 1000

Requested features

24 requests
  • Pull apps down if abandoned
  • Remove payment options from abandoned apps
  • Fix app updates
  • One-time payment option instead of subscription
  • Fix app to work
Show 19 more
  • Fix watch app
  • Fix age consent form bug
  • Fix dark mode
  • Fix GPS auto-update
  • Make radar not premium
  • Fix double billing
  • Fix notification bugs
  • Fix quality score calculation
  • Fix fotoscore calculation
  • Fix support ticket sending
  • Fix gear editing crash
  • Fix address search
  • Fix camera use crash
  • Fix support message sending
  • Fix app quitting out
  • Allow adding locations
  • Enable location services
  • Fix daytime/nighttime display
  • Add more features for iOS

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Astrospheric

Subscriptions2
  • Astrospheric Pro Subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Astrospheric Pro Subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
3 purchases

Fotocast

Subscriptions2
  • Fotocast Premium Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Fotocast Premium Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Fotocast Premium - One Time$19.99

Questions

Is Astrospheric free?
Astrospheric is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Fotocast free?
Fotocast is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Astrospheric or Fotocast?
Astrospheric is rated higher. Astrospheric averages 4.8 out of 5 from 484 ratings, while Fotocast averages 3.8 from 88 ratings.
Do Astrospheric or Fotocast have ads?
Neither Astrospheric nor Fotocast shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Astrospheric or Fotocast?
Astrospheric ships an update every 2 weeks, and Fotocast fortnightly. Most recently, Astrospheric was updated on November 1, 2026 and Fotocast on October 29, 2026.

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