Starry Map vs Stellar Tour
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Starry Map
Identify stars, constellations, and satellites by pointing your phone at the night sky. Augmented reality overlays display celestial names in real-time. Receive notifications for upcoming satellite passes and meteor showers.
- AR celestial identification
- Constellation and star catalog
- Satellite tracking and alerts
- Meteor shower notifications
- Offline functionality
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Point your smartphone at the night sky to instantly identify constellations, stars, and satellites. AR overlays show celestial names on the live camera view, and you can swipe to explore any direction. Get alerts for visible ISS passes and meteor showers. Includes: ・88 constellations (with Hevelius illustrations) ・Solar system planets, dwarf planets, asteroids ・Stars up to magnitude 12 ・About 100 Messier objects (nebulae and clusters) ・Over 10,000 satellites ・More than 300 comets ・Meteor showers and asterisms (Summer/Winter Triangle, Big Dipper, etc.) ・Satellite pass alerts (ISS, Hubble) ・Meteor shower peak notifications Works offline (satellite data won't update). Terms of Service https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Stellar Tour
Explore the cosmos with an augmented reality stargazing app guided by an astrophysicist. Discover exoplanets, solar system bodies, and deep-sky objects with scientifically accurate narratives and detailed visuals.
- Augmented reality stargazing
- Astrophysicist-guided tours
- Detailed exoplanet information
- High-resolution solar system visuals
- Exploration of galaxies and nebulae
- Interactive 3D planet and moon models
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Stellar Tour is the only AR stargazing app written by an astrophysicist. Point your phone at the night sky and get a guided tour of everything up there: 1.7 billion real stars, every planet and major moon, eclipses, meteor showers, 13,000 deep-sky objects, and a course in astronomy that starts with the sky over your head and ends at the edge of the universe. Astrophysicist Dr. Aaron Day wrote every word. Instead of the standard flood of random facts, Stellar Tour tells the scientifically accurate story of each world: what it is like on the ground, in the seas, or floating through the clouds. THE NIGHT SKY, FOR REAL • 1.7 billion stars from ESA's Gaia survey, each in its true position. Pinch to zoom from your backyard to the galactic core. • The Milky Way as it actually looks, drawn from every star Gaia measured, with constellations, planets, and satellites overlaid on your live sky. • A sky that looks like the time it is: dawn, daylight, twilight, and full dark, with a real atmosphere and hazy ridges on the horizon. The Moon shows its earthshine, and Earth's night side its city lights. • Night Vision mode keeps your eyes dark-adapted with a pure red display. LEARN THE SKY • Fifteen short lessons, from the sky over your head to the edge of the universe. Every stop is a live visit: the lesson flies you to the star, steps the clock, or opens the tool it is talking about. The first three lessons are free. • Three reference books inside the app, How We Know, The Sky, and The Whole Story, with a glossary and dozens of labeled diagrams. SEVEN SKIES • See the stars the way Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, India, and the Arabian desert saw them: their star figures and folk names drawn on your sky, their stories on each star's page, and their lunar festivals on the calendar. PLAN YOUR NIGHT • Sky Calendar: every eclipse, meteor shower, conjunction, and full moon, filtered by type. The week ahead is free; the full year comes with the expansion. • Night Planner: the best targets for your sky tonight, hour by hour. Sky Forecast: the cloud cover over your spot, hour by hour. • Reminders that fire only when something is worth stepping outside for, including ISS and Tiangong passes with a live countdown. • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets for rise and set times and the next sky event. Ask Siri what is visible tonight. ECLIPSE EXPLORER Simulate any solar or lunar eclipse from any place on Earth: local timings, a disc animation of the Moon crossing the Sun, and a live countdown. The next solar eclipse at your own location is free: its times, what you will see there, and a reminder. GO DEEPER • Telescope Catalog: 13,000 NGC, IC, and Messier objects, searchable and shown on your sky. • Exoplanets: nearly every known world, in its actual position on the sky, with sizes, temperatures, and orbits. • The Solar System up close: planets and major moons in NASA probe imagery, in visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, and radar. Rotate them to any angle. • Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope pictures, on the pages of the objects they show. FOR EVERYONE • Kid Mode rewrites the whole tour for explorers aged five to seven. • Birthday Sky: a shareable card of the sky on the night you were born. • Smart search: ask for exactly what you want. • Fifteen languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese, and Icelandic. Dates in your own calendar. • VoiceOver and Dynamic Type throughout. ONE PURCHASE, NO SUBSCRIPTION Cosmic Expansion adds the planner, the catalog, the eclipses, the exoplanets, the galaxies, the full year of the calendar, and the whole course in a single purchase that is yours forever. Take the Stellar Tour!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Stellar Tour at none against Starry Map's shown. Stellar Tour also leads on review sentiment (84% vs 62%) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). Starry Map's advantage is iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Starry Map sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Stellar Tour sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Stellar Tour holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Stellar Tour has 1.7K ratings behind it against 246, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of Starry Map's written reviews are positive against 84% of Stellar Tour's.
Starry Map ships an update every 2 weeks, Stellar Tour fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Starry Map | Stellar Tour |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (246 ratings) | 4.7 (1.7K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.4% of reviews | 83.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 246 | 1.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 102 MB | 570 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | にゃんこソフトウェア | Aaron Day |
Customer experience
Starry Map
Stellar Tour
User reviews
Starry Map
From 246 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use and understand
- ✨ Beautiful and visually appealing interface
- 🔭 AR feature for real-time sky viewing
- 🛰️ Useful for tracking satellites (ISS, Starlink)
- 💡 Informative with links to Wikipedia
Room to improve
- 💰 Many features are paid/locked
- 💸 Increased monetization and paid features
- 📉 Some users feel it was better before monetization
- 🤔 Unclear how to use certain features
- 📱 Inconsistent performance across devices/OS versions
Stellar Tour
From 1.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🌟 Amazing app
- 👍 Excellent for stargazing and learning
- 🔭 Helpful for identifying stars and constellations
- 🌌 Detailed information on planets and exoplanets
- 🎓 Great educational tool for all ages
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and glitches
- 🤔 Some features not intuitive or user-friendly
- 💰 Wish it was completely free without in-app purchases
- 🌍 Language localization could be improved
Bugs and requests
Starry Map
Reported bugs
13 issues- App crashes on launch after updates
- Date/time setting resets to 1970
- Black screen upon opening the app
- Ads not disappearing even after purchase
- App closes when selecting specific objects (e.g., Comet Neowise)
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- Location accuracy issues
- App closes after update
- App not working on older iOS versions
- Data connection not allowed error
- AR view constantly spinning
- ISS and Starlink not displaying after update
- App crashes when switching night mode
- App crashes when selecting NEOWISE comet
Requested features
8 requests- Reflect weather and light pollution in star visibility
- Include stories/episodes related to constellations
- Separate 1st to 3rd magnitude stars in display options
- Simplify solar system display for beginners
- Option to hide background stars or make them less prominent
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- Add comet Atlas to the catalog
- More user-friendly tutorials on usage
- Search functionality for star names
Stellar Tour
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login screen freezes
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- Videos not playing offline as expected
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for viewing comets and other celestial events
- Improve AR functionality and integration
- Provide more detailed information on exoplanets
- Introduce a dark mode option for better visibility at night
In-app purchases
Starry Map
- Unlock Features2 variants$0.991 Month
- Unlock Features7 Days trial2 variants$0.991 Month
- Unlock Features$3.991 Year
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- Unlock Features7 Days trial$3.991 Year
- Unlock Features (Lifetime)$9.99
Stellar Tour
- Remove Ads 1$2.99
- Upgrade: Lessons & Sky Tools$3.99
- Cosmic Expansion2 variants$9.99
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- Remove Ads 2$9.99
- Remove Ads 3$14.99
Questions
Is Starry Map free?
Is Stellar Tour free?
Which has better reviews, Starry Map or Stellar Tour?
Do Starry Map or Stellar Tour have ads?
Which is updated more often, Starry Map or Stellar Tour?
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