Starry Map vs Nightsky Astrolabe
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/
Nightsky Astrolabe
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Ancient or medieval people used astrolabes along with the stars to navigate for long distance or maritime travels. This app tries to replicate those experience in the modern world but with much easier approach, thanks to today's mobile technologies. And you will be able to navigate in the open air even if GPS or internet is not available. Features in this app to achieve the experiences: *Built-in offline database of 1200 stars that are visible to naked eyes. *Built-in offline database of the coordinates of 20k most populated cities'. *Virtual night sky, including showing the positions of the stars and planets, 88 constellations and some famous asterisms you may need to recognize the stars or navigate. *Basic star information, long-press on the star in the virtual night sky will pop up the information of the stars near by. *Allows you to measure a star/planet's horizontal altitude with the phone's gyroscope. And also allows you to lock a certain direction like a compass, this way you could avoid the background magnetic noise in some circumstances. *AR feature is an alternative and experimental feature for you to measure the star/planet's horizontal altitude or to lock a certain direction. *Calculates your possible current Latitude based on the altitude result you got from the gyroscope. *Latitude and Longitude sliders allow you to adjust your current location and see how the night sky rotate/scroll. You could compare the virtual night sky and the night sky you see above to get your rough longitude after you have calculated your latitude from the feature above. If you could see stars rising above the horizon, it's easier to get your longitude by comparing the stars right above the horizon. In-App Purchase features: * Remove all ads(and thus no more data collection from us and Google) *Full access to offline location database and be able to reset your default location at anytime you like *Location service from GPS/internet to get your Latitude/Longitude within seconds.(Convenient but not necessary, you learn how to find your coordinates without the access to internet or GPS) *Location service to get your coordinates within seconds.(In-App Purchase) While getting your coordinates from internet or GPS is not the objective of this app. There're occasions that you need to access your current coordinates quick and precisely. Furthermore, during the daytime. You cannot navigate with the stars, but if you know your coordinates, you could figure out the sun's direction and lock the sun's direction so that the app could serve as a compass. The geographic north/south is slightly different than the magnetic north/south but it's more reliable. Because sometimes the background magnetic noise could more or less offset the direction. **Offline location database licensed by simplemaps.com under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Nightsky Astrolabe at none against Starry Map's 6. Starry Map's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 16 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Nightsky Astrolabe asks for nothing beyond the download.
Starry Map ships an update every 2 weeks, Nightsky Astrolabe every 16 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Starry Map | Nightsky Astrolabe |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (248 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 62.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 248 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 16 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 104 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | にゃんこソフトウェア | wing lun tong |
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
Nightsky Astrolabe
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
Nightsky Astrolabe
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Starry Map free?
Is Nightsky Astrolabe free?
Do Starry Map or Nightsky Astrolabe have ads?
Which is updated more often, Starry Map or Nightsky Astrolabe?
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