Mars Walk VR vs ISS Explorer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mars Walk VR
Embark on an educational virtual reality tour of the red planet. Explore Martian landscapes, visit historic landing sites, and witness scientific instruments in action. This immersive experience brings the wonders of Mars directly to your smartphone.
- Explore Mars surface and landing sites
- Experience Martian dust storms
- Observe scientific instruments on Mars
- Visit historic Viking landers
- Follow Curiosity rover's sample collection
Read full descriptionHide full description
The first people who will visit Mars are sitting in a school today. To help inspire these students, Lockheed Martin created Mars Walk. A virtual reality adventure you can experience using your own smartphone. Mars Walk provides a fun, interactive, and educational tour of the red planet in a stunning VR experience. Explore Mars – on your phone. Download today. A cardboard VR device is required. Thanks to our partners NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). FEATURES: - Walk the surface of Mars and explore the landing sites for InSight, Viking and Curiosity. - Experience dust storms at the Northern Crater - Observe InSight and Viking as they gather information about Mars - Visit one of the famous Viking landers that landed more than 40 years ago - Follow Curiosity as it navigates the red surface collecting samples
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
Read full descriptionHide full description
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 review sentiment: ISS Explorer at 100% against Mars Walk VR's 43%. ISS Explorer also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.4). Mars Walk VR's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 10 months) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 13.0). On price, ratings volume, 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 2.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 32 and 16 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 43% of Mars Walk VR's written reviews are positive against 100% of ISS Explorer's.
Mars Walk VR ships an update every 2 weeks, ISS Explorer every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on July 7, 2026 and September 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mars Walk VR | ISS Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.4 (32 ratings) | 4.9 (16 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 43.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 32 — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 10 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 736 MB | 747 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lockheed Martin | NASA |
Customer experience
Mars Walk VR
ISS Explorer
In-app purchases
Mars Walk VR
No in-app purchases
ISS Explorer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Mars Walk VR free?
Is ISS Explorer free?
Which has better reviews, Mars Walk VR or ISS Explorer?
Do Mars Walk VR or ISS Explorer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mars Walk VR or ISS Explorer?
Other comparisons
