Comparison

Stellar Tour vs Teia

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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 • Sixteen 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 1.7 billion stars, black holes up close, the exoplanets, the galaxies, the eclipses, the planner, the catalog, and the whole course in a single purchase that is yours forever. Take the Stellar Tour!

About

Teia

Explore the solar system with realistic 3D models of planets and their moons. Discover fascinating facts and localized curiosities on planetary surfaces, presented by astronomy experts. Immerse yourself in detailed visuals that make you feel like you're visiting each celestial body.

Highlights
  • Realistic 3D solar system models
  • Localized surface curiosities
  • Expert-developed astronomical content
  • Detailed planetary visuals
  • Information on Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
  • Over 40 pages of structured content
Features
Read full description

Teia is an application that represents the solar system using 3D models. But, unlike the rest of the applications published in the stores, the objective of this application is to show the objects that this system is composed of by teaching perceptible and localizable curiosities on the surface of the planets. What are the rilles on the Moon? And the rupes on Mercury? Does Jupiter have a pearl necklace? Is really there a face on Mars? Why does Neptune have such an intense blue color? Learn every corner of the Solar System with this great collection of features spanning a total of over 40 pages, structured and developed by experts in the Planetary Astronomy field. The models represented have been designed taking care of the maximum possible realism, from the true color of the surface of Venus, to the structure of the ring systems. In this way, you have the feeling of visiting each planet only a few thousand kilometers away. The models represented are the following: * Mercury. * Venus. * Land. * Moon. * Mars. * Jupiter. * Saturn. * Uranus. * Neptune. Application developed by Himalaya Computing and Órbita Bianca.

Screenshots

Stellar Tour4 screens
Teia4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Stellar Tour at 84% against Teia's 0%. Stellar Tour also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.7) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 10 months). Teia's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Stellar Tour sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Teia sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Stellar Tour holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Stellar Tour has 1.7K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Stellar Tour's written reviews are positive against 0% of Teia's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Stellar Tour ships an update every 3 weeks, Teia every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Stellar Tour versus Teia: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStellar TourTeia
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.7K ratings) — better3.7 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews83.5% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1.7K — better7
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size582 MB615 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAaron DayHimalaya Computing

Customer experience

Stellar Tour

All ratings1,699 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral3.7%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive83.5%
Neutral5.5%
Negative11.0%

Teia

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

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

Teia

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Stellar Tour

One-time2
  • Upgrade: Lessons & Sky Tools$3.99
  • Cosmic Expansion2 variants$9.99
1 purchases

Teia

One-time1
  • Premium Package$5.99

Questions

Is Stellar Tour free?
Stellar Tour is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Teia free?
Teia is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Stellar Tour or Teia?
Stellar Tour is rated higher. Stellar Tour averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Teia averages 3.7 from 7 ratings.
Do Stellar Tour or Teia have ads?
Neither Stellar Tour nor Teia shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Stellar Tour or Teia?
Stellar Tour ships an update every 3 weeks, and Teia every 10 months. Most recently, Stellar Tour was updated on November 2, 2026 and Teia on November 3, 2026.

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