Comparison

SynScan vs StellarMate

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

Head to head
About

SynScan

Control motorized telescope mounts for celestial object tracking and exploration. Features include GOTO functionality, object catalogs, and gamepad navigation. Ideal for novice users with alt-azimuth mounts.

Highlights
  • Control telescope mount slew, align, GOTO, and track
  • Point and Track celestial objects
  • Support gamepad navigation
  • Browse and save celestial object catalogs
  • Third-party app integration (ASCOM, SkySafari, Stellarium)
  • Emulator mount for testing
Features
Read full description

Use the SynScan app to control Sky-Watcher telescope mounts via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth LE. Mounts without built-in Wi-Fi can be supported via a SynScan Wi-Fi adapter. This version of the SynScan app is suited for novice users using alt-azimuth mounts. Features - Control telescope mount to slew, align, GOTO and track. - Point And Track: track celestial objects (including the Sun and planets) without aligning. - Support gamepad navigation. - Browse a catalog of stars, comets, and deep sky objects. Or, save your own objects. - Provide access to mount for use by third-party apps, including ASCOM clients, SkySafari, Luminos, Stellarium Mobile Plus, Stellarium Desktop or customer-developed apps. Also set up mount alignment for Luminos, Skysafari. - Support access to the mount and the SynScan app from any platform that supports TCP/UDP connections. - Provide emulator mount for testing and practicing. - Track fast-moving earth satellites by working with the PreviSat app on Windows PC or the Lumios app on iOS devices.

About

StellarMate

Control your astrophotography equipment remotely. Capture images, stream video, and perform precise alignment. Automatically back up your photos to the cloud with rich metadata for easy searching.

Highlights
  • Remote equipment control
  • Image capture and video streaming
  • Polar alignment assistant
  • Cloud image backup
  • Metadata search and sorting
  • Software updates
Features
Read full description

Use StellarMate App to discover and connect to your StellarMate controller. Control StellarMate functions and access the Web Manager and Web based VNC Viewer. Join StellarMate to your home WiFi network. Use Ekos to capture images, stream video, guide, focus, and align. With Polar Alignment Assistant tool, get very accurate polar alignment using internal astrometry engine. Never lose your images again with EkosLive Pro. All captured images are automatically uploaded to the cloud with a rich set of metadata that enables powerful search and sorting. Use custom tags to uniquely tag important frames for later use. Check the health of your device, and use the software updater to keep it up to date.

Screenshots

SynScan3 screens
StellarMate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: StellarMate at every 8 days against SynScan's every 2 months. StellarMate also leads on review sentiment (35% vs 22%). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.3 for SynScan against 3.3 for StellarMate. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 20 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 22% of SynScan's written reviews are positive against 35% of StellarMate's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SynScan ships an update every 2 months, StellarMate every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
SynScan versus StellarMate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSynScanStellarMate
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (8 ratings)3.3 (20 ratings)
Positive reviews22.2% of reviews34.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings820 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB119 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAstropower Technology Co. Ltd.Ikarus Astronomy Company For Scientific Instruments & Tools

Customer experience

SynScan

All ratings8 ratings
Positive37.5%
Neutral37.5%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive22.2%
Neutral16.7%
Negative61.1%

StellarMate

All ratings20 ratings
Positive55.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews52 reviews
Positive34.6%
Neutral9.6%
Negative55.8%

In-app purchases

None

SynScan

No in-app purchases

None

StellarMate

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SynScan free?
SynScan is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is StellarMate free?
StellarMate is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SynScan or StellarMate?
SynScan and StellarMate are both rated 3.3 out of 5 on the App Store, from 8 and 20 ratings respectively.
Do SynScan or StellarMate have ads?
Neither SynScan nor StellarMate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SynScan or StellarMate?
SynScan ships an update every 2 months, and StellarMate every 8 days. Most recently, SynScan was updated on June 1, 2026 and StellarMate on September 21, 2026.

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