Comparison

Eclipse Explorer vs Ishigaki Star Guide

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

Head to head
About

Eclipse Explorer

Explore solar eclipses with detailed circumstances for your location between 1900 and 2100. Features countdown timers, Sun and Moon simulations, and real-time shadow mapping. Overlay weather data to avoid clouds during totality.

Highlights
  • Location-based eclipse circumstances (1900-2100)
  • Countdown timers to eclipse events
  • Sun and Moon position simulation
  • Real-time Moon shadow mapping
  • Satellite and radar weather overlays
  • Offline map functionality
Features
Read full description

Eclipse Explorer is a free mobile app that allows you to view the circumstances for solar eclipses that occur between 1900 and 2100 using your GPS defined location. It uniquely features countdown timers to eclipse events at your specific location, simulates the position of the Sun and Moon, and draws the location of the Moon's shadow on the Earth in real-time. A solar eclipse is one of nature's most amazing spectacles, however, clouds can ruin your day. Use this app to overlay satellite and radar data on the day of the eclipse to make sure you stay within the path of totality and away from the clouds! Find out exactly when the eclipse starts and finishes for your location with countdown timers. Be ready for the total eclipse in August of 2017! Free, with minor ad support. Only one full page ad will be displayed per app start, then one banner ad, which will automatically close in less than 20 seconds. Please check out my website for full details and instructions on how to use the app. http://www.solareclipseapp.com Please keep in mind this is a CPU/GPU intensive app. Recommended for phones a tablets made within the last 2 years. Full Release Notes Welcome to Eclipse Explorer version 3! Now has a beautiful material design. Multi-threaded performance improvements. Improved accuracy. Improved shadow details. Newly designed map. Map works offline. Show weather overlays on the eclipse map. Optionally, show eclipse circumstances, map, and simulation on a single screen. Your all-in-one app for the Great American Eclipse of 2017. Full version history: v3.4.1 Fixed: iOS only: Upside down orientation fix. v3.4.0 New: Lunar limb profile for improved contact times (TSE2017 only) New: Solar corona shown during total phase in eclipse simulation Improved: GPS time correction sync. (Green clock is GPS time) Fixed: Offline map does not load in some situations. v3.3.0 New: Moon's shadow speed shown in realtime or during animation, only when (ant)umbral shadow is touching Earth. New: Distance to totality/annularity or distance to eclipse centerline shown. New: Max duration of totatlity/annularity at closest point along centerline shown. New: Info ball shows click for hint. Fixed: Another timezone crash bug. Fixed: Offline map sometimes did not display after app restart. Changed: Hints last longer. v3.2.0 New: Voice cue and three cue beep audio event indications. New: Next occurring circumstance will scroll to visibility and flash in realtime. New: App user hints and tips. Fixed: Realtime tag did not appear on simulation screen when it should have. Fixed: Zoom in button did not work in certain screen orientations. Fixed: Map may not display on app restart in offline mode. Fixed: Next visible eclipse selects day-of eclipse. Fixed: Animations tags may show up circumstance page when they should not. Fixed: Certain timezones caused app crash. Improved: Realtime shadow lag. Improved: Hardened code to ensure realtime shadow and simulation start on day of eclipse. Changed: Time travel mode will now sequence to 15 seconds prior to event. Total or annular begins event is 60 seconds. v3.1.0 Added: App maintains state through restart/refresh. Added: Location Freeze mode, long press location icon to freeze manual location. Long press to unfreeze. Improved: Shadow animations while GPS is on. Fixed: Race condition when selecting certain eclipses. Fixed: Draw all eclipse lines no matter which thread completes first. v3.0.5 Fixed location change while zooming. Made circumstance page more readable / flexible Various bug fixes v3.0.4 Fixed location change while zooming. Made circumstance page more readable / flexible Various bug fixes v3.0.2 * Made map more responsive to location change touches. * Fixed version code in about page v2.0.2 Fixed: Google Maps API Key added, Google maps feature should work. Improved: Built against latest Apache Cordova and latest Android SDK. Update: jQueryMobile v1.4.5

About

Ishigaki Star Guide

Features
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Hold your phone up to the night sky and the stars in front of you appear on screen, named. A star guide built for one sky: Ishigaki Island, Okinawa. Ishigaki sits at 24.6 degrees north. From here the Southern Cross clears the horizon from winter dawns to spring evenings, a sight never seen from mainland Japan. POINT AND FIND AR mode draws constellation lines and star names over the live camera view, so the screen matches the sky above you; with the camera off it works as a plain chart. Only the constellation at the centre of your view lights up, the others fade back. 5,070 stars down to magnitude 6.0, the naked-eye limit, with lines for all 88 constellations. THE SOUTHERN CROSS, WITH TIMES Search for the Southern Cross: if it is up, an arrow at the edge of the screen guides you as you turn towards it; if not, the time machine jumps to the next time it will be. Check tonight's sky before you go outside. STAR NAMES FROM THE YAEYAMA ISLANDS Antares is Beecha-bushi. The Pleiades are Muri-ga-bushi. Polaris is Ninufa-bushi. The Milky Way is Tingara. Tap a star to see the Yaeyama name beside the modern one, with the story attached. Search "Haimuru-bushi" and the Southern Cross comes up. FIND THE CONSTELLATIONS AND COLLECT THEM Follow the arrow until the constellation is in front of you, hold it there, and tap "Found it" to record it in your book. A guide character then talks about that constellation and suggests a nearby one you have not found yet, arrow ready. Eighty-one constellations are reachable from Ishigaki; the ones that barely clear the horizon, like the Southern Cross at 8 degrees, rank as legendary. Records only count at night at the real current time, so the book holds only what you actually looked at. GUIDED PROGRAMMES, SPOKEN Like a planetarium show, a guided programme walks you through the sky one constellation at a time. "Yaeyama Winter Sky: An Introduction" is free: on nights from December to February it takes you from Orion to the Pleiades, the Winter Triangle and Canopus low over the sea, narrated in the unhurried voice of an island elder, so you can keep looking up. Every description card can also be read aloud. More themed programmes will follow. WILL IT BE CLEAR TONIGHT? - Sky Score: cloud, moonlight, humidity, visibility, rain and pressure scored out of 100, with the best hour highlighted (needs a connection) - Tonight's Highlights: end of twilight, moonrise and moonset, the moonless dark window, the Southern Cross transit, active showers - Moon Calendar: a month of phases at a glance FINDING DARK SKY Thirty observing spots around Ishigaki and the Yaeyama Islands, each with a Bortle darkness rating and distance from you, with town lights drawn on the map. Tap one for directions. ALSO INCLUDED - Time machine: step by second to year, or play time forward and watch the sky turn - Deep sky: 19 objects including Omega Centauri, Andromeda and the Orion Nebula - A Milky Way drawn from measured isophote data, Sagittarius bulge and Great Rift included - Meteors from the active shower's radiant at a realistic rate - Sound effects and a gentle haptic tap when you find a constellation - Five languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Korean MADE BY A STARGAZING GUIDE OF TEN YEARS Hoshihaku, Inc. has run the Nagareboshi-no-oka stargazing tour on Ishigaki for ten years and guided over 60,000 visitors. The explanations are the answers we give guests in the field. PRIVACY - No account, no sign-up, no name or email to enter anywhere - No advertising, no analytics, no tracking - Settings and your collection stay on your device - Coordinates are sent only to fetch the weather forecast, and are not stored - The camera draws the AR background only; nothing is photographed, saved or sent - The microphone is never used Everything but the weather-based Sky Score works offline, guided programmes included. Bearings come from the magnetometer, which reads inaccurately inside a vehicle or near steel.

Screenshots

Eclipse Explorer2 screens
Ishigaki Star Guide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Eclipse Explorer at 10.3 against Ishigaki Star Guide's 15.1. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Eclipse Explorer versus Ishigaki Star Guide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEclipse ExplorerIshigaki Star Guide
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS10.3 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJoshua Berlinnobunari arakaki

In-app purchases

None

Eclipse Explorer

No in-app purchases

None

Ishigaki Star Guide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Eclipse Explorer free?
Eclipse Explorer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ishigaki Star Guide free?
Ishigaki Star Guide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Eclipse Explorer or Ishigaki Star Guide have ads?
Neither Eclipse Explorer nor Ishigaki Star Guide shows ads.

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