Backyard Apollo AR vs Explore Mars with Rover
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Backyard Apollo AR
Experience a life-sized Apollo Saturn V rocket in augmented reality. Explore it from all angles, walk around it, and launch it with realistic sounds and visuals. Customize your rocket experience and share snapshots.
- Life-sized rocket model
- 360-degree viewing
- Augmented reality placement
- Realistic launch sequence
- Authentic mission sounds
- Customizable rocket experience
- Snapshot sharing
Read full descriptionHide full description
Its the model rocket you’ve always wanted! See a life-sized Apollo Saturn V rocket up close from every angle walk under and around it, then blast it off! Authentic mission sounds using 3D positional audio — wear headphones for the coolest effect — combine with realistic high-detail graphics, physically-based rendering, and HDR audio recordings of real rocket launches to make the experience just like being there! You’ll be able to launch your rocket again and again, from anywhere you like. Just tap where you want your rocket to appear. It's that easy! Launch a tiny model on your desktop or a full-sized giant in a field! Backyard Apollo offers ways to customize your experience too, making it even more fun to launch your rockets and take snapshots for your friends. “3…2…1…Houston: we have liftoff”!
Explore Mars with Rover
Bring the wonders of Mars to your home screen with interactive widgets. Choose between two active rovers and select from various cameras to display daily images or the "Image of the Week."
- Home screen widgets
- Select Curiosity or Perseverance rover
- Choose from available rover cameras
- Daily rover image widget
- "Image of the Week" widget
Read full descriptionHide full description
Explore Mars with Rover lets you explore mars directly from your home screen with widgets. This app will let you choose which of the two active rovers you'd like to see on your home screen: - You can choose between Curiosity and Perseverance - You can choose a camera out of the dozen available on each rover Two types of widgets are currently supported: - Image of the week: a photo selected by the public vote and featured as "Image of the Week" of the Perseverance Rover - Daily Image from a Rover, which is configurable
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Backyard Apollo AR at 4.7 against Explore Mars with Rover's 4.0. Backyard Apollo AR also leads on ratings volume (1.5K vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). Explore Mars with Rover's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 70%). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Backyard Apollo AR holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Backyard Apollo AR has 1.5K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of Backyard Apollo AR's written reviews are positive against 100% of Explore Mars with Rover's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
| Parameter | Backyard Apollo AR | Explore Mars with Rover |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.5K ratings) — better | 4.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 69.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.5K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 82 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Wobbleworks LLC | Ali KARAGOZ |
Customer experience
Backyard Apollo AR
Explore Mars with Rover
Bugs and requests
Backyard Apollo AR
Reported bugs
3 issues- Startup crashes and sensor reset loops
- Rocket launch sequence freezes
- Persistent audio issues after app closure
Requested features
3 requests- Add more rocket models and launch configurations
- Implement video recording capability
- Improve overall stability and performance
Explore Mars with Rover
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Backyard Apollo AR
No in-app purchases
Explore Mars with Rover
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Backyard Apollo AR free?
Is Explore Mars with Rover free?
Which has better reviews, Backyard Apollo AR or Explore Mars with Rover?
Do Backyard Apollo AR or Explore Mars with Rover have ads?
Other comparisons
