SynScan Pro vs AstroVitals
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SynScan Pro
Control motorized telescope mounts for celestial observation and astrophotography. Features include precise slewing, alignment, GOTO, and tracking of stars, planets, and deep-sky objects. Supports advanced functions like polar alignment and camera triggering.
- Control telescope mount (slew, align, GOTO, track)
- Point and Track celestial objects
- Gamepad navigation support
- Catalog of celestial objects
- Third-party app integration (ASCOM, SkySafari)
- Polar alignment (with or without polar scope)
- Camera shutter release control
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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 is the Pro version of the SynScan app and contains features suited for expert users using equatorial 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. - Perform polar alignment with or without a polar scope. - Control shutter release (SNAP) port to trigger an attached camera. (Requires mount with SNAP port and adapter cable that matches camera.) - Use ASCOM to perform autoguiding on mounts that do not have autoguider (ST-4) port. - Other mount controls: auto home, PPEC, park.
AstroVitals
Monitor your telescope's vital signs remotely from your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. View guiding, focus, image quality, and sequence progress on a glanceable dashboard. Receive smart alerts and optionally control your imaging session.
- Live guiding graphs and stability scores
- Autofocus V-curve visualization
- Full sequence tree with progress
- 3D mount position and target altitude
- Apple Watch app and complications
- Home and lock screen widgets
- Smart alerts for image quality and guiding
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Your telescope is imaging all night. AstroVitals puts its vital signs on your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch — so you can check on the session from the couch, the tent, or your wrist at 3 AM. AstroVitals connects to N.I.N.A. (Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy) over your local network through the Advanced API plugin, and turns the numbers into a dark, glanceable night-vision dashboard. GUIDING AT A GLANCE • Flowing RA/Dec guide graph, just like your guiding software • Live total RMS plus session best, worst and stability score • Peak-error and pixel-scale readouts, adjustable time window FOCUS & IMAGE QUALITY • Watch autofocus V-curves build point by point, live • Best-focus position and HFR marked when the run completes • HFR and star-count trends across every sub of the session YOUR WHOLE SEQUENCE • The full Advanced Sequencer tree — instructions, triggers, loop conditions • The running step highlighted with live progress (87/250 exposures…) • Values shown inline: exposure length, filter, wait-until times and more THE STATS DASHBOARD • A live 3D model of your mount showing exactly where it points, with meridian-flip warning colors and flat-panel cover state • Target altitude path with transit time and astronomical darkness • Camera cooling, ambient temperature, power draw and input voltage • Rearrangeable tiles — drag them into your preferred layout ON YOUR WRIST • The full dashboard as a native Apple Watch app • Watch-face complications: meridian-flip countdown and subs done • iPhone home-screen and lock-screen widgets with a live flip timer SIMPLE SETUP • Auto-discovers your NINA machine on the local network • Demo mode simulates a full session — try every screen without a telescope SMART ALERTS & CONFIRMED CONTROL • Optional alerts for worsening or recovering image quality, lost guiding and meridian-flip progress while AstroVitals is active • Start, pause and stop the running sequence when Allow Control is enabled • A configurable panic plan can stop activity, park or home the mount, close a detected flat-panel cover and disable selected power outputs • Siri opens the review-and-slide confirmation screen; it never sends a command by itself Requires N.I.N.A. with the free Advanced API plugin (v2) on the same network. AstroVitals starts in Read-only mode. Control requires explicit opt-in and confirmation, and remains on the user's local network. No accounts, no analytics, no data leaves your network.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: AstroVitals at 3.7 against SynScan Pro's 2.7. AstroVitals also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and review sentiment (50% vs 22%). SynScan Pro's advantage is ratings volume (56 vs 3) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
AstroVitals holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SynScan Pro has 56 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 22% of SynScan Pro's written reviews are positive against 50% of AstroVitals's.
SynScan Pro ships an update every 2 months, AstroVitals every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | SynScan Pro | AstroVitals |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.7 (56 ratings) | 3.7 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 21.5% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 56 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Astropower Technology Co. Ltd. | MAXIMILIAN BOTEV |
Customer experience
SynScan Pro
AstroVitals
In-app purchases
SynScan Pro
No in-app purchases
AstroVitals
No in-app purchases








