Comparison

Sun and Moon Position vs Shade Compass

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

Head to head
About

Sun and Moon Position

This utility app accurately calculates the position of the sun and moon, along with their rise and set times. It allows users to adjust calculations based on their elevation and time zone for precise results.

Highlights
  • Sun position calculation
  • Moon position calculation
  • Sun rise and set times
  • Moon rise and set times
  • Elevation adjustment
  • Time zone adjustment
Features
Read full description

Sun Position — Solar & Lunar Tracker Know exactly where the Sun and Moon are — anytime, anywhere. Sun Position delivers precise solar and lunar calculations with accuracy within 0.3%, giving you reliable data whether you're a photographer chasing golden hour, an architect studying solar angles, or simply curious about the sky above you. What You Get Sun & Moon Position — Real-time azimuth, zenith, elevation, declination, apparent radius, and distance Rise & Set Times — Accurate sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset times for your location Solar Noon — Know the exact moment the sun peaks in the sky Bird Clear-Sky Irradiance — Model solar irradiance (GHI, DNI, DHI) for clear-sky conditions AR Sky View — Point your camera at the sky and see the Sun, Moon, and seasonal solar paths overlaid in augmented reality Charts — Visualize solar and lunar data across the day Built for Accuracy Adjust calculations for your exact elevation, atmospheric conditions (ozone, water vapor, aerosol), and time zone. Use Auto GPS for instant results, or enter any location manually to calculate for anywhere on Earth. Who It's For Photographers, filmmakers, architects, solar engineers, astronomers, hikers, and anyone who wants to understand the sky with precision.

About

Shade Compass

Visualize the sun's path and your shadow's position throughout the day. Plan outdoor activities, photography, or gardening with augmented reality features and detailed celestial data.

Highlights
  • Live sun and shadow visualization
  • Augmented reality sun path
  • Object shadow casting
  • 24-hour time scrubber
  • Golden hour and twilight alerts
  • Moon and planet tracking
  • Seasonal sun path analysis
Features
Read full description

See where the sun will be, where your shadow will fall, and exactly where the shade lands — at any hour, at any spot on earth. Then keep going: garden planning, fishing and hunting windows, UV, air quality, tides, golden hour, and the night sky. Point your phone and the live compass orients to the world around you. Sun direction and altitude sit right on the dial, your shadow is drawn opposite it at true length, and sunrise and sunset are marked at the exact bearings they cross the horizon — with times corrected for the ridge in front of you, not just the flat math horizon. Drag the time scrubber and watch the whole day play out — perfect for a campsite, a patio, a photo shoot, a garden bed, or the shady side of a trail. SEE THE SHADE IN AUGMENTED REALITY • Point the camera and watch the sun's real path trace across your actual yard • Drop a tree, canopy, umbrella, vehicle, pergola, or solar panel and see its true cast shadow • Play a sunrise-to-sunset time-lapse and watch the shade sweep the scene • Tap any spot to read its hours of direct sun — today, or averaged across the year • Scan the whole yard for a full sun-and-shade map (iPhone Pro models with LiDAR) FOR THE GARDEN • "What grows here" — plants scored against your hardiness zone, soil, and measured sun • Frost-anchored planting windows: start indoors, direct sow, transplant, harvest • Projected harvest date and frost margin before you commit to a seed • Lock in a grow plan and push its reminders to your calendar in one tap • Watering guidance from rainfall, evapotranspiration, and a running soil-water balance • A household planner that sizes a garden to actually feed your family FOR ANGLERS, HUNTERS, AND SURFERS • Best Times windows for trout, bass, big game, birds, small game, and surf • Built from sun and moon position, season, and light at your exact coordinates • Fly hatch charts by region, lures with how to fish them, and a reading-water guide • Knot library with step-by-step instructions and a 200-term field glossary • Tides from NOAA harmonic data, plus buoy wave height, period, and direction • River flow and water temperature wherever there's a gauge nearby FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS AND STARGAZERS • Golden hour, blue hour, civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight, and true dark • Sunset quality scored from the cloud layers overhead before you drive out • Starting exposure for the light you're in, plus light direction and polarizer guidance • Moon phase, rise, set, and bearing; visible planets and an AR planet finder • Milky Way, meteor, and aurora windows, with live Kp and solar activity A WEATHER APP BUILT FOR BEING OUTSIDE • Current, hourly, and 10-day, plus a 7-day strip you build from 23 metrics • UV burn timer tuned to your skin type, with safer windows • Air quality with a likely cause — wildfire smoke, ozone, a winter inversion • Weather alerts, frost warnings, and a Lock Screen rain nowcast where available • Thirty years of local storm history and the months that carry the most risk • A plain-language read on whether today is actually worth going outside for ON YOUR WRIST, LOCK SCREEN, AND HOME SCREEN • Apple Watch app — dial, today, live conditions, and best times — plus complications • Widgets for sun, shadow, moon, UV, and the day ahead • Live Activities for golden hour, rain, UV burn, and your next prime window • Ask Siri for a shade report anywhere ANYWHERE, EVEN OFFLINE • Sun, moon, shadow, planting, and every field guide compute on the device itself • 32,000 cities offline, exact coordinates, dropped pins, saved places carried by iCloud • Any date, past or future — plan an October trip, or compare June to December • Month-by-month daylight hours, sun path, and bearings across the whole year One purchase covers iPhone and Apple Watch. No ads. No accounts. No subscriptions. No tracking. No data collection. Just the sun, your shadow, and a straight answer about the day ahead. Frequent and Responsive updates for feature requests and bug fixes!!

Screenshots

Shade Compass4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Shade Compass at 100% against Sun and Moon Position's 40%. Shade Compass also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months). Sun and Moon Position's advantage is price (Free vs $0.99) and ratings volume (62 vs 2). On 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

Sun and Moon Position is free to download; Shade Compass costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shade Compass holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sun and Moon Position has 62 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Sun and Moon Position's written reviews are positive against 100% of Shade Compass's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sun and Moon Position ships an update every 3 months, Shade Compass every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Sun and Moon Position versus Shade Compass: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSun and Moon PositionShade Compass
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.3 (62 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings62 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB1.2 GB
Age rating4+4+
Developershebli geegiehIra Seferovich

Customer experience

Sun and Moon Position

All ratings60 ratings
Positive81.7%
Neutral5.0%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

Shade Compass

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Sun and Moon Position

No in-app purchases

None

Shade Compass

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sun and Moon Position free?
Sun and Moon Position is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shade Compass free?
Shade Compass costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sun and Moon Position or Shade Compass?
Shade Compass is rated higher. Sun and Moon Position averages 4.3 out of 5 from 62 ratings, while Shade Compass averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Sun and Moon Position or Shade Compass have ads?
Neither Sun and Moon Position nor Shade Compass shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sun and Moon Position or Shade Compass?
Sun and Moon Position ships an update every 3 months, and Shade Compass every 10 days. Most recently, Sun and Moon Position was updated on September 16, 2026 and Shade Compass on October 10, 2026.

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