ASIAIR vs AstroFileViewer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ASIAIR
This app acts as an intelligent wireless controller for astrophotography, enabling control of various cameras and equatorial mounts. It offers comprehensive tools for deep-sky and planetary imaging, including focusing, alignment, and stacking, all accessible from your mobile device.
- Wireless camera and mount control
- DSLR/MILC and equatorial mount support
- Built-in SkyAtlas for imaging tasks
- Auto-focus and polar alignment
- Live stacking and post-stacking
- Multi-target and mosaic planning
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ASIAIR is an intelligent wireless controller that includes the device and app. You can control all ASI USB 3.0 and Mini-series cameras, selected DSLRs/MILCs, and popular equatorial mounts. Also, you can handle more gears, such as EFW and EAF from ZWO. Just connect your phone or pad to ASIAIR WiFi and explore the universe. ASIAIR has SkyAtlas built-in. It can handle almost all DSO and Planetary imaging tasks. Such as preview, plate solve, auto-focus, polar-align, guiding, plan (multi-target, mosaic), video recording, live stacking, post-stacking, etc. You can even share and chat with global Astro-pals.
AstroFileViewer
View astronomical image files like FITS and XISF on your iPhone or iPad. Get an early impression of your data with PixInsight-compatible auto-stretching, gradient control, and noise reduction. Fun and useful for astrophotographers.
- Open FITS and XISF files from various sources
- PixInsight-compatible STF auto-stretch
- Mono and RGB image support with OSC debayer
- Dark point and contrast sliders
- Color saturation adjustment
- GPU bilateral denoise
- Gradient correction
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AstroFileViewer lets you open and view astronomical image files (FITS and XISF) directly on your iPhone or iPad. Whether you receive a sub-exposure via AirDrop, download one from Safari, or browse your imaging files in the Files app — AstroFileViewer displays them with a proper PixInsight-compatible STF auto-stretch so you can actually see what's in your data. Why stretching, gradient control and denoising on an iPhone? Simple. You get an early impression of how your data could look after post-processing. And it's simply fun too. Features: - Open FITS and XISF files from Files, Safari, AirDrop, email, Google Drive, or any share sheet - PixInsight-compatible Screen Transfer Function (STF) auto-stretch for proper visualization of linear astronomical data - Supports mono and RGB images from all major astro cameras, including OSC debayer (RGGB, GRBG, GBRG, BGGR) - Dark point slider — clip noisy backgrounds, just like AstroBlink on macOS - Contrast slider — S-curve with logarithmic response for fine control - Color saturation slider — boost Ha reds and OIII blues in your OSC data - GPU bilateral denoise — edge-preserving noise reduction, up to 300% strength - Gradient correction — auto-detects and removes linear light pollution gradients - Auto-rotate — landscape images automatically fill your screen in portrait mode - File history with swipe navigation — swipe left/right to flip through recently opened files, even after restarting the app - Recent files on start screen — thumbnail grid of your last 6 images for quick access - Tap-to-fullscreen — single tap hides all UI for distraction-free viewing - Pinch-to-zoom up to 10x with smooth panning - SNR and star count shown in the status bar - FITS/XISF header inspector — view all keywords with important ones highlighted - Save to Photos as a stretched JPEG with all adjustments baked in - Full compression support: LZ4, LZ4HC, zlib, zstd, fpack (Rice, GZIP), ByteShuffle - Persistent settings — all sliders and toggles remembered between sessions - Built-in help section — tap the ? icon anytime - All processing happens on the GPU. All sliders respond in real-time. AstroFileViewer registers as a handler for .xisf, .fits, .fit, and .fts files on your device. No account required. No internet connection needed. Your files stay on your device. Built by an astrophotographer, for astrophotographers.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: AstroFileViewer at 100% against ASIAIR's 52%. AstroFileViewer also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.9) and update cadence (every 11 days vs every 2 months). ASIAIR's advantage is ratings volume (245 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). 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.
AstroFileViewer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ASIAIR has 245 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of ASIAIR's written reviews are positive against 100% of AstroFileViewer's.
ASIAIR ships an update every 2 months, AstroFileViewer every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ASIAIR | AstroFileViewer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (245 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 52.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 245 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.1 GB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SuZhou ZWO Co., Ltd | Joerg Klaas |
Customer experience
ASIAIR
AstroFileViewer
Bugs and requests
ASIAIR
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes and freezes with recent updates
- Guiding and tracking issues after updates
- Connectivity problems with certain mounts
- Polar alignment and plate solving failures
- Incompatibility with newer iOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Improved object catalog and sky atlas
- Support for more camera brands and models
- Mosaic imaging capabilities
- Customizable file naming and organization
- Notifications and alerts for issues during sessions
AstroFileViewer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ASIAIR
No in-app purchases
AstroFileViewer
No in-app purchases








