Virtual Compass º vs Ecliptic Compass
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Virtual Compass º
This app overlays a precise compass and GPS coordinates onto your camera's view, offering real-time direction and location tracking. Navigate easily by seeing your heading and position directly on your surroundings.
- Real-time compass direction
- Real-time compass heading
- GPS coordinates display
- Camera viewfinder integration
- Instant GPS readings
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Virtual Compass is a camera compass that accurately navigates users through virtual navigation and compass direction. Just open the app and see an accurate compass heading and compass direction displayed over what is in front of you. Your GPS coordinates are always displayed as well, so you can always identify where you are, making it easier to navigate using the virtual compass. Virtual Compass includes: -accurate realtime compass direction in big bold font -accurate realtime compass heading -your real time GPS coordinates -easy-to-use view finder (via your phone's camera) to accurately identify compass direction and compass heading. -instant gps readings -camera compass Get an accurate virtual compass reading instantly!
Ecliptic Compass
This navigation app displays the ecliptic plane, Sun, Moon, and planet directions on a compass. It helps users verify compass accuracy using celestial bodies and offers manual rectification. It also generates horoscope charts and allows custom time/location views.
- Normal compass functionality
- Ecliptic plane, Sun, Moon, planet directions
- Manual compass rectification
- Horoscope chart generation
- Custom time and location settings
- Offline location database
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Features: *Normal Compass(check the location shown in the bottom first. You can use the button in the bottom left to retrieve your current location) *Drawing the Ecliptic Plane, the Sun, the Moon and the planet symbols on the compass based on your location. *Showing the Sun, the Moon and other visible planets directions(azimuth) on the compass based on your location. *You can use the celestial bodies direction to confirm that the compass is pointing to the north. You can even using the celestial bodies' directions to manually rectify the compass pointing if it shows the pointer is offset by background noises. *Horoscope chart based on current time and location. *Custom time and location for the ecliptic plane view and horoscope view *10 random locations to see what the sky looks like in other locations. This is not just another compass App. Other than the normal compass feature. The Sun, the Moon and other planets' direction are also shown on the compass so that you know if the compass is affected by the background noise or not. We all know that the compass is easy to be interfered when you are inside a concrete house, near electronics or some other situations. But currently the built-in compass could not neutralize those background magnetic fields. Here comes this Ecliptic Compass app, you could use the Sun, the Moon's or even some planets' azimuth(direction) to know that if the compass is pointing to the north and you are heading to the right direction. As long as you could see the celestial bodies in the sky. Manually rectifying the compass, if you find that the Sun or the Moon's direction in the sky is offset quite a bit from the computed direction. You could use the Manual Rectification feature to temporarily to override the pointer so that your could still get the right direction. Power efficient, the app is designed to work offline most of the time. No unnecessary feature/APIs is called, No data collection. The location service only tries to get your coordinates at start-up or when you tap the big refresh button from surrounding hotspots, data or GPS. It uses data only when you want to use the map to retrieve a place's coordinates. You can also use the offline location database to search for the latitude/longitude from over 40 thousand cities and towns. Location database is provided by Simplemaps.com under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Colorful astrological symbols, we use astrology/astronomy symbols to show the luminaries, planets and zodiac signs. And the colors we use follow the astrological conventions. Renaissance astrological art, the twelve zodiac signs art is from the Zodiac Clock at San Marco square in Venice. Preset places, there are about 10 preset places(coordinates) at the moment which you could try and get the feeling about how the app works. Custom location and time, you could input the latitude and longitude and time to draw the ecliptic items and horoscope chart.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Virtual Compass º at 56% against Ecliptic Compass's 0%. Virtual Compass º also leads on price (Free vs $1.99) and ratings volume (308 vs 3). Ecliptic Compass's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). On update cadence, 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
Virtual Compass º is free to download; Ecliptic Compass costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Ecliptic Compass holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Virtual Compass º has 308 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 56% of Virtual Compass º's written reviews are positive against 0% of Ecliptic Compass's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Virtual Compass º ships an update every 6 months, Ecliptic Compass every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Virtual Compass º | Ecliptic Compass |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (308 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 55.6% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 308 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months — better | Every 10 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #170 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 45 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Villegas Ventures LLC | wing lun tong |
Customer experience
Virtual Compass º
Ecliptic Compass
In-app purchases
Virtual Compass º
No in-app purchases
Ecliptic Compass
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Virtual Compass º free?
Is Ecliptic Compass free?
Which has better reviews, Virtual Compass º or Ecliptic Compass?
Do Virtual Compass º or Ecliptic Compass have ads?
Which is updated more often, Virtual Compass º or Ecliptic Compass?
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