Star Map vs Stellarium Mobile
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Star Map
Explore the night sky with this stargazing app. Point your device to the sky to identify thousands of stars, planets, constellations, and more. It uses your device's sensors and GPS to provide an accurate celestial view.
- Augmented reality sky view
- Identify stars, planets, and constellations
- Uses device sensors and GPS
- Explore thousands of celestial objects
- Track ISS and satellites
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Star Map is an exquisite stargazing app enabling you to explore the night sky through the screen of your device. Make an effortless journey through thousands of stars, comets, and constellations. All you have to do is point your device to the sky! Star Map taps your device’s sensors and the GPS to determine the exact position of stars, planets, constellations, comets, ISS, satellites, star clusters, nebulae and meteor showers in the night sky.
Stellarium Mobile
Explore the night sky with a real-time planetarium. Identify stars, planets, constellations, and satellites by simply pointing your phone. Offers detailed astronomical data and cultural constellation interpretations.
- Real-time sky simulation
- Identify stars, planets, satellites
- Constellation shapes and illustrations
- Deep sky object catalog
- Night mode for eye comfort
- Telescope control (Plus)
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Stellarium Mobile is a planetarium app that shows exactly what you see when you look up at the stars. Identify stars, constellations, planets, comets, satellites (such as the ISS), and other deep sky objects in real time in the sky above you in just a few seconds, just by pointing the phone at the sky! This astronomy application has an easy to use and minimalist user interface, that makes it one of the best astronomical applications for adults and children who want to explore the night sky. Stellarium Mobile features: • View an accurate night sky simulation of stars and planets for any date, time and location. • Dive in a collection of many stars, nebulas, galaxies, star clusters and other deep sky objects. • Zoom on realistic Milky Way and Deep Sky Objects images. • Discover how people living in other regions of the planet see the stars by selecting the shapes and illustrations of the constellations for many sky cultures. • Track artificial satellites, including the International Space Station. • Simulate landscape and atmosphere with realistic sunrise, sunset and atmosphere refraction. • Discover 3D rendering of the major solar system planets and their satellites. • Observe the sky in night mode (red) to preserve your eyes adaptation to darkness. Stellarium Mobile contains in-app purchases allowing to upgrade to Stellarium Plus. With this upgrade, the app will display objects as faint as magnitude 22 (versus magnitude 8 in the base version) and enable advanced observing features. Stellarium Plus features (unlocked with in-app purchase): • Reach the limit of knowledge by diving in a massive collection of stars, nebulas, galaxies, star clusters and other deep sky objects: - All known stars: Gaia DR2 catalog of over 1.69 billion stars - All known planets, natural satellites and comets, and many other minor solar system objects (10k asteroids) - Most known deep sky objects: a combined catalog of over 2 million nebulas and galaxies • Zoom almost without limits on high resolution images of deep sky objects or planetary surfaces. • Observe in the field, even without internet connection, with a "reduced" set of data: 2 million stars, 2 million Deep Sky Objects, 10k asteroids. • Control your telescope through WIFI: drive any GOTO telescope compatible with NexStar, SynScan or LX200 protocols. • Prepare your observing sessions using the advanced observation tools, to predict a celestial object observability and transit times. Stellarium Mobile is made by the original creator of Stellarium, the well known open source planetarium and one of the best astronomy applications on Desktop PC. Your can unlock the full features using either a one time payment or a subscription. See In-App Purchase section for the subscription price available in your country. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your account settings after purchases. Terms of service: https://stellarium-labs.com/stellarium-mobile-plus/stellarium-mobile-terms-of-use Privacy policy: https://www.stellarium-labs.com/privacy-policy-for-stellarium-mobile
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Stellarium Mobile at 84% against Star Map's 20%. Stellarium Mobile also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.2) and ratings volume (37K vs 6). Star Map's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 5 weeks). On price, ads 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. Stellarium Mobile sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Star Map asks for nothing beyond the download.
Stellarium Mobile holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Stellarium Mobile has 37K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 20% of Star Map's written reviews are positive against 84% of Stellarium Mobile's.
Star Map ships an update every 3 days, Stellarium Mobile every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Star Map | Stellarium Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.2 (6 ratings) | 4.8 (37K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 20.0% of reviews | 83.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 37K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #136 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 17 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 74 MB | 456 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | GUANGDONG WORDWORLD SCIENCE & EDUCATION CO., LTD. | Noctua Software Ltd |
Customer experience
Star Map
Stellarium Mobile
Bugs and requests
Star Map
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Stellarium Mobile
Reported bugs
3 issues- Compass not working properly
- Favorites list disappearing
- Inconsistent performance on different devices
Requested features
5 requests- Notifications for astronomical events
- More customization options
- Integration with camera for AR overlay
- Better support for telescopes and mounts
- Improved search and navigation
In-app purchases
Star Map
No in-app purchases
Stellarium Mobile
- Stellarium PLUS7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Stellarium PLUS$18.99
Questions
Is Star Map free?
Is Stellarium Mobile free?
Which has better reviews, Star Map or Stellarium Mobile?
Do Star Map or Stellarium Mobile have ads?
Which is updated more often, Star Map or Stellarium Mobile?
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