Celestial Navigation vs EZ Sextant
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Celestial Navigation
This application assists with celestial navigation by performing sextant sight reduction calculations. It displays intermediate numbers for verification and can draw lines of position on a map. Features include a perpetual nautical almanac and a star finder to identify celestial bodies.
- Sextant sight reduction calculations
- Perpetual nautical almanac
- Line of position calculation and plotting
- Star Finder for celestial identification
- Save and manage sextant readings
- Display intermediate calculation numbers
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This app does all the calculations to reduce a sextant reading to a line of position on the map. All intermediate numbers are shown to check your manual calculations. • Perpetual nautical almanac • Calculation of the line of position (azimuth and distance) • Draws the line of position on the map. • Star Finder: just point your device to the sky to identify the navigational stars. • Save your readings, choose what to show on the map. A sextant is required to make full use of this app.
EZ Sextant
Navigate open waters using your phone's camera to sight celestial bodies. This app plots lines of position and combines them for an estimated location on a lat/lon grid. It's a powerful tool for offshore navigation without relying on GPS.
- GPS-free navigation
- Camera-based celestial sightings
- Automatic position plotting
- Built-in almanac
- Running fix calculations
- Lat/lon grid display
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Navigate in open waters without a GPS. The phone's camera is used to make sightings of the sun, moon, Venus, or Mars. The sighting results are plotted as lines of position with multiple sightings combined into a running fix. Your estimated position is displayed on a lat/lon grid. You can also use your sextant and take advantage of the built-in almanac and plotting tools.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Celestial Navigation at $1.99 against EZ Sextant's $24.99. Celestial Navigation also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly) and chart position (#83 vs unranked). EZ Sextant's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and review sentiment (100% vs 77%). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Celestial Navigation costs $1.99 and EZ Sextant $24.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
EZ Sextant holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Celestial Navigation's written reviews are positive against 100% of EZ Sextant's.
Celestial Navigation ships an update every 5 days, EZ Sextant monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Celestial Navigation | EZ Sextant |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 — better | $24.99 |
| Rating | 4.2 (15 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #83 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 51 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dr. Harald Merkel | Third Reef Software LLC |
Customer experience
Celestial Navigation
EZ Sextant
In-app purchases
Celestial Navigation
No in-app purchases
EZ Sextant
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Celestial Navigation free?
Is EZ Sextant free?
Which has better reviews, Celestial Navigation or EZ Sextant?
Do Celestial Navigation or EZ Sextant have ads?
Which is updated more often, Celestial Navigation or EZ Sextant?
Other comparisons
