Luminos Pro vs SkySafari 7 Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Luminos Pro
Explore the cosmos with an all-in-one astronomy companion. Discover stars, planets, galaxies, and celestial events with extensive databases and interactive 3D models. Enhance your stargazing with augmented reality, virtual reality, and personalized viewing recommendations.
- Star gazing and 3D galaxy exploration
- Extensive databases of celestial objects
- On-device and custom recommendations
- Motion tracking with AR and VR modes
- 3D flight to satellites and spacecraft
- Weather forecasts for stargazing
- Telescope control and observation lists
Read full descriptionHide full description
Discover the Universe in High Definition Luminos Pro is a massive, all-in-one astronomy suite that brings the entire cosmos to your mobile device. Built around the largest offline databases available in any mobile astronomy app, Luminos Pro combines professional-grade data with stunning 3D graphics to deliver a fully customized stargazing experience—no internet connection required. Whether you are pointing your device at the sky using real-time AR motion tracking or flying across the galaxy in 3D, Luminos Pro makes the mysteries of the universe accessible to newcomers and seasoned astronomers alike. EXPLORE FOR FREE: * Massive Base Catalog: Over 5 million stars, deep-sky Messier objects, constellations, and meteor showers. * Our Solar System: Track all planets, moons, active comets, and bright satellites. * Time Travel: Explore 5,000 years of solar and lunar eclipses. * Immersive AR/VR: Seamless motion-tracking modes to identify objects overhead instantly. * Ecosystem Support: Includes an Apple Watch companion app and iOS Desktop Widgets. UNLOCK THE COSMOS (Subscription or All-Access Pass): Go beyond the backyard with deep-space navigation, professional catalogs, and advanced hardware integration. * 3D Space Flight: Leave Earth behind. Ride along with spacecraft, orbit exoplanets, or fly directly to distant stars and star clusters. * Professional Space Catalogs: Access over 250 million Gaia DR3 stars, the Washington Double Star Catalog, the GCVS, and every asteroid tracked by the Minor Planet Center. * Equipment & Telescope Control: Seamlessly connect to and control your telescope rig directly from the app. * Advanced Planning Tools: Get hyper-local weather forecasts, custom observation lists, and comprehensive nightly viewing recommendations on-demand. From casual stargazing to advanced astrophotography planning, Luminos Pro combines unmatched data depth with a beautiful, intuitive design. Unlock the universe today! End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
SkySafari 7 Pro
Explore the night sky with an extensive astronomy database and advanced planning tools. Discover astronomical events, control your telescope, and connect with other stargazers in real-time.
- Extensive celestial object database
- Advanced event finder
- Telescope control (ASCOM Alpaca, INDI, StarSense)
- Real-time social stargazing (OneSky)
- Guided sky tours (SkyCast)
- Observation planning and logging
- Home and lock screen widgets
Read full descriptionHide full description
SkySafari makes stargazing a simple pleasure. It has the largest database of any astronomy app, includes every comet, asteroid, satellite & solar system object ever discovered, offers unparalleled accuracy, advanced planning and logging tools, flawless telescope control, and provides the very best experience under the stars when you depend on it. Don’t postpone joy. Discover why SkySafari is the #1 recommended astronomy app for serious amateur astronomers since 2009. Here's what’s new in version 7: + Complete support for iOS 18 and iPhone 16. Version 7 brings a new and immersive stargazing experience. + Events Finder - go to the new Events section to unlock a powerful search engine that finds astronomical events visible tonight and far into the future. The finder dynamically generates a listing of moon phases, eclipses, planetary moon events, meteor showers and planetary phenomenon such as conjunctions, elongations and oppositions. + Notifications - the notifications section has been completely revamped to allow you to customize and manage which events trigger an alert notification on your device. + Telescope Support - telescope control is at the heart of SkySafari. Version 7 takes a giant leap forward by supporting ASCOM Alpaca, INDI & StarSense Explorer. These next generation control protocols allow you to effortlessly connect to hundreds of compatible astronomical devices. SkySafari 7 brings social stargazing to mobile devices with two new features to help you connect with other like minded people. OneSky - allows you to see what other users are observing, in real time. This feature highlights objects in the sky chart and indicates with a number how many users are observing a particular object. SkyCast - allows you to guide a friend or group around the night sky through their own copy of SkySafari. After initiating SkyCast, you can generate a link and conveniently share it with other SkySafari users via text message, apps or social media accounts. + Sky Tonight - jump to the new Tonight section to see what’s visible in your sky tonight. Expanded information has been designed to help plan your night and includes Moon & Sun info, calendar curations, events and the best positioned deep sky and solar system objects. + Improved Observation Tools - SkySafari is the perfect tool to help you plan, record and organize your observations. New workflows make it easier to add, search, filter and sort data. + Home Screen and Lock Screen Widgets keep your favorite astro information at your fingertips. The Small Touches: + You can now edit the Jupiter GRS Longitude Value in the Settings. + Better Moon Age calculation. + New grid & reference options allow you to display Solstice and Equinox markers, Orbit + Node markers for all solar system objects, and tick marks and labels for the Ecliptic, Meridian, and Equator reference lines. + Previous In-app Purchases are Now Free - this includes the H-R diagram, 3D Galaxy view, and the PGC galaxy and GAIA star catalogs. Enjoy. + Many more. If you haven't used SkySafari 7 Pro before, here's what you can do with it: + Hold your device up, and SkySafari 7 Pro will find stars, constellations, planets, and more! + Simulate the night sky up to 5MM years in the past or future! Animate meteor showers, conjunctions, eclipses, and other celestial events. + Control your telescope, log and plan your observations. + Optionally backup all of your observing data in our secure cloud storage and make it easily accessible to multiple devices as well as from our new web interface, LiveSky.com. + Augmented Reality (AR) mode + Night Vision. + Orbit Mode. Leave the Earth’s surface behind, and fly through our solar system. + Galaxy View shows the position of deep sky objects in our Milky Way! https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ https://www.livesky.com/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Luminos Pro at Free against SkySafari 7 Pro's $17.99. Luminos Pro also leads on review sentiment (71% vs 46%). SkySafari 7 Pro's advantage is ratings volume (5.5K vs 254) and iOS requirement (14.1 vs 18.6). On rating, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Luminos Pro is free to download; SkySafari 7 Pro costs $17.99 up front. Luminos Pro sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and SkySafari 7 Pro sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Luminos Pro against 4.6 for SkySafari 7 Pro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SkySafari 7 Pro has 5.5K ratings behind it against 254, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of Luminos Pro's written reviews are positive against 46% of SkySafari 7 Pro's.
Luminos Pro ships an update every 4 weeks, SkySafari 7 Pro every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Luminos Pro | SkySafari 7 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $17.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (254 ratings) — better | 4.6 (5.5K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 70.9% of reviews — better | 45.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 254 | 5.5K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 14.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.8 GB | 2.4 GB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | Wobbleworks LLC | Simulation Curriculum Corp. |
Customer experience
Luminos Pro
SkySafari 7 Pro
User reviews
Luminos Pro
From 254 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Comprehensive features
- 🌟 Beautifully implemented
- 🚀 Smooth and detailed map
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- ⭐ Excellent customer service
Room to improve
- 💸 Features locked behind subscription
- 📉 App devolving over time
- 🔒 Lifetime memberships feel like a trap
- 🔄 Satellite updates not working
- 💸 Paid features now subscription only
SkySafari 7 Pro
From 5.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent observational tool
- 🌟 Powerful and indispensable app
- 👍 Great app, easy to use
- 🔭 Wonderful planetarium app
- 💻 Best mobile tool for telescope control
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes upon opening
- 🌍 Lack of Southern Hemisphere support
- 🔍 Complicated interface, not user-friendly
- 🔌 Crashes too often
- 💰 Pay even more for additional features
Bugs and requests
Luminos Pro
Reported bugs
5 issues- Satellite updates don't work
- Deep sky objects not showing
- App crashes when adding notes
- Old notes disappeared after update
- App keeps going black during exploration
Requested features
5 requests- Discount for lifetime license
- Ability to transfer FOV and camera rotation to NINA
- Ability to add pictures of viewed places and store them
- Store and recall settings
- Update for iOS 16 compatibility
SkySafari 7 Pro
Reported bugs
5 issues- Free database downloads fail to complete
- Telescope button crashes the app
- Time settings spontaneously reset
- Observing list crashes the app
- Field of view indicators not working
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to quickly edit light form
- Allow custom horizon mask input
- Include surface brightness data for extended objects
- Add transit altitude information for objects
- Improve object search with fuzzy matching
In-app purchases
Luminos Pro
- Monthly subscription1 Month trial$1.991 Month
- Quarterly subscription1 Month trial$3.993 Months
- Yearly subscription1 Month trial$12.991 Year
- Lifetime pass$24.99
- Lifetime pass$39.99
SkySafari 7 Pro
- SkySafari Premium Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- SkySafari Premium7 Days trial$39.991 Year
- PGC Galaxy DatabaseFree
- GAIA Star DatabaseFree
- Apollo Lunar MissionsFree





