Radar Plotting vs Sextant
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Radar Plotting
This app offers advanced radar plotting for maritime navigation. It allows users to calculate critical encounter data, plan maneuvers, and analyze complex scenarios with interactive visualizations. Designed for training and decision support, it aids in understanding vessel interactions.
- Kinematic calculations (CPA/TCPA, aspect)
- True and relative speed estimation
- Evasive maneuver planning with COLREG guidance
- Rescue and escape scenario planning
- Double-target analysis
- Current and drift estimation
- Interactive radar canvas with playback
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Radar Plotting provides advanced radar-plotting capabilities for iPhone and iPad. Compute CPA/TCPA, estimate true motion, plan evasive/rescue/escape manoeuvres, and analyse two-target encounters — all visualised on an interactive radar sheet. Highlights: - Precise kinematic calculations (CPA/TCPA, aspect, true & relative speed) - Evasive manoeuvres with COLREG guidance - Rescue & escape planning, including scenarios with faster vessels - Double-target handling - Current/drift estimation - Interactive canvas with adjustable scales and animated trajectory playback - Import/export via QR code and PDF report generation Safety note: This app is for training and decision support. It does not replace certified navigational equipment or official procedures. Always follow COLREG and local/company rules.
Sextant
This app provides a comprehensive celestial navigation toolkit for sailors and enthusiasts. It allows users to navigate using celestial bodies like the sun, moon, planets, and stars, even when GPS is unavailable. The app guides users through taking sextant readings, performing calculations, and plotting positions on a map.
- Celestial body identification using camera and ephemeris
- Sextant sight reduction with manual correction checks
- Offline celestial navigation
- Noon sight for latitude calculation
- Line of position plotting on a real map
- Polaris one-shot latitude
- Solar Compass for deviation checks
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A complete celestial navigation toolkit for sailors, students, and the curious. When the GPS quits, the sun, moon, planets, and stars still work. Sextant takes you all the way from a single sextant reading to a line of position on a map — with every correction shown, so you can check the math by hand if you want to. Point the camera at the sky The Sky tab labels every navigational body in view — the sun, the moon, all four navigational planets, and 58 navigational stars — using the magnetic compass and on-device ephemeris. Spot a star, tap its name, and a sight starts with that body identified and the time stamped. Sight with your camera, or a real sextant The camera flow uses gravity-based altitude with a roll lockout so a tilted phone can't slip a bad shot through. Multi-shot mode takes a series and saves the trimmed mean. Or just type your altitude from a brass sextant and let the app do the reduction. Every body you'll ever shoot Sun, moon, all four navigational planets — Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn — and all 58 standard navigational stars. Positions computed from astronomical models (Meeus, VSOP87, JPL Keplerian elements), not stale tables. Works fully offline. Noon Sight in one tap Take the sun's altitude at meridian passage; the app gives you latitude. It also predicts the exact UTC of local apparent noon so you know when to look. Plot your fix Every sight draws a line of position on a real map. Take more than one, apply dead reckoning between them, watch your running fix come together — exactly like the paper-chart workflow. Tools sailors actually use - Polaris one-shot latitude - Solar Compass — true bearing of the sun, for compass deviation checks - Starfinder — what's above the horizon right now - Reduction tables (dip, refraction, semi-diameter) - DMS / decimal converter Learn celestial navigation as you go Step through your first sight with a guided walk-through. Every screen has inline help, and every correction in the sight reduction — dip, refraction, semi-diameter, parallax — has an explanation a tap away. Check the app against your hand calculations, or let it do all the work. Share your work Export sight records as CSV or as a printable PDF work-form in the classic HO 229 layout. No subscription. No ads. No internet. One purchase, everything included.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Radar Plotting at 50% against Sextant's 0%. Radar Plotting also leads on price ($7.99 vs $9.99) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). Sextant's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months) and chart position (#150 vs unranked). 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
Radar Plotting costs $7.99 and Sextant $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Radar Plotting ships an update every 5 months, Sextant every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Radar Plotting | Sextant |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #150 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | Giacomo Gabriele | Stolk.cc |
Customer experience
Radar Plotting
Sextant
In-app purchases
Radar Plotting
No in-app purchases
Sextant
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Radar Plotting free?
Is Sextant free?
Do Radar Plotting or Sextant have ads?
Which is updated more often, Radar Plotting or Sextant?
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