Comparison

POLARIE U vs SQM Mobile

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

POLARIE U

This app enhances night sky photography by controlling a star tracker. It offers various rotation speeds, camera shutter control, and advanced imaging modes for creating stunning time-lapses and HDR images of celestial objects.

Highlights
  • Variable rotation speeds
  • Custom rotation speed settings
  • Camera shutter control
  • Shoot-move-shoot function
  • Accurate star tracking
  • Bracketed imaging for HDR
  • Night vision light
Features
Read full description

The POLARIE U app is an app dedicated to the POLARIE U star tracker offered by Vixen. Shooting night skies is easy if only the POLARIE U. With the use of this app, however, you will enjoy creating a time-lapse movie of a higher level. Major features - Various speeds of rotations. (10x of the sidereal tracking rate at the maximum.) - The rotation speeds are available to set in the Custom Mode. - Control a camera shutter with an optionally available shutter release cable. - The motion of a POLARIE U can be linked with the shutter control (Shoot-move-shoot function). - Tracks the motion of stars accurately and the stars appear no trails in long exposures. - The bracketed imaging mode is available. It is effective in capturing fainter celestial objects such as diffuse and emission nebulae and it allows for creating HDR images using a stack of different exposures. A photo with a dynamic range wider than by a single shot will be a result. - The night vision light is available to use with either red light color or incandescent light color. - The screen colors are available for daytime use and nighttime use.

About

SQM Mobile

Features
Read full description

Bring all your sky quality measurements together in one place. SQM Mobile is the ideal companion for handheld Sky Quality Meters, automatically synchronizing field measurements with SQM Toolbox on your Mac. It also imports measurements exported from Dark Sky Meter Pro, making it easy to build a single long-term archive of all your observations. KEY FEATURES Field-Ready Data Collection * Quick and easy measurement entry for handheld SQM devices * Manual entry of measurements from Dark Sky Meter * Automatic GPS location recording for each measurement * Timestamp for accurate astronomical correlation * Offline measurement storage – sync whenever a connection becomes available * Bubble level for accurate zenith pointing * Import measurements exported from Dark Sky Meter Pro Smart Location Features * Automatic GPS coordinate capture * Manual location override (to define local sky-background conditions during site surveys) * Perfect for camping trips, dark-sky site surveys and travel observations Automatic Cloud Sync * Seamlessly sync measurements to SQM Toolbox on your Mac via iCloud * Private, secure storage – only you can access your measurements * Works anywhere with an internet connection – no complex setup required * Real-time synchronization across all your Apple devices Quick Analysis * Instant Bortle classification for every measurement * On-device light pollution assessment * Comparison with natural sky-background brightness * Simple graphical display including twilight conditions * Measurement validation and quality indicators * Clean, intuitive interface designed for field use Astronomical Context * Automatic twilight condition detection * Moon phase information for every measurement * Sun elevation calculations Simple and Reliable * Designed for easy use in the dark * Large, clear controls for nighttime operation * No account setup required – simply use your existing iCloud account Perfect for * Amateur astronomers and citizen scientists carrying out site surveys * Researchers monitoring light pollution * Dark-sky organizations documenting observing conditions * Anyone using handheld SQM instruments or Dark Sky Meter who wants long-term storage, synchronization and analysis of their measurements Requires: iOS 17.0 or later, iCloud account Works with: Unihedron Sky Quality Meter (SQM, SQM-L), Dark Sky Meter Pro imports, and manual entry from Dark Sky Meter. Companion to: SQM Toolbox for macOS (available separately)

Screenshots

POLARIE U3 screens
SQM Mobile4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: POLARIE U at 3 against SQM Mobile's 1. POLARIE U also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.6). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

POLARIE U ships an update every 2 months, SQM Mobile every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
POLARIE U versus SQM Mobile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPOLARIE USQM Mobile
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS11.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVixen Co.,Ltd.GerSpatial

In-app purchases

None

POLARIE U

No in-app purchases

None

SQM Mobile

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is POLARIE U free?
POLARIE U is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SQM Mobile free?
SQM Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do POLARIE U or SQM Mobile have ads?
Neither POLARIE U nor SQM Mobile shows ads.
Which is updated more often, POLARIE U or SQM Mobile?
POLARIE U ships an update every 2 months, and SQM Mobile every 4 weeks. Most recently, POLARIE U was updated on November 3, 2026 and SQM Mobile on October 24, 2026.

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