APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget vs DWARFLAB
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget
Access NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day with customizable widgets. View today's, random, or favorite images, and browse past APODs. Share your discoveries with ease.
- Today Widget
- Random Widget
- Favorites Widget
- APOD Viewer App
- Browse random APODs
- Browse favorite APODs
- Share favorites
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NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), now in widget form! 100% free with no ads. Just pure APOD delight. * Today Widget: See today's APOD, * Random Widget: Keep it fresh with a random APOD! * Favorites Widget: See your favorite APODs! * APOD Viewer App: View the current Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), view an APOD from the past, share your favorites. * Browse a delightful feed of random APODs. * Browse a delightful feed of your favorite APODs.
DWARFLAB
This app connects wirelessly to a smart telescope, offering intuitive control for capturing stunning images of the night sky and dynamic terrestrial scenes. It features automatic tracking, in-app image processing, and panorama creation for both astrophotography and everyday use.
- Wireless telescope connection
- In-built star atlas for astrophotography
- Automatic celestial and motion tracking
- In-app image stacking and post-processing
- Gigapixel panorama creation
- Time-lapse photography
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DWARFLAB smart telescope, empowered by advanced technology, opens up a world of diverse perspectives for users, capturing the wonders of life. No guidance or experience needed, it's ready to use out of the box. Wireless Connection Use the App to connect wirelessly with DWARFLAB smart telescope, enabling not only precise control but also making the shooting process more flexible and efficient. Astrophotography The App features an in-built star atlas, allowing you to simply tap on the celestial you desire to proceed with automatic star tracking and enjoy real-time image stacking. You can also adjust the astro curves and personalize the color grading to create your own 4K astronomical images. In-App Post Processing Capture, select, stack, and enhance — all in one seamless workflow for astrophotography. Supports both onboard stacking and cloud-based processing, with multi-format export options to make every astro image crisp and brilliant. Motion Tracking You can freely select the target to track on the shooting interface, enjoying the flexibility of manual selection; or you can use the telescope's automatic recognition function, which intelligently identifies tracks, and starts recordings, easily capturing dynamic scenes such as bird predation, flights, and sports close-ups. Gigapixel Panorama Simply set the shooting range and tap to start — with one-click stitching, you can create extremely detailed and vast panoramic images, supporting deep zoom and experiencing an unprecedented level of detail richness. Time-Lapse Photography Capture the flow and changes of time, recording the hustle and bustle of traffic, the blooming and wilting of flowers. Combined with astronomical tracking functions, it can also record the trajectory of the sun, solar/lunar eclipses, and the star trails.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget at 88% against DWARFLAB's 36%. APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.5). DWARFLAB's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (15 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. DWARFLAB asks for nothing beyond the download.
APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 292 and 147 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget's written reviews are positive against 36% of DWARFLAB's.
APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget ships an update every 3 weeks, DWARFLAB every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.
| Parameter | APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget | DWARFLAB |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (292 ratings) — better | 3.5 (147 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 88.1% of reviews — better | 36.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 292 — better | 147 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 219 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mark Hambly | Tinyphoton (Wuhan) Technology. Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget
DWARFLAB
User reviews
APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget
From 292 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great when it's working
- 🤩 Captivating and educational
- 🌟 Fantastic Universe!
- 🌍 Amazing app, would recommend, this is definitely for space lovers
- 🤓 One of my favourite apps
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unusable
- 🐛 Stopped working
- 🐛 iOS 26 HELP
- 🐛 No longer works
- 🐛 Broken images with iOS 26 :(
DWARFLAB
From 147 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📸 High-quality astrophotography results
- 💰 Excellent value for price
- 🎯 Intuitive sky atlas and target selection
- 🔄 Frequent app updates and improvements
- ⚡ Responsive developer team
Room to improve
- 🔌 Persistent WiFi connectivity issues
- ⏱️ Slow connection establishment (15-30 minutes)
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes
- 📉 Tracking frame drops (25% loss reported)
- 🔄 Connection drops after minutes
Bugs and requests
APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget
Reported bugs
3 issues- Stopped working with iOS 26 update
- Images do not load with iOS 26 at the moment
- Excessive battery usage by widget
Requested features
4 requests- Navigation buttons would be nice
- A way to swipe between days
- A search function
- A browser for other images by date
DWARFLAB
Reported bugs
21 issues- WiFi connection fails repeatedly or drops within seconds
- App crashes on iOS 18 and older iOS versions
- Account creation security verification fails
- Full-screen mode freezes with no escape option
- Autofocus produces inconsistent or blurry results
Show 16 moreShow fewer
- Manual focus unresponsive
- Tracking takes excessive time to initiate
- Dark frame calibration lines appear and ruin images
- Temperature-related calibration failures
- Settings reset to defaults after stacking
- IR Cut/Pass filter constantly resets to Pass mode
- Photo saving to album is inconsistent (hit or miss)
- App freezes when changing camera systems
- Inverted controls and flipped image display
- Battery icon obscures capacity readout on iPhone
- STA mode connectivity broken
- Firmware update errors prevent connection
- Image preview not displaying in app
- Joystick controls unresponsive intermittently
- Wide and telephoto lens menu settings reversed
- App incompatible with iOS versions below 15
Requested features
13 requests- One-tap return to home and power off function
- Panorama/mosaic image merging capability
- Comet-aligned tracking mode
- Dew control for iOS (available on Android)
- iPad-optimized app version
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Histogram display in app
- Burst mode functionality
- External Barlow lens support
- Mac M-series silicon compatibility
- Ability to skip firmware updates until convenient time
- Milky Way capture documentation for Dwarf Mini
- Photo album integration improvements
- STA mode WiFi connectivity fix
In-app purchases
APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget
- Tip Jar: Buy me a coffee$2.99
DWARFLAB
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget free?
Is DWARFLAB free?
Which has better reviews, APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget or DWARFLAB?
Do APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget or DWARFLAB have ads?
Which is updated more often, APOD Astronomy Pics and Widget or DWARFLAB?
Other comparisons
