Comparison

Light Panel Pro vs Milky Way Tonight

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

Head to head
About

Light Panel Pro

Transform your device into a professional lighting tool for creative projects, film scanning, and video calls. Adjust brightness, color temperature, and RGB hues to enhance any scene. Give your existing technology a vibrant new purpose.

Highlights
  • Pocket-sized professional light
  • Creative lighting control
  • Film scanning
  • Video call enhancement
  • Brightness adjustment
  • Kelvin temperature control
  • RGB color control
Features
Read full description

Light Panel Pro: Transform your device into a professional studio light. Perfect for creative lighting, film scanning and video calls. Control screen brightness, Kelvin temperature and full RGB color on any Apple device. • Light Panel Pro turns your mobile device into a portable light panel - one that you always have with you as a small fill light for photography or videography. • Light Panel Pro is a perfect backlight for scanning film with its dedicated scanning mask. It can also be used as a light table or light box with the built-in alignment grid. • Light Panel Pro is a great light for video calls. • Control screen brightness and temperature. Display & save arbitrary colors for creative lighting effects. • Automatically match the color temperature of the ambient light. • Lock screen settings from accidental touch input. • Create complex or remote lighting setups with the optional Remote Control feature. • There are many other potential uses whenever you need extra light: reading light, mood light, torch etc. • Give your old tech a brilliant second life - great for transforming old devices that can't run recent versions of iOS (iPad Air 1st gen & iPhone 5s onwards) into high-quality light panels, offering a highly cost-effective solution by repurposing hardware that might otherwise go unused. • Available as a universal purchase for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac, Apple TV & Vision Pro. • Print magazine PC Professionale recommended Light Panel Pro as "Original and unexpectedly useful" in the July 2021 edition! Join 5000 happy users and download Light Panel Pro now !

About

Milky Way Tonight

Plan and execute stunning Milky Way photographs with this comprehensive tool. It provides detailed forecasts, location scouting, and composition planning to help you capture the perfect shot.

Highlights
  • Tonight at a Glance forecast
  • 7-day visibility calendar
  • Dark Sky Finder
  • Composition Planner with AR
  • Sky View star map
  • NPF calculator
  • Getting Started guide
Read full description

Photographing the Milky Way takes a lot of planning and timing. Milky Way Tonight handles all of that for you in an easy to understand way. Open the app and the first thing you see is Tonight at a Glance: a plain-language summary of whether tonight is worth going out. It tells you when the Galactic Core rises and peaks, when the moon sets, what the cloud cover looks like, and how dark your skies are on the Bortle scale (light pollution levels) If tonight is a bust, it tells you the next clear window so you can start planning ahead. Below that is a 7-day forecast strip that color-codes each night by visibility quality and highlights the best opportunity in the week. Tap any day for a full breakdown. When you're ready to find a location, the Dark Sky Finder searches for darker skies near you, ranked by light pollution, cloud cover, and driving distance together. You'll find darker spots on a map and the best realistic option for tonight. The Composition Planner lets you visualize where the Milky Way arc will be positioned relative to a location before you ever leave home. See the galactic core position, plan your foreground, and show up knowing exactly what shot you're going for. Sky View not only opens a star map using your phone's compass, but with access to your camera the AR mode allows for real-time planning. Point it at the sky, the horizon or directly at your foreground to see exactly where and when the stars align over your composition. It's a powerful tool for scouting compositions in the field and knowing exactly when you need to be shooting. Core Alignment: While using Sky View, tap anywhere on screen to see exactly if & when the Milky Way Core will align above that foreground; the next time and for the rest of the season. The ultimate composition planner. H-Alpha boost mode shifts the overlay to highlight nebula and emission regions. Perfect for astro modified cameras. The visibility calendar is your personal Milky Way calendar, built off your exact location. It maps out every night of the year so you can plan shoots weeks or months in advance. Save any night to My MW Nights to add notes, see the sky conditions, and keep all your plans in one place. The NPF calculator helps you dial in the sharpest possible stars for your specific camera and lens combination, so you know the longest exposure you can shoot without trailing. When you're in the field, Dark Adaptation Mode tints and dims your screen red so your night vision stays intact. For anyone new to this type of photography, the Getting Started guide walks through the entire workflow from scratch, including how to read the data in the app, what gear settings to use, and how to actually find the Milky Way once you're in the field. Built by landscape astrophotographer Jack Fusco (@jackfusco). FEATURES - Tonight at a Glance: galactic core rise, peak, and window times for your location. Full nightly and core specific cloud forecasts - Nightly quality ratings: Excellent, Good, Brief, Limited, and Blocked with plain-language explanations - Next clear window: see exactly how many nights until conditions improve - 7-day Milky Way and cloud forecast strip - Dark Sky Finder: ranked by light pollution, cloud cover, and driving distance Bortle class and SQM ratings for any location - Composition Planner: visualize the galactic arc over your planned foreground - Sky View AR: live star map with camera overlay using your phone's compass - Monthly visibility calendar built from your exact location - Core Alignment - See exactly when the MW will line up over any foreground. - My MW Nights: save shooting nights with notes and sky data - NPF calculator: find the sharpest exposure time for your camera and lens - Dark Adaptation Mode: red screen tint to protect your night vision in the field - Offline support: cached forecast data available without a connection - Getting Started guide written for complete beginners No account required, no ads, no tracking

Screenshots

Light Panel Pro4 screens
Milky Way Tonight4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Milky Way Tonight at 5.0 against Light Panel Pro's 4.5. Milky Way Tonight also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (100% vs 85%). Light Panel Pro's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $7.99) and device support (5 vs 2). On update cadence, ads and iOS requirement 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

Light Panel Pro costs $4.99 and Milky Way Tonight $7.99 up front. Light Panel Pro sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Milky Way Tonight asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Milky Way Tonight holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 69 and 22 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Light Panel Pro's written reviews are positive against 100% of Milky Way Tonight's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Light Panel Pro ships an update every 6 weeks, Milky Way Tonight every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Light Panel Pro versus Milky Way Tonight: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLight Panel ProMilky Way Tonight
Price$4.99 — better$7.99
Rating4.5 (69 ratings)5.0 (22 ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings69 — better22
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#199 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.015
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMike WoolleyChasing Starlight LLC

Customer experience

Light Panel Pro

All ratings68 ratings
Positive85.3%
Neutral2.9%
Negative11.8%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive85.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative15.0%

Milky Way Tonight

All ratings18 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Light Panel Pro

One-time2
  • Buy Me A Coffee$2.99
  • Remote Control$9.99
None

Milky Way Tonight

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Light Panel Pro free?
Light Panel Pro costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Milky Way Tonight free?
Milky Way Tonight costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Light Panel Pro or Milky Way Tonight?
Milky Way Tonight is rated higher. Light Panel Pro averages 4.5 out of 5 from 69 ratings, while Milky Way Tonight averages 5.0 from 22 ratings.
Do Light Panel Pro or Milky Way Tonight have ads?
Neither Light Panel Pro nor Milky Way Tonight shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Light Panel Pro or Milky Way Tonight?
Light Panel Pro ships an update every 6 weeks, and Milky Way Tonight every 4 weeks. Most recently, Light Panel Pro was updated on November 3, 2026 and Milky Way Tonight on November 1, 2026.

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