Comparison

EZ Celestial Navigation vs EZ Sextant

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

Head to head
About

EZ Celestial Navigation

This app simplifies celestial navigation using a sextant, providing tools to calculate your position at sea. It offers automated calculations or manual table access, with features for observation archiving and compass checks. Ideal for learning and practicing traditional navigation methods.

Highlights
  • Automated sight reduction and LOP plotting
  • Manual Nautical Almanac and Pub. 229 table access
  • Observation archiving and restoration
  • Compass check functionality
  • Printable Nautical Almanac pages and reports
  • Universal app for iOS and macOS
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Celestial navigation has never been easier! With ezAlmanacOne and a sextant you will be finding your fix like a pro in no time! ezAlmanacOne is an evolution of the iPad version of ezAlmanac with the modern user interface used in the Windows 10 version of ezAlmanac. All of the features of ezAlmanac plus new features including: - Universal app runs on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and the new MacBook with M1 processor. - Supports all device orientations. All screens support zoom and pan. - Make bearing observations to perform compass checks. - Archive saved observations and restore observation data from an archive. - Includes quick start guide, usage examples, and other documentation to learn celestial navigation. - Print/Output Nautical Almanac pages, observation reports, and other app documentation. ezAlmanacOne will help you perform celestial navigation exactly as it has been done for hundreds of years. It produces all Nautical Almanac (1960-2059) and Pub. 229 tables exactly as you are used to seeing them in the printed form. All tables can be accessed directly for manual usage if you choose to do so. Since they are produced by the software they support zooming and panning, and you can highlight in the tables to easily find the correct value to use. Most users, however, will prefer to let ezAlmanacOne do all of the work. Simply enter the basic sight parameters, make and enter your observations, and ezAlmanacOne will do the rest. It performs all of the steps to correct your observation, find GP of the object, do the sight reduction, and plot the LOP. No steps are skipped and all details are shown. Click where the LOPs cross in the plot and you have found your fix! Besides finding your fix, ezAlmanacOne is one of the best tools available to perform compass checks from a bearing observation of one of the navigational bodies. The compass check function supports checking up to 5 devices from a single bearing observation. ezAlmanacOne will also create a report of your compass check that can be saved as a PDF file or printed for the ships records. Celestial navigation instructors love ezAlmanacOne because it does celestial navigation exactly as they teach it. Values obtained from the Nautical Almanac and Pub. 229 are clearly identified with an icon of the book. When you press the book icon you are taken to the page that has that value with the row, column and value highlighted. Even when ezAlmanacOne is doing all the work, it can teach you how to do it manually using the books. For manual celestial navigation you can generate and print Nautical Almanac pages to use as a backup on a passage. You can even print the sight reduction forms and plotting sheets you will need. ezAlmanacOne performs all astronomical calculations using the NOVAS 3.1 software from the US Naval Observatory (USNO) and a JPL ephemeris that covers the years 1960 through 2059. It also implements WMM-2020, the latest World Magnetic Model software available from NOAA, to compute magnetic declination. Since all calculations are performed in the software, ezAlmanacOne is fully functional with no dependency on the internet.

About

EZ Sextant

Navigate open waters using your phone's camera to sight celestial bodies. This app plots lines of position and combines them for an estimated location on a lat/lon grid. It's a powerful tool for offshore navigation without relying on GPS.

Highlights
  • GPS-free navigation
  • Camera-based celestial sightings
  • Automatic position plotting
  • Built-in almanac
  • Running fix calculations
  • Lat/lon grid display
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Navigate in open waters without a GPS. The phone's camera is used to make sightings of the sun, moon, Venus, or Mars. The sighting results are plotted as lines of position with multiple sightings combined into a running fix. Your estimated position is displayed on a lat/lon grid. You can also use your sextant and take advantage of the built-in almanac and plotting tools.

Screenshots

EZ Celestial Navigation4 screens
EZ Sextant4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: EZ Sextant at $24.99 against EZ Celestial Navigation's $29.99. EZ Celestial Navigation's advantage is ratings volume (26 vs 4) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On rating, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

EZ Celestial Navigation costs $29.99 and EZ Sextant $24.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for EZ Celestial Navigation against 5.0 for EZ Sextant. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: EZ Celestial Navigation has 26 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and August 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
EZ Celestial Navigation versus EZ Sextant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEZ Celestial NavigationEZ Sextant
Price$29.99$24.99 — better
Rating4.9 (26 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings26 — better4
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#157 — better#174
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size153 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEZ Celestial LLCThird Reef Software LLC

Customer experience

EZ Celestial Navigation

All ratings26 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

EZ Sextant

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

EZ Celestial Navigation

No in-app purchases

None

EZ Sextant

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is EZ Celestial Navigation free?
EZ Celestial Navigation costs $29.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is EZ Sextant free?
EZ Sextant costs $24.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, EZ Celestial Navigation or EZ Sextant?
EZ Sextant is rated higher. EZ Celestial Navigation averages 4.9 out of 5 from 26 ratings, while EZ Sextant averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do EZ Celestial Navigation or EZ Sextant have ads?
Neither EZ Celestial Navigation nor EZ Sextant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, EZ Celestial Navigation or EZ Sextant?
EZ Celestial Navigation ships an update monthly, and EZ Sextant monthly. Most recently, EZ Celestial Navigation was updated on September 16, 2026 and EZ Sextant on August 20, 2026.
Which is more popular, EZ Celestial Navigation or EZ Sextant?
EZ Celestial Navigation currently peaks at #157 in the App Store charts, and EZ Sextant at #174. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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