Solstice vs Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Solstice
Track daily daylight changes in your location and see monthly projections. Explore daylight variations across different global locations and over time. Receive notifications and use widgets to stay informed about upcoming daylight.
- Daily daylight change comparison
- Monthly daylight projections
- Time Travel feature
- Multi-location comparison
- Daily notifications
- Widgets
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Solstice shows you how much more or less daylight there is in your location today compared to yesterday, as well as how much to expect each month as the year goes by. Use Time Travel to see how the daylight changes throughout the year, and compare it to multiple locations around the world. Enjoy daily notifications and widgets to look forward to brighter days.
Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset
Track sun and moon cycles with customizable alerts and over 40 widgets for your home and lock screens. Access detailed solar and lunar data, including twilight times and moon phases, directly on your Apple Watch.
- Customizable solar and lunar alerts
- 40+ Home and Lock Screen widgets
- Apple Watch app and complications
- 24-hour time travel feature
- Detailed twilight and moon phase data
- Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset tracking
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Sundial+ puts sun and moon timing on your screens and wrist with customizable alerts, 40+ Home and Lock Screen widgets, and hundreds of Apple Watch complication combinations. People have tracked the sun and moon for thousands of years, but Sundial+ makes it easier than ever. It puts solar and lunar information in your hand and, with the Apple Watch app, on your wrist. Sundial+ is perfect for runners, hikers, campers, boaters, sailors, pilots, gardeners, farmers, photographers, film and TV crews, astronomers, astrophotographers, solar installers, and travelers of all kinds. Sundial+ is for anyone who needs to know when it will be light and dark. Sundial+ provides a one-of-a-kind display of the sun and moon's rise and set cycle over the 24-hour day. As the seasons change, the yellow "sun is out" arc informs you of the precious daylight hours, shrinking during winter months and expanding as summer approaches. The white inner arc represents when the moon is visible in the sky. Civil, nautical, and astronomical twilights are also shown on the solar dial in shades of blue. Create alerts for one of 36 different solar and lunar events and Sundial+ will tell you about them without you ever having to open the app. Alerts can take the form of a notification or alarm. Alarms break through your mute/silence setting and focus mode, perfect for early risers. The 36 events that support alerts include: - Sunrise, solar mid-morning, solar noon, solar mid-afternoon, sunset, and solar midnight. - Golden hour and blue hour (morning and evening). - Civil twilight (dawn/dusk), nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight. - Moonrise, lunar noon, moonset, and lunar midnight. - Moon phases: full moon, new moon, first/last quarter moon, and waxing/waning gibbous/crescent moon. - Astronomical seasons: March/September equinox and June/December solstice. - Spring and fall equilux. Notifications and alarms can be customized to alert you minutes, hours, and even days before an event takes place. Like to walk your dog for 30 minutes before dusk? Sundial+ can help you with that! There's more, too! TIME TRAVEL Use Sundial+'s 24-hour wheel to see where the sun and moon will be today, tomorrow, and any other time you choose. Use gestures on iPhone and iPad to scroll through dates. Or jump to a specific date with iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. WIDGETS Sundial+ features 40+ different Home and Lock Screen widgets. Most are customizable. APPLE WATCH APP The Sundial+ Apple Watch app makes all of its solar and lunar data available where it's most easily found - right on your wrist. Because Sundial+ runs on your watch, you won't even need to have your iPhone with you. Hundreds of complication combinations mean you'll find one that displays the right data and has the right look - even for the most customized watch faces. Sundial+'s unique time dials, solar times/countdown, lunar times/countdown, moon phase, and solar/lunar azimuth are all present on Apple Watch. ACCESSIBILITY We want to make sure everyone can enjoy Sundial+, which is why we built in full VoiceOver support from the ground up. PRIVACY We believe that your data is your own. That's why Sundial+ doesn't collect any information about the people who use it. Sundial+ does not store your location or upload it to any third-party service. SUNDIAL+ SUBSCRIPTION Basic features on the Sundial+ iPhone and iPad app are free: view key solar and lunar data for today and +/- 5 days. The following features require a recurring subscription: - Customize your Sundial+ home screen: tailor what data you want to see. - Create alerts for 36 solar/lunar events. - Full time travel. - Search and jump to any location on Earth. - 40+ configurable widgets for your Home and Lock Screens. - Full-featured Apple Watch app with hundreds of complication and widget combinations. Try all premium features free for 7 days. Cancel anytime. Terms of Use: https://sundialapp.com/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset at every 3 days against Solstice's every 2 months. Solstice's advantage is review sentiment (85% vs 77%) and device support (5 vs 3). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Solstice sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Solstice against 4.7 for Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 82 and 40 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Solstice's written reviews are positive against 77% of Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset's.
Solstice ships an update every 2 months, Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Solstice | Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (82 ratings) — better | 4.7 (40 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.1% of reviews — better | 76.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 82 — better | 40 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 18.5 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 197 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dan Eden | Tier 9 Digital |
Customer experience
Solstice
Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset
Bugs and requests
Solstice
Reported bugs
7 issues- App crashes when sliding bar
- App crashes when holding any location
- Square widget displays white square with grey bars only
- Widget options not showing
- Lock screen widget progress ring shows incorrect progress
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- Morning sunlight notification doesn't work
- Longest and shortest days are inverted
Requested features
10 requests- Add a month view
- Add equinox measurements and widgets
- Remember multiple locations
- Compare data for two places on the same screen
- Add automatic push notifications for sunset
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- Countdown of sunlight left in a day
- Track increases to sunset time and earliest/latest times
- Compare locations for sunlight differences
- Manually add and save locations
- Ability to use worldwide (if not already)
Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Solstice
- Small Tip$1.99
- Medium Tip$5.99
- Large Tip$11.99
Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset
- Sundial+ Monthly Plan7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Sundial+ Yearly Plan7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Questions
Is Solstice free?
Is Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset free?
Which has better reviews, Solstice or Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset?
Do Solstice or Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset have ads?
Which is updated more often, Solstice or Sundial+ Sunrise & Sunset?
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