Comparison

iStellar vs MushroomLog

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

Head to head
About

iStellar

Explore the cosmos with a realistic planetarium experience. View the night sky from any location and time, with detailed celestial bodies and dynamic simulations. Intuitive multi-touch controls make navigation effortless.

Highlights
  • Real-time starry sky simulation
  • Adjustable location and time
  • Detailed celestial object data
  • Intuitive multi-touch controls
  • Solar eclipse simulation
  • Object search function
Features
Read full description

iStellar is a planetarium App that shows the starry sky seen from the place and time of your choice. It is optimized for Multi-Touch control, allowing you to operate intuitively; drag to move the star chart, pinch to zoom in and out, and so on. The star chart can be rotated from portrait to landscape, and you can even fix the location via GPS (only for iPhone 3G). FEATURES - Over 16,000 star data, with name for 254 stars - Twinkles like actual stars - Simulates distortion (atmospheric refraction and extinction) at low altitude - Displays the Sun, daylight, twilight, the Moon (with shape and phase), 8 planets, Pluto - Shows name, line and picture for all constellations - Milky Way with real tone - Plots Messier objects and their names - Comets with accurate position and magnitude. Data can be downloaded whenever available - Meteor Shower Radiants - Solar eclipse simulation with high accuracy - Adjustable moonlight and light polution - Landscape and azimuth / direction grid - Beautiful animation (real-time, adjusted time, reversal) - Simulates every second between 1 Jan 1900 to 31 Dec 2099 - Switches screen according to the device's orientation - Zoom by pinching(3 to 180 degrees) - Easy moving through the sky by dragging, and centering by double-tap - Object Search function - Free choice of location and time zone, instant setting with GPS

About

MushroomLog

Log and map your wild mushroom finds with detailed observations. Track locations, species, habitat, and save photos to build a personal database of your foraging adventures. Search your findings by species or location.

Highlights
  • Log mushroom observations
  • Map foraging locations
  • Record species and habitat
  • Save mushroom photos
  • Build personal mushroom database
  • Search findings by species or location
Features
Read full description

MushroomLog is a feature-rich iPhone App designed to keep track of when and where you find wild mushrooms. You can log single observations, like when you spot a chicken-of-the-woods during a drive along a back road, or you can use it to track where you go and what you find on a mushroom walk with your local mycological club. In addition to mapping the location of each observation, it lets you record the common name and scientific name of the mushroom, what the mushroom was growing on, the habitat where you found it, how plentiful they were, and how confident you are in your identification. You can save pictures of each mushroom. The App builds a personal database of your foray locations, where you walked on each foray, each mushroom observation you made, and the pictures you took. Later, you can retrieve and map the track and observations from your walks or search your observation database by species, location, a range of dates. Getting Started tutorials and a complete User Manual are available on the MushroomLog support site.

Screenshots

iStellar4 screens
MushroomLog4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: MushroomLog at 100% against iStellar's 49%. MushroomLog also leads on price (Free vs $3.99). iStellar's advantage is rating (4.0 vs 3.0). On ratings volume, 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

MushroomLog is free to download; iStellar costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iStellar holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 49% of iStellar's written reviews are positive against 100% of MushroomLog's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iStellar ships an update every 3 months, MushroomLog every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
iStellar versus MushroomLog: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriStellarMushroomLog
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (1 ratings) — better3.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews49.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS12.412.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAstroArts Inc.Christopher Neefus

Customer experience

iStellar

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews73 reviews
Positive49.3%
Neutral16.4%
Negative34.2%

MushroomLog

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

iStellar

No in-app purchases

None

MushroomLog

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iStellar free?
iStellar costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is MushroomLog free?
MushroomLog is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iStellar or MushroomLog?
iStellar is rated higher. iStellar averages 4.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while MushroomLog averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do iStellar or MushroomLog have ads?
Neither iStellar nor MushroomLog shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iStellar or MushroomLog?
iStellar ships an update every 3 months, and MushroomLog every 4 months. Most recently, iStellar was updated on October 29, 2026 and MushroomLog on October 9, 2026.

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