Comparison

Moon Atlas vs PhosphorHertz

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

Head to head
About

Moon Atlas

Explore a detailed 3D model of the Moon with interactive controls. Discover named features, spacecraft landing sites, and real-time lunar phase and libration data. Customize your view for different observational needs.

Highlights
  • Interactive 3D Moon globe
  • Feature identification and search
  • Real-time Moon phase and libration
  • Customizable globe orientation
  • Spacecraft landing site information
  • Detailed feature database
Features
Read full description

Explore a 3D globe of the Moon Moon Atlas is an astronomy application that lets you use pinch and finger gestures to manipulate a 3D globe of the Moon. This is a rendered sphere and not a static map image. As you zoom in more labels appear as finer detail comes into view. You can double tap on the labels to get more information about a particular feature. Moon Atlas displays the phase and libration of the Moon from your chosen location and renders these on the globe. You can switch to a 'Globe' mode that allows you to spin the Moon around to see far side features. The feature database is searchable and can move the globe to a searched feature. The phase can be switched off and the far side is shown in a slightly darker shade of grey. Date, time and location can be changed. There is also a realtime mode that will update to the current time. The Moon globe can be shown with north or south at the top or inverted to suit different telescope views. Over 1800 named features are included as well as 26 spacecraft that reached the surface of the Moon. In addition, information about the current Moon phase and libration are provided. You can swipe left and right on the phase view to go backwards and forwards a day and on the libration chart to go backwards and forwards a month. Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn atlases are also available on the App Store! Also there is Planisphere, a star charting app, available on the App Store!

About

PhosphorHertz

Features
Read full description

PhosphorHz is a real-time HF radio propagation monitor for amateur radio operators. It pulls live space weather data from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center and translates it into band-by-band conditions you can act on — right now, from your location. No guesswork. No stale forecasts. Just the numbers, rendered in a retro CRT phosphor display that would look at home in a Cold War listening post. BAND CONDITIONS See at a glance which HF bands are open, marginal, closed, or blacked out. Conditions are calculated from real-time solar flux, geomagnetic activity, and X-ray flux data — not generic regional forecasts. Each band shows your local status plus path-specific conditions to every DX target you configure. MUF CALCULATION The Maximum Usable Frequency for a 3000km reference path from your QTH, derived from Solar Flux Index, solar zenith angle, and depressed by geomagnetic activity. Individual MUFs are calculated for each great-circle path to your DX targets, because the ionosphere doesn't care about averages. SOLAR INDICES All the numbers that matter, updated in real time: Solar Flux Index (SFI) with 30-day trend chart Planetary Kp Index with 24-hour bar chart Estimated Sunspot Number (SSN) GOES X-ray flux class and latest flare detection Solar wind IMF Bz component NOAA R/S/G scales (Radio Blackout, Solar Radiation, Geomagnetic Storm) Running A-index and solar wind Bt Each index includes a plain-language assessment: is the F2 layer well ionised? Is the geomagnetic field quiet or disturbed? Is the solar wind coupling or shielded? 3D GREYLINE GLOBE A SceneKit globe shows the solar terminator — the boundary between day and night — in real time. The greyline (twilight zone along the terminator) is where lower-band DX propagation is enhanced, and it's rendered as an amber band you can see at a glance. The globe displays coastlines, your QTH position, DX target locations, and great-circle paths coloured by band condition. Drag to rotate. Double-tap to recentre on your station. Hit play to watch the Earth spin. SPACE WEATHER ALERTS NOAA SWPC alerts and warnings filtered for HF relevance. Flare events, geomagnetic storms, radio blackouts — the alerts that actually affect your ability to make contacts, with full detail on tap. DX TARGETS Configure up to five target regions. PhosphorHz calculates path-specific propagation for each one, using great-circle geometry and the MUF at the midpoint of each path. What's open to Japan might be closed to South America — and now you can see both at once. FEATURES Real-time data from NOAA SWPC (public domain, no API key required) Band conditions for 160m through 6m Path-specific propagation to multiple DX targets 3D interactive greyline globe with terminator visualisation Sunrise/sunset times and countdown to next solar event Day/night/greyline status at your QTH Kp index 24-hour bar chart SFI 30-day trend line Full space weather alert log with 30-day history Maidenhead grid locator display Automatic location detection or manual grid entry Green phosphor and amber phosphor CRT themes CRT scanline overlay effect Designed for iPhone, portrait orientation No ads. No tracking. No subscription. Part of the Phosphor suite: PhosphorWX (aviation weather), PhosphorRad (radiation monitoring), PhosphorSol (space weather), and PhosphorOrbit (satellite tracking). 73 de PhosphorHz.

Screenshots

Moon Atlas4 screens
PhosphorHertz4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PhosphorHertz at $0.99 against Moon Atlas's $5.99. Moon Atlas's advantage is iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.2). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

Moon Atlas costs $5.99 and PhosphorHertz $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Moon Atlas ships an update every 3 months, PhosphorHertz every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Moon Atlas versus PhosphorHertz: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMoon AtlasPhosphorHertz
Price$5.99$0.99 — better
Rating4.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews72.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size740 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJulian JamesStuart Woolley

In-app purchases

None

Moon Atlas

No in-app purchases

None

PhosphorHertz

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Moon Atlas free?
Moon Atlas costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PhosphorHertz free?
PhosphorHertz costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Moon Atlas or PhosphorHertz have ads?
Neither Moon Atlas nor PhosphorHertz shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Moon Atlas or PhosphorHertz?
Moon Atlas ships an update every 3 months, and PhosphorHertz every 4 months. Most recently, Moon Atlas was updated on November 6, 2026 and PhosphorHertz on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons