Comparison

Moon Lunation vs Moon Phase Widget

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

Head to head
About

Moon Lunation

This app provides detailed lunar phase information for any date between 2000 and 2050. It calculates phases offline using precise astronomical geometry, displaying illuminated percentages and event times. Users can explore monthly calendars, visualize entire lunations, and view a 3D model of the Moon's surface.

Highlights
  • Offline moon phase computation
  • Date range 2000-2050
  • Illuminated percentage display
  • Lunar age and event times
  • Monthly calendar view
  • Lunation cycle visualization
  • 3D Moon surface model
Features
Read full description

Moon Lunation shows you the Moon's phase for any date between 2000 and 2050, and now the tides it drives, all computed on your device from the actual geometry of the Sun, Earth and Moon. Moon Lunation is free. No connection. No account. No data collected. No ads, ever. TODAY The current phase, the illuminated percentage, how far through the lunation you are, and the next principal event in your local time. CALENDAR Any month from 2000 to 2050, with new moons, first quarters, full moons and last quarters marked on the local dates they occur. CYCLE Watch a lunation play out from one new moon to the next. The timeline runs between two actual computed new moons, so its length varies rather than being forced to 29.5 days. Scrub it with your finger, or play it through. TIDES, WITH MOON LUNATION PRO See today's tide curve set against the highest high and lowest low of the station's year, marked by two dashed lines, with a line of text giving each with its date. Also the next high and low tide and seven days of highs and lows, in metres or feet. Predictions are calculated on your device from each station's tidal constants, so Tides works with no connection. Tides covers about 1,250 stations around the United States and 37 around the UK and the Isle of Man, from 2026 to 2030. On iPhone and iPad it can find the nearest station from your location, or you can choose a city. On Mac, you choose a city. Keep up to five favourite places. These are astronomical predictions. Weather can change the real water level, and they are not for navigation. SOLAR SYSTEM, WITH MOON LUNATION PRO See the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon and Mars in 3D, placed by the same offline astronomy. On Mac, all eight planets, out to Neptune. Drag to orbit, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap a body for its distances, and scrub the timeline to watch the planets move. Moon Lunation Pro is a one-time in-app purchase, not a subscription, and unlocks both Tides and the Solar System. If you already have Pro, or paid for Lunation or Moon Lunation before it became free, Tides is included at no extra cost. Family Sharing is on. ON MAC A native Mac app with a sidebar and inspector, keyboard control, a menu-bar Moon and desktop widgets. THE MOON ITSELF The surface is built from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imagery, in a fixed north-up view of the near side. The lit region is drawn from the computed phase, so what you see is the geometry. The light now falls off toward the terminator, the edge between light and dark is soft, and the unlit side shows a faint earthshine, strongest near new moon. WHAT IT DOESN'T DO • Phases cover 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2050, and tides cover 2026 to 2030. Outside them, the app says so rather than guessing. • It is a north-up diagram of the phase, not a picture of how the Moon looks in your sky tonight. • It does not show libration, eclipses, moonrise or moonset. • Phase times are geocentric, not for your location. PRIVACY Moon Lunation collects no data: no analytics, no crash reporting, no advertising, no tracking and no account. The app makes no network requests of its own. Phases, the calendar and the cycle never use your location. On iPhone and iPad, only after you allow it, Tides uses it to find the nearest tide station; the app does not save or send it. It keeps a small count of days used, on the device, to decide when to ask the system for a review. Tides remembers your place setting and up to five favourite stations, and Clear Saved Places removes them. On Mac, Tides does not use your location. It works in Airplane Mode, on the first launch and every launch after. iPhone, iPad and Mac. Requires iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or macOS 14 or later. Lunar imagery courtesy of NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. Tide predictions use NOAA data and Environment Agency tide gauge data (Open Government Licence v3.0). City names from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). None of these organisations endorses this app.

About

Moon Phase Widget

Features
Read full description

What phase is the moon tonight? Open the app and it is the first thing you see: tonight's phase, the exact illumination percentage, and how many days until the next full moon. Or skip opening the app entirely — put the moon on your home screen or lock screen and just glance. Everything is computed on your iPhone from published astronomical series — the same Meeus algorithms observatories reference — verified against eclipse records to within minutes. No server, no account, no internet required. It works on a mountainside at 2 a.m. exactly as it works at home. WHAT YOU GET • "Full Moon — in 9 days" waiting on your home screen: widgets for the home screen and lock screen show tonight's phase, illumination % and the next full moon date at a glance • A monthly calendar of phase icons — browse any month, past or future, and tap any day for its phase and exact illumination • Moonrise and moonset for your exact location, in your local time zone — know the Moon clears the horizon at 21:14 before you drive out with a camera or a rod • A reminder on the day of every full moon and new moon, at the hour you choose — never miss a bright night or a dark-sky window again • A guide to all 8 phases: what you will actually see in the sky tonight, plus the folklore cultures attached to each phase • One tap exports the next 12 months of full and new moons as a calendar file you can add to any calendar app PERFECT FOR • Night and landscape photographers timing moonrise shots • Anglers picking their fishing nights around the lunar cycle • Stargazers waiting for a new moon dark-sky window • Anyone who looks up and wonders what tonight's moon will be WHY NOT JUST SEARCH IT? A web search tells you today's phase — then you search again tomorrow. MoonPhase sits on your lock screen with tonight's phase, illumination and the next full moon always current, reminds you on the day itself, and keeps working with no signal at all. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No account, no tracking, no data leaves your iPhone. If you choose to share your location, it is used on-device only to compute moonrise and moonset — never uploaded, never stored anywhere else. FULL ACCESS MoonPhase requires Full Access, available as a weekly subscription, a yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Full Access includes the home and lock screen widgets, unlimited calendar browsing, moonrise and moonset times, full and new moon reminders, the complete phase guide with folklore, and calendar export. Download MoonPhase, add the widget, and know tonight's moon before you look up. Terms of Use: https://leanstudio.asia/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://leanstudio.asia/privacy-policy Support: support@leanstudio.asia

Screenshots

Moon Lunation4 screens
Moon Phase Widget4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Moon Phase Widget at none against Moon Lunation's 1. Moon Lunation's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months) and device support (4 vs 1). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Moon Lunation sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Moon Phase Widget asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Moon Lunation ships an update every 3 weeks, Moon Phase Widget every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 5 level
Moon Lunation versus Moon Phase Widget: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMoon LunationMoon Phase Widget
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews5.7% of reviews—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTraLand.comLEAN ASIA CO., LTD

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Moon Lunation

One-time1
  • Moon Lunation Pro$1.99
None

Moon Phase Widget

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Moon Lunation free?
Moon Lunation is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Moon Phase Widget free?
Moon Phase Widget is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Moon Lunation or Moon Phase Widget have ads?
Neither Moon Lunation nor Moon Phase Widget shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Moon Lunation or Moon Phase Widget?
Moon Lunation ships an update every 3 weeks, and Moon Phase Widget every 4 months. Most recently, Moon Lunation was updated on October 17, 2026 and Moon Phase Widget on October 25, 2026.

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