Comparison

Daylight vs Day & Night Map

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

Head to head
About

Daylight

Displays precise sunrise and sunset times for your current location, adaptable to any date. It also calculates civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight periods. Ideal for photographers, cyclists, and stargazers.

Highlights
  • Sunrise and sunset times
  • Twilight period calculations
  • Civil twilight
  • Nautical twilight
  • Astronomical twilight
  • Location-based data
Features
Read full description

Display sunrise and sunset times for your current location, at any point in time. This application will use your current location to compute sunrise and sunset times, as well as twilight period for Civil, Nautical and Astronomical twilight. Perfect for photographers who want to prepare for the "Golden Hour", for bike riders who want to be home before nightfall or for amateur astronomers.

About

Day & Night Map

Visualize the Earth's day and night cycles on an interactive world map. Select any date and time to see current illumination, or create animated GIFs of changing light patterns.

Highlights
  • Real-time day/night map
  • Selectable date and time
  • Animated GIF creation
  • Minute-by-minute updates
  • Global illumination visualization
Read full description

Day & Night Map shows you exactly which parts of Earth are in daylight and which are in darkness — right now, or at any date and time you choose. Watch the terminator move across the globe as hours and days pass. Explore sunrise, sunset, and twilight around the world. Perfect for travellers, astronomers, photographers, teachers, and anyone curious about time on our planet. KEY FEATURES • Live world map of day and night • Move through time with intuitive date and time controls • Jump back to the current moment with one tap • Pinch to zoom and pan across the map • Full-screen map view • Home Screen widgets in multiple sizes (including Extra Large on iPad) • Configurable widgets: sun, moon, moon phase, twilight, icon size, and more • Show sun and moon positions on the map • Display the current moon phase • Twilight zones: smooth shading or separate civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight • Equator and tropics lines • Show your current location on the map (optional) • Display time in local time or UTC • Light, dark, or system appearance • Share a map image by email, message, and more • Create animations over a chosen time range • Export animations as animated GIFs ANIMATIONS Pick a start and end date, set the step interval and speed, and watch the day/night line move over hours or days. Play the animation in the app or create an animated GIF to share. HOME SCREEN WIDGET Add the widget to your Home Screen and keep the current day/night map at a glance. Customize what is shown and how it looks directly when adding or editing the widget.

Screenshots

Daylight3 screens
Day & Night Map4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Day & Night Map at 1.4K against Daylight's 27. Daylight's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 8 months) and review sentiment (87% vs 78%). On price, rating, 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

Both are free to download. 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 — 4.7 for Daylight against 4.7 for Day & Night Map. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Day & Night Map has 1.4K ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Daylight's written reviews are positive against 78% of Day & Night Map's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Daylight ships an update every 3 months, Day & Night Map every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Daylight versus Day & Night Map: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDaylightDay & Night Map
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (27 ratings)4.7 (1.4K ratings)
Positive reviews86.6% of reviews — better78.0% of reviews
Number of ratings271.4K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 8 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB48 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPhilippe CasgrainVolker Voecking Software Engineering

Customer experience

Daylight

All ratings27 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral3.7%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews142 reviews
Positive86.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative5.6%

Day & Night Map

All ratings1,357 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral3.2%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews59 reviews
Positive78.0%
Neutral8.5%
Negative13.6%

User reviews

Daylight

From 27 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple, clean, and elegant interface
  • ⏰ Accurate sunrise/sunset and twilight times
  • 🚀 Fast and lightweight app
  • 📊 Visual pie chart representation of daylight
  • 🔄 No ads or unnecessary features

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Location detection issues on newer iOS versions
  • 🐛 App crashes on some devices
  • 📱 UI elements sometimes hidden behind status bar
  • 🎨 Plain graphics without visual polish
  • ⚠️ Date doesn't always default to current date

Day & Night Map

From 1.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great app
  • 🚀 Useful for radio hams
  • 👍 Interesting to see sun/moon movement
  • 👍 Excellent for travelers

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Widget issues (doesn't update, resizing)
  • 🐛 Crashes on some devices

Bugs and requests

Daylight

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • Location services not working correctly on iOS 16+
  • App assumes Chicago location regardless of settings
  • Date picker screen displays as white/unreadable
  • Back and Done buttons stuck behind status bar
  • App crashes when opening on some devices
Show 8 more
  • Screen freezes on date changes
  • Incorrect sunset/dusk time calculations
  • Font size changes unexpectedly after updates
  • Date doesn't change automatically
  • Clock display migrates off-screen
  • Crashes in January after new year
  • Incompatibility with iPhone 6 and iPod Touch
  • Daylight savings time not handled correctly

Requested features

12 requests
  • Add hour numerals/numbers to 24-hour clock face
  • Show current date prominently on main screen
  • Manual location selection capability
  • Moonrise and moonset times
  • Countdown timer until sunrise/sunset
Show 7 more
  • Ability to view data for locations other than current location
  • Home screen icon that updates throughout the day
  • Preset alarms that update across time zones
  • Display time remaining until sunset/sunrise
  • Show moon phase information more prominently
  • Text labels option (shorten to N and M)
  • Combination view overlaying all twilight types

Day & Night Map

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Moon position not displayed on iPad
  • Daylight savings time not working properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to keep noon at center and have map move
  • Show analemma and sun position on it
  • 24-hour clock setting for widget
  • Improve moon position display on iPad

In-app purchases

None

Daylight

No in-app purchases

None

Day & Night Map

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Daylight free?
Daylight is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Day & Night Map free?
Day & Night Map is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Daylight or Day & Night Map?
Daylight and Day & Night Map are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 27 and 1.4K ratings respectively.
Do Daylight or Day & Night Map have ads?
Neither Daylight nor Day & Night Map shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Daylight or Day & Night Map?
Daylight ships an update every 3 months, and Day & Night Map every 8 months. Most recently, Daylight was updated on September 29, 2026 and Day & Night Map on September 27, 2026.

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