Spyglass vs AR
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Spyglass
This app is a comprehensive offline navigation tool for outdoor and off-road adventures. It combines a high-tech compass, GPS receiver, and augmented reality display with numerous tools for tracking, measuring, and celestial observation.
- Offline GPS and maps
- Augmented reality display
- Advanced compass and gyrocompass
- Waypoint tracking and navigation
- Sun, Moon, and star finder
- Optical rangefinder
- Camera with GPS data overlay
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Spyglass is an essential offline GPS app for outdoors and off-road navigation. Packed with tools it serves as binoculars, heads-up display, hi-tech compass with offline maps, gyrocompass, GPS receiver, waypoint tracker, speedometer, altimeter, Sun, Moon and star finder, gyro horizon, rangefinder, coordinate converter, sextant, inclinometer, angular calculator and camera. It saves your custom places and waypoints, navigates precisely to them later, shows them on maps and using real-time augmented reality displays detailed GPS info, measures distances, sizes, angles, and does a lot more. COMPASS & GYROCOMPASS Accuracy improvement techniques, special compass modes and calibration methods available in Spyglass only make it a real instrument – the most advanced and accurate digital compass. FINDER, TRACKER & AR NAVIGATION Spyglass operates in 3D and uses augmented reality to show real-time object positions, info and directions to them overlaid over camera or maps. Save current position, add points from maps, manually enter location coordinates and bearings, add stars by hand or use a built-in star catalogue. Find saved places and objects later simply by following directional arrows. Spyglass tracks multiple targets simultaneously and shows their info – distance, direction, azimuth, elevation and estimated time of arrival. Copy, paste and share locations, coordinates and map links using many supported formats. GPS, SPEEDOMETER & ALTIMETER Find and track your location and get detailed real-time GPS data – coordinates in dozens of formats, altitude, course, current, maximum and vertical speed, using imperial, metric, nautical and surveying units. OFFLINE MAPS See your and targets’ positions on maps using different map styles and alternative map providers – plan waypoints and measure distances. Offline maps optimized for retina displays are available for download. TRACK STARS, SUN AND MOON & NAVIGATE BY STARS Track positions of stars, Sun and Moon with arc second precision – use them as a reference to calibrate compass for maximum accuracy. OPTICAL RANGEFINDER Measure distances to objects in real time with a rangefinder reticle similar to sniper sights. SEXTANT, ANGULAR CALCULATOR AND INCLINOMETER Find out heights of objects and distances to them – measure visually and calculate dimensions and distances. CAMERA Take pictures overlaid with all available GPS, positional and directional data. DEMO & HELP Videos: http://j.mp/spyglass_vids Manuals: http://j.mp/spyglass_help If you need specific map sources for hiking, cycling, skiing and many more outdoor activities, feel free to enjoy Spyglass PLUS. At confirmation of the Spyglass PLUS purchase, payment will be charged to your iTunes account, and it will be charged for renewal within 24-hours before the end of the current period. Automatic renewal can be turned off at any time in your Account Settings after purchase. After the cancellation of the renewal, Spyglass Plus will expire at the end of the current period. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact us at https://spyglassnav.com Privacy Policy: https://www.unblip.com/tmp/privacy_and_terms/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.unblip.com/tmp/privacy_and_terms/terms.html
AR
Navigate to destinations using augmented reality. This app overlays walking paths and directional arrows onto your device's camera view, guiding you to your chosen location. Simply select a point on the map or enter an address to begin.
- Augmented reality path visualization
- MapKit, CoreLocation, and ARKit integration
- Walking route guidance
- Destination search by map selection or address input
- AR view for real-time navigation
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This app joins the power of the device's location and its Augmented Reality capabilities to provide you with the best AR-Maps experience. The app uses MapKit, CoreLocation and ARKit to place a path and arrows guiding the user to the desired destination. All the user needs to do is press on a location on the map or type an address within a 10 mile radius from the users location, then the shortest walking path to the location will be displayed, press on the button label AR on the right bottom corner of the map and it'll take you to the AR View, the path will then automatically be render for you.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Spyglass at 4.7 against AR's 3.7. Spyglass also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 12 months) and ratings volume (3.9K vs 3). AR's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, review sentiment, ads 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
Both are free to download. Spyglass sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. AR asks for nothing beyond the download.
Spyglass holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spyglass has 3.9K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 80% and 80% positive.
Spyglass ships an update every 6 weeks, AR every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Spyglass | AR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3.9K ratings) — better | 3.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.2% of reviews — better | 80.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3.9K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 12 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Best chart rank | #142 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.4 — better | 14.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 66 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pavel Ahafonau | Johan Gonzalez |
Customer experience
Spyglass
AR
Bugs and requests
Spyglass
Reported bugs
3 issues- Compass not always accurate or consistent
- Freezing or unresponsive issues after updates
- Difficulty syncing waypoints and locations
Requested features
5 requests- Improved waypoint and location management
- Larger text and UI elements for better readability
- Integration with popular mapping and navigation apps
- Offline elevation data and terrain analysis
- Apple Watch companion app for on-the-go use
AR
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Spyglass
- Spyglass Plus$3.991 Month
- Spyglass Plus (Month)3 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Spyglass Plus (Year)7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Spyglass Pro (Lifetime)$39.99
AR
No in-app purchases









