Comparison

StarPilot vs Celestial Navigation

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

Head to head
About

StarPilot

This app provides advanced celestial navigation computations for iPhone and iPod touch. It offers mathematical and graphic solutions for position fixes, great circle sailing, and more, including lunar distance methods and a sight planner for accurate results.

Highlights
  • Celestial sight reductions
  • Position fixes and great circle sailing
  • Lunar distance method for GMT
  • Graphical Sight Planner
  • Sight Analyzer function
  • Menu-driven interface
  • Perpetual almanac
Features
Read full description

The state-of-the-art solution to navigation computations on your iPhone or iPod touch. StarPilot does celestial sight reductions of all bodies using high-precision internal almanac, plus mathematical and graphic solutions for position fixes, great circle, rhumb line, traverse and composite sailings, all current problems, piloting solutions, and much more...including lunar distance method of finding GMT from the sky and a unique graphical Sight Planner, and the new Sight Analyzer function that helps you get the most accurate results from a series of sights. The StarPilot is the self sufficient state of the art solution to ocean navigation, fully up-gradeable with free upgrades available via Internet download, easy to use operation from logical menu lists, plus illustrated context sensitive help with practice exercises. The StarPilot requires no external resources to complete its computations. Internet access is not required to use this program or to access any of its help files. General program design features... that save time, keystrokes, and minimize errors - Easy to use menu-driven interface - Stored settings of commonly used values - All bodies and star names stored internally, no need for separate lists - DR functions integrated with the celestial functions - Convenient DR updating by log or time - Input courses as true or magnetic - Convenient time input, with or without zone description and watch error - Graphing calculator plots LOPS, Fixes, DR positions, and Star maps - Program can be easily updated to incorporate latest version and features - Custom menu bar for quick navigation to often-used functions Sight Planning - Sunrise, Sunset, times and bearings (amplitudes) - LAN, time, Equation of time, Hs max at LAN1 - Nautical and Civil twilight times, and LHA Aries at midpoint between them - Moonrise, Moonset, Moon phase, and Moon age - Precompute specific values of Hc and Zn for any body - Planet and Star ID by observed height and bearing - SIGHT PLANNER function plots full sky showing moon, stars, and planets in Radar-like display of heights and bearings. Set Hc min/max and max number of stars before computation. Set cursor and click to read the actual height and bearing of a plotted body. - Special fast almanac mode allows full sky plot - Display internal list of 173 stars by name, brightness, and location - Unique BEST SIGHTS function selects the optimum triads of sights for any sky Sight Reduction - Optional modes for sequential sights using repeated settings or unrelated individual sights - Perpetual almanac accurate to 2100+ - Historically accurate almanac data to 16th century - Sight reduction of Sun, Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn... plus Mercury! - Sight Reduction of 173 stars plus Polaris - “Assumed positions” read directly from DR section without extra input - View intercepts (a-values) with or without course and speed corrections - Full input data displayed with results to check for errors - Special center-body mode for artificial horizon data - Dip-short mode for practice at shorelines Celestial Fixes - Unique SIGHT ANALYZER fits a sequence of sights to the right slope for optimum sight selection - All fixes corrected automatically for course and speed as needed - Fix accuracy independent of DR accuracy in all cases - Plots LOPS with live cursor position display - Fix computed by USNO algorithm in the Nautical Almanac - Zoom in on plot to see where computed fix is located - Fix can be obtained by graphic selection from the LOP plot - Automatic display of DR-to-Fix range and bearing - Optional automatic update of DR after fix - Display new course and distance to stored destination

About

Celestial Navigation

This application assists with celestial navigation by performing sextant sight reduction calculations. It displays intermediate numbers for verification and can draw lines of position on a map. Features include a perpetual nautical almanac and a star finder to identify celestial bodies.

Highlights
  • Sextant sight reduction calculations
  • Perpetual nautical almanac
  • Line of position calculation and plotting
  • Star Finder for celestial identification
  • Save and manage sextant readings
  • Display intermediate calculation numbers
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

This app does all the calculations to reduce a sextant reading to a line of position on the map. All intermediate numbers are shown to check your manual calculations. • Perpetual nautical almanac • Calculation of the line of position (azimuth and distance) • Draws the line of position on the map. • Star Finder: just point your device to the sky to identify the navigational stars. • Save your readings, choose what to show on the map. A sextant is required to make full use of this app.

Screenshots

StarPilot4 screens
Celestial Navigation4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Celestial Navigation at $1.99 against StarPilot's $49.99. Celestial Navigation also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 4 months) and chart position (#83 vs unranked). StarPilot's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.2). On review sentiment, ratings volume, 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

StarPilot costs $49.99 and Celestial Navigation $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

StarPilot holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 15 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of StarPilot's written reviews are positive against 77% of Celestial Navigation's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StarPilot ships an update every 4 months, Celestial Navigation every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
StarPilot versus Celestial Navigation: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarPilotCelestial Navigation
Price$49.99$1.99 — better
Rating4.9 (8 ratings) — better4.2 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews77.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings815 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#83 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarpath CorpDr. Harald Merkel

Customer experience

StarPilot

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative20.0%

Celestial Navigation

All ratings15 ratings
Positive73.3%
Neutral13.3%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive77.3%
Neutral13.6%
Negative9.1%

In-app purchases

None

StarPilot

No in-app purchases

None

Celestial Navigation

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StarPilot free?
StarPilot costs $49.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Celestial Navigation free?
Celestial Navigation costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, StarPilot or Celestial Navigation?
StarPilot is rated higher. StarPilot averages 4.9 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Celestial Navigation averages 4.2 from 15 ratings.
Do StarPilot or Celestial Navigation have ads?
Neither StarPilot nor Celestial Navigation shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StarPilot or Celestial Navigation?
StarPilot ships an update every 4 months, and Celestial Navigation every 5 days. Most recently, StarPilot was updated on September 29, 2026 and Celestial Navigation on October 1, 2026.

Other comparisons