StarPilot vs Compass Eye Bearing Compass
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
Compass Eye Bearing Compass
This augmented reality compass app overlays bearing markers and zoom capabilities onto your camera view, offering advanced navigation features for land, sea, and air. It provides real-time map views, GPS data, and triangulation tools for precise direction finding.
- Augmented reality compass overlay
- 8x digital zoom
- Bearing markers and lines
- Live map view with GPS
- Triangulation bearings
- Magnetic or True North setting
- Artificial Horizon
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Professional Augmented Reality Bearing Compass with real-time camera and map views, bearing markers and up to 8x zoom providing Compass Binocular features at a fraction of the cost. "..works nicely, we tried it out at the Voiles d'Antibes...the Captain's response when trying it out was 'Cool!'." - Boatbookings, The World's Leading Online Yacht Charter Broker Compass Eye can be used to help with navigation on land, sea or air as a bearing or marching compass. Compass Eye is fully gimballed and works accurately in all orientations and angles when held vertical and horizontal. “This app is a compass on steroids! It is fully gimballed so it will work in any orientation on your iPhone or iPad. You can use it on land while hiking or as a hand bearing compass on the ocean or in the air while flying.” i-Marine Apps "The app's compass works way better than the iOS default compass and I don't have to wave my iPhone in the air every time I launch the app." Gizmodo Review (App of The Day, 6th December). MAIN FEATURES - Real time, accurate in all orientations - Compass overlaid on live camera view - 8x Digital zoom - Back, transit, or collision bearing markers - Draggable Green and red bearing lines - Triangulation bearings - Optional time, date and GPS location information - Magnetic or True North setting with variation based on location - Live map view with position and track - Artificial Horizon with roll and pitch readout - Night Vision and FLIROne® Infra-red support - Location sharing - Longitude and latitude degree display in DD° MM.mmm', DD° MM' SS.ss" and now DD.ddd° - iOS Dark mode support - Full screen on iPhoneX and later devices Enabling GPS also shows the Speed Over Ground (SOG) , Course Over Ground (COG) and optional COG bearing (purple). HOW TO USE Taking a bearing - look through your iPhone at the distant object, line it up with the centre line and read off the bearing! Zoom in to get more accuracy. Setting a bearing - look through your iPhone at the point you want to get to, tap the Bearing button (Top right) and follow the yellow bearing line. Setting a bearing from the map - lay the iPhone flat, rotate or drag a bearing line to line up with the point you are aiming for and follow that bearing. Triangulation - use the three bearing lines - yellow green and red to take bearings on 3 points. Capture the view including compass, bearings, time and location information (Camera button on left of screen) and then use the photo to plot a fix on a chart. Clearance bearings to a point on an approach - set one line to the minimum bearing (e.g. the angle the target must bear greater than) and the other line to the maximum bearing and navigate between the two. Use the colours according to the IALA lateral markings to help you remember which way to steer. e.g. in North America use red for the minimum bearing and green for the maximum (vice-versa in Europe!). SPECIFICATIONS Based on the iPhone camera the image specification at full zoom compares favourably with a 7x50 pair of binoculars: - Field of Vision at 1000m at 8x: 122m - Angle of view at 8x: approx 7 degrees - ISO 3200 or better. NAVIGATION SAFETY Compass Eye should only be used for basic navigation assistance. Never rely solely on the digital compass for determining direction, proximity or distance. The user is responsible for the prudent use of information provided by this application and must not use it for direct navigation. Requirements: iOS device with back facing Camera, Magnetometer and accelerometer (gps is optional). N.B. Battery consumption can go up considerably when the iPhone's GPS is enabled, Compass Eye allows you to turn off location display to preserve battery life. Terms of Use: http://seanav.net/termsofuse.php Privacy Policy: http://seanav.net/privacy.php Support: help@pocketmariner.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Compass Eye Bearing Compass at $4.99 against StarPilot's $49.99. StarPilot's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). On review sentiment, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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
StarPilot costs $49.99 and Compass Eye Bearing Compass $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
StarPilot holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 5 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of StarPilot's written reviews are positive against 72% of Compass Eye Bearing Compass's.
StarPilot ships an update every 4 months, Compass Eye Bearing Compass every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | StarPilot | Compass Eye Bearing Compass |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49.99 | $4.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.9 (8 ratings) — better | 4.6 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better | 72.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 94 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Starpath Corp | Pocket Mariner Ltd. |
Customer experience
StarPilot
Compass Eye Bearing Compass
In-app purchases
StarPilot
No in-app purchases
Compass Eye Bearing Compass
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is StarPilot free?
Is Compass Eye Bearing Compass free?
Which has better reviews, StarPilot or Compass Eye Bearing Compass?
Do StarPilot or Compass Eye Bearing Compass have ads?
Which is updated more often, StarPilot or Compass Eye Bearing Compass?
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