Comparison

TimeTree vs Space Telescope App

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

Head to head
About

TimeTree

Explore a vast public knowledge base of evolutionary timescales and divergence times among organisms. This app uses a hierarchical system to find and present molecular time estimates from scientific literature, allowing users to compare species and view summary statistics.

Highlights
  • Explore evolutionary timescales
  • View organism divergence times
  • Access scientific literature data
  • Hierarchical tree-based system
  • Compute summary statistics
  • Compare species divergence
Features
Read full description

TimeTree 4 is a public knowledge-base for information on the evolutionary timescale of life. This application allows easy exploration of the thousands of divergence times among organisms in the scientific literature. A tree-based (hierarchical) system is used to identify all published molecular time estimates bearing on the divergence of two chosen organisms, such as species, compute summary statistics, and present the results. Names of two taxa to be compared are entered in the search window and the results are presented on a set of self-explanatory tabs. TimeTree 4 contains data from 2,274 studies including 50,632 species. We will be adding more data in the future as it comes in from researchers. TimeTree 4 requires iOS 8.0 or newer. The TimeTree project is jointly directed by Blair Hedges (Center for Biodiversity, Temple University) and Sudhir Kumar (Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine, Temple University). This project has been supported, in part, by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, NASA Astrobiology Institute, and Science Foundation of Arizona.

About

Space Telescope App

Explore the universe with real-time updates and stunning visuals from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Engage with expert insights, join community discussions, and test your knowledge with interactive quizzes. Discover distant galaxies and unlock the secrets of the early universe.

Highlights
  • Live mission updates
  • Breathtaking image gallery
  • Expert Q&A with astronomers
  • Community discussions
  • Interactive space quizzes
  • 3D solar system explorer
  • Exclusive wallpapers
Features
Read full description

Space Telescope is an astronomy app for people who actually go outside and look up. See what the James Webb Space Telescope is observing right now. Decide whether tonight is worth staying out for. Catch the next visible ISS pass over your own location, and follow the rocket launches coming up. WHAT WEBB IS LOOKING AT, RIGHT NOW Webb's current target, science category, proposal, instruments and scheduled times, refreshed every five minutes while the view is open. Tap through to the proposal or the full observation schedule. A REAL PLAN FOR METEOR NIGHT Most meteor apps hand you a peak date. This one tells you what you will actually see. Set your location and how dark your sky is, and get an honest meteors-per-hour range, the best viewing window, where to look, how much the Moon will wash out, and what 30, 60 or 90 minutes outside is likely to be worth. Two alerts that matter: a heads-up the evening before, and a nudge when your window opens. Cloud cover is not included, so check the weather before you commit. THE ISS, OVER YOUR HOUSE Live position, altitude, velocity and orbit, plus crew, expeditions, dockings and visiting vehicles. Seven days of passes for your location with quality, direction, peak elevation and duration - set a 10-minute alert or drop the pass straight into your calendar. LAUNCH DAY Upcoming launches with live countdowns, status, provider, rocket, pad, launch window and webcast link. One tap for a reminder 15 minutes before liftoff. GALLERIES WORTH SCROLLING Imagery and mission guides for James Webb, Hubble, Chandra, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, Artemis, Mars and the ISS. Follow Roman's countdown, instruments and journey to L2. Pinch to zoom, save, share, like and comment. Turn on alerts only for the galleries you care about. PICTURE OF THE DAY NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, image or video, with the full expert explanation and an optional daily alert. AND WHEN YOU WANT MORE - Tonight Sky: sunrise, sunset, Moon phase, illumination and twilight - Space Weather: Kp index, solar wind, aurora probability and active alerts - Cosmic Calendar: meteor showers, eclipses and other sky events - Exoplanets: discovery method and year, distance, orbit, mass, radius, temperature, host star and habitable-zone marker - Community astrophotography: post your own shots with gear and conditions - Space wallpapers for your phone - Quizzes, points, levels and global leaderboards - Ask an Astronomer, and live chat rooms in 10 languages - Full interface in English and Spanish PREMIUM Space Telescope is free, with ads. Premium removes every ad, unlocks the premium wallpaper collection and adds a gold avatar ring. Choose a monthly or annual subscription, or pay once for lifetime access, which also grants 1,000,000 points and Diamond level straight away. Subscriptions are charged to your Apple Account and renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the current period ends. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Whether you follow Webb every day, plan a Perseids or Geminids watch, photograph the night sky, teach astronomy, or just want to know when the ISS will cross overhead, Space Telescope keeps the useful details in one place. Space Telescope is an independent astronomy app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA, ESA, STScI, SpaceX or any launch provider. Data and imagery are credited to their respective sources. Privacy policy: https://jameswebbtracker.com/privacy-policy Terms of use (Apple standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

TimeTree4 screens
Space Telescope App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: TimeTree at none against Space Telescope App's 4. TimeTree also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (65% vs 40%). Space Telescope App's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (30 vs 10). On price, rating 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Space Telescope App sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. TimeTree asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.0 for TimeTree against 4.0 for Space Telescope App. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 30 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 65% of TimeTree's written reviews are positive against 40% of Space Telescope App's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TimeTree ships an update every 8 months, Space Telescope App every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
TimeTree versus Space Telescope App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTimeTreeSpace Telescope App
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (10 ratings)4.0 (30 ratings)
Positive reviews65.1% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1030 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size66 MB104 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperArizona and Penn State UniversitiesKAKHA GIORGASHVILI

Customer experience

TimeTree

All ratings10 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews43 reviews
Positive65.1%
Neutral2.3%
Negative32.6%

Space Telescope App

All ratings30 ratings
Positive73.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

TimeTree

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Space Telescope App

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Ad-Free Plan$4.991 Month
  • Ad-Free Annual Access$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Premium$2.99
  • Buy 1M Points$99.99

Questions

Is TimeTree free?
TimeTree is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Space Telescope App free?
Space Telescope App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TimeTree or Space Telescope App?
TimeTree and Space Telescope App are both rated 4.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 10 and 30 ratings respectively.
Do TimeTree or Space Telescope App have ads?
Space Telescope App shows ads; TimeTree does not.
Which is updated more often, TimeTree or Space Telescope App?
TimeTree ships an update every 8 months, and Space Telescope App every 10 days. Most recently, TimeTree was updated on September 21, 2026 and Space Telescope App on October 7, 2026.

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