Comparison

Moon Globe HD vs GlobeViewer PRO

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

Head to head
About

Moon Globe HD

Explore Earth's Moon in realistic 3D with this app. View detailed satellite imagery, observe real-time lighting changes, and identify lunar terrain and spacecraft. Switch to Telescope mode to see the Moon from your Earthly perspective.

Highlights
  • Real-time 3D lunar rendering
  • Realistic lighting simulation
  • Multitouch navigation
  • Telescope mode
  • Labeled terrain and spacecraft
  • Dynamic sky compass
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Hold the Moon in your hands. Moon Globe HD turns your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a precision instrument for viewing Earth's Moon. Satellite imagery and topographic laser altimeter data are combined to render the Moon with realistic lighting in realtime 3D. Use the multitouch screen to manipulate the view. Spin above the surface, or switch to Telescope mode to see the Moon as it appears from your location on Earth. Adjust the display time and watch the sunlight shift over the lunar landscape. A "tag cloud" floats just above the surface, labeling terrain features and spacecraft; touch any label to find out more about that feature. Moon Globe also shows you where the Moon and Sun are in the sky with its dynamic sky compass. PLEASE NOTE: Regular Moon Globe is a smaller download and is free. This HD version has slightly, not extremely, better resolution.

About

GlobeViewer PRO

Explore Earth with a high-resolution 3D globe and detailed topography maps. View surface and underwater features, track natural events, and discover millions of place names. Offline data caching is available for continued exploration.

Highlights
  • Interactive 3D globe
  • High-resolution topography maps
  • Surface and underwater views
  • Natural event tracking
  • Offline data caching
  • Millions of place names
Features
Read full description

GlobeViewer is a high resolution 3D terrestrial globe with topography and surface maps. This app enables a high-quality view of the surface of our blue planet. It is divided into two areas: the rotatable, global view as an interactive globe and a high-resolution 3D map representation of the Earth's topography. - Interactive 3D globe with surface, underwater and topography maps - High-resolution 3D topography map set of the entire Earth's surface - divided into 22,912 individual tiles. You can load 110 different regions onto the interactive globe, which then present the many individual tiles in a meaningful, connected way and reload them automatically. The app initially only contains the textures for the globe in low resolution. All required downloads are automatically loaded from our server. A total of around 105 GB of data is available. The data remains in the cache on your device for offline use, but can be deleted at any time in the main menu. Furthermore, all events recorded by the GDACS, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, etc., are entered on the globe. The 3D topography map is based on the elevation data from the NASA Terra probe, which recorded 83° of the northern and southern hemispheres between 2000 and 2013 - this is the result of the ASTER3-DEM. With version 0.10.0, the map is enriched with around 7.5 million place names from geonames.org. This means that all the towns, mountains, lakes, deserts and many other geographical features entered there are shown on the map. From version 0.12.0, data from OpenStreetMaps (buildings, borders, streets...) is also available on the tiles - but only for the demos and the purchased maps. Use the tutorial in the app to get started quickly or read the manual to find out which functions are included in this app. Since the app is still under development, some functions may still change. We hope you enjoy using GlobeViewer!

Screenshots

Moon Globe HD4 screens
GlobeViewer PRO4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Moon Globe HD at 91% against GlobeViewer PRO's 0%. Moon Globe HD also leads on price ($0.99 vs $14.99) and rating (4.7 vs 1.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Moon Globe HD costs $0.99 and GlobeViewer PRO $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Moon Globe HD holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Moon Globe HD has 149 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Moon Globe HD's written reviews are positive against 0% of GlobeViewer PRO's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Moon Globe HD ships an update every 6 months, GlobeViewer PRO every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and August 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Moon Globe HD versus GlobeViewer PRO: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMoon Globe HDGlobeViewer PRO
Price$0.99 — better$14.99
Rating4.7 (149 ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews90.6% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings149 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#183 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS7.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size245 MB236 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMidnight MartianRAB-Software

Customer experience

Moon Globe HD

All ratings149 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.7%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews149 reviews
Positive90.6%
Neutral7.4%
Negative2.0%

GlobeViewer PRO

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

Moon Globe HD

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • App not updated in 8 years, compatibility concerns
  • Support links lead to dead URLs
  • Location services don't work accurately
  • Terminator line appears fuzzy instead of sharp
  • iPad version lacks smooth telescope view access
Show 8 more
  • Search feature causes app to exit telescope mode
  • Feature search doesn't maintain feature visibility after search
  • White text invisible on bright crater areas
  • No zoom difference between free and HD versions (reported by some users)
  • Unexpected app closure when sharing wiki pages to OneNote
  • Aliasing/jagging artifacts along lunar horizon
  • Label resolution degrades when zoomed in
  • Latitude/longitude perspective feature not functioning

Requested features

21 requests
  • Mouse and trackpad support for Mac and iPad
  • Zoom and scroll buttons for easier navigation
  • Update with latest lunar landers and missions
  • Topography, gravity, and magnetic field maps
  • Moon phase names (full moon, new moon, etc.)
Show 16 more
  • Grid overlay for scale reference
  • Measurement tool similar to Google Earth
  • Higher resolution imagery and greater zoom depth
  • Lunar latitude and longitude coordinates display
  • Libration information and ephemeris data
  • Selenographic co-longitude of sun
  • Secondary crater nomenclature
  • Ranger spacecraft impact points
  • Print and save functionality
  • Earth glow simulation option
  • Transparent labels to show terrain context
  • Improved text contrast with black borders on white labels
  • Observing list feature to keep selected features highlighted
  • Manual coordinate entry for location
  • High-resolution labels when zoomed in
  • Automatic location feature improvements

GlobeViewer PRO

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Moon Globe HD

No in-app purchases

None

GlobeViewer PRO

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Moon Globe HD free?
Moon Globe HD costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is GlobeViewer PRO free?
GlobeViewer PRO costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Moon Globe HD or GlobeViewer PRO?
Moon Globe HD is rated higher. Moon Globe HD averages 4.7 out of 5 from 149 ratings, while GlobeViewer PRO averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Moon Globe HD or GlobeViewer PRO have ads?
Neither Moon Globe HD nor GlobeViewer PRO shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Moon Globe HD or GlobeViewer PRO?
Moon Globe HD ships an update every 6 months, and GlobeViewer PRO every 3 months. Most recently, Moon Globe HD was updated on September 24, 2026 and GlobeViewer PRO on August 26, 2026.

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