Explorer vs MNA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Explorer
Navigate a world-renowned museum with ease. This app provides interactive maps, turn-by-turn directions to exhibits and amenities, and personalized recommendations based on your interests. Enhance your visit with behind-the-scenes content and engaging quizzes.
- Interactive museum map
- Turn-by-turn directions
- Customized exhibit recommendations
- Exhibit information and quizzes
- Amenity finder (restrooms, shops)
- Multi-language support
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Download Explorer, the Museum’s free mobile app! Get a map, turn-by-turn directions to exhibits and amenities, customized recommendations for what to see, and more! “A great aid to anyone seeing the museum for the first or 40th time.” - The New York Times Available in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Explorer is automatically set to the language of your device. Map and Turn-by-Turn Directions Get directions to exhibits and amenities, including shortest and accessible routes. Get Recommendations for What to See Explorer recommends exhibits based on interests you select—and sorts them by how close they are to your location. Learn More About the Museum’s Exhibits Go behind the scenes and dive deeper with videos, fun quizzes, and more. Find the Nearest Restroom Explorer provides you the shortest route to restrooms, shops, exits, and more. How does Explorer know where you are? The Museum has placed more than 700 Bluetooth beacons throughout its 45 permanent halls. These tiny beacons give off signals that your phone can detect (when Bluetooth is enabled). Your phone calculates your position based on detecting three of these beacons simultaneously. This triangulation is not always perfect, especially in certain areas like large, multi-level halls, meandering walkways, or stairwells. Your phone should be able to detect the hall that you are in and provide turn-by-turn directions, but sometimes the “blue dot” is not exactly in the right place. In some rare cases it will even be missing. Moving to another area and waiting a few moments will usually fix the issue. The Museum’s free AMNH-GUEST Wi-Fi also varies in strength throughout the complex. Certain materials and large exhibits (i.e. the Blue Whale) either absorb or reflect the radio signals used by Wi-Fi, further complicating this technology. If you experience difficulty connecting to Wi-Fi in a particular part of the Museum, you can usually fix the issue by moving a short distance away. We’d Love to Hear From You! Your feedback is important and will help us improve your Museum experience. Email explorer@amnh.org. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies
MNA
Explore the museum's masterpieces in augmented reality with interactive tours and an audioguide. Navigate the museum using an interactive map to find key artworks. Content is available in both Spanish and English.
- Augmented reality masterpieces
- Interactive museum tours
- Interactive map
- Audioguide for artworks
- Bilingual content (Spanish/English)
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- Conoce la principales obras maestras en Realidad Aumentada. - Disfruta de dos rutas interactivas diseñadas para visitar el MNA. - Usa el mapa interactivo para localizar las obras maestras dentro del museo. - Conoce las características más importantes de las obras maestras gracias a el audioguía. Todo el contenido esta disponible en español e ingles.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Explorer at 3.9 against MNA's 2.6. Explorer also leads on review sentiment (58% vs 17%) and ratings volume (108 vs 5). MNA's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Explorer holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Explorer has 108 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of Explorer's written reviews are positive against 17% of MNA's.
Explorer ships an update every 2 months, MNA every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on August 31, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Explorer | MNA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (108 ratings) — better | 2.6 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 58.1% of reviews — better | 16.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 108 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 88 MB | 340 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | American Museum of Natural History | Jitzu Dynamics SAPI de CV |
Customer experience
Explorer
MNA
Bugs and requests
Explorer
Reported bugs
12 issues- App crashes when accessing membership/ticket linking
- Location services fail to detect user position
- Bluetooth continues tracking after app closes
- Payment confirmation button unresponsive
- Duplicate charges on payment attempts
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- App freezes on food page navigation
- Crashes when changing map levels
- Swiping on image galleries doesn't work
- App won't open or closes immediately
- GPS shows incorrect floor levels
- Directions loop back on themselves
- Maps don't match physical museum layout
Requested features
10 requests- Digital membership card storage
- Apple Pay support for payments
- Search function for exhibits
- Swipe functionality for image galleries
- To-do list based on interests and time
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- Planetarium and show times integration
- Ability to highlight halls on map
- Improved battery optimization
- Current exhibition listings
- Ticket pricing and hours information
MNA
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Explorer
No in-app purchases
MNA
No in-app purchases









