Comparison

Star Rover vs SkyView®

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

Head to head
About

Star Rover

Explore the night sky with this interactive planetarium. Identify stars, planets, and constellations by simply pointing your device. Discover celestial objects, view moon phases, and even simulate future or past sky events.

Highlights
  • Real-time sky map updates
  • Identify stars, planets, constellations
  • View moon phases and nebulae
  • Manual location and time settings
  • Over 120,000 stars
  • 88 constellations with artwork
Read full description

Do you love the starry night? Do you want to know everything in the sky? Star Rover is the fantastic planetarium for your iPhone and iPod touch. Just hold up your iPhone and Star Rover will tell you exactly what you are pointing at. Star Rover determines your location automatically. You'll see the stars, moon, planets, constellations in their proper place from your current location. As you move your iPhone, the star map updates in real time. Star Rover makes the virtual sky a gorgeous view. You can see star twinkling, beautiful nebulae, occasional meteor and even sunset glow in the evening. Star Rover is very easy to use. You can simply change the sky view in settings and use Quick Find for everything you want to know in the night sky. Star Rover lets you set your location manually so you can see the sky from any part of the world. It also lets you travel to the future or the past and see the sky on different dates and times. If you are planning for a solar eclipse, this is the app you need. Features - Over 120,000 stars. - All 88 constellations with beautiful artworks. - Planets and their moons with stunning graphics. - Moon phases. - Real images of Messier objects. - Sky objects information. - Realistic Milky Way. - Equatorial and azimuthal grids. - Sky view underneath the horizon. - Visual magnitude adjustment. - Manually time & date setting. - Manually location setting. - Quick Find. - Point and view (iPhone only, compass support required).

About

SkyView®

Identify stars, constellations, planets, and satellites by simply pointing your device at the sky. This app uses augmented reality to guide you and provides information on celestial objects, upcoming events, and even allows you to travel through time to view the sky on different dates.

Highlights
  • Identify stars, planets, and satellites with AR
  • Discover all 88 constellations
  • Schedule alerts for celestial events
  • Night mode for preserving vision
  • Time travel to view past/future skies
  • Capture and share celestial images
Read full description

SkyView® brings stargazing to everyone. Simply point your iPhone, iPad, or iPod at the sky to identify stars, constellations, planets, satellites, and more! Over 3.2 million downloads. App Store Rewind 2011 -- Best Education App “If you've ever wanted to know what you're looking at in the night sky, this app is the perfect stargazer's companion.” – CNET "If you’ve ever been looking for a stargazing app for your iPhone, then this [is] definitely the one to get." – AppAdvice “SkyView is an Augmented Reality app that lets you see just what delights the sky has to offer.” – 148Apps Editor’s Choice You don't need to be an astronomer to find stars or constellations in the sky, just open SkyView® and let it guide you to their location and identify them. SkyView® is a beautiful and intuitive stargazing app that uses your camera to precisely spot and identify celestial objects in sky, day or night. Find all 88 constellations as they fade in and out while you scan across the sky, locate every planet in our solar system, discover distant galaxies, and witness satellite fly-bys. Features: • Simple: Point your device at the sky to identify galaxies, stars, constellations, planets, and satellites (including the ISS and Hubble) passing overhead at your location. • Sighting Events: schedule alerts for upcoming celestial events. • Apple Watch: see what objects are visible tonight and how to spot them using your Apple Watch. • Today Widget: brand new iOS 8 today widget lets you quickly see upcoming celestial events. • Night Mode: Preserve your night vision with red or green night mode filters. • Augmented Reality (AR): Use your camera to spot objects in the sky, day or night. • Sky Paths: Follow the sky track for any object to see it’s exact location in the sky on any date and time. • Comprehensive: Includes thousands of stars, planets, and satellites with thousands of interesting facts. • Time Travel: Jump to the future or the past and see the sky on different dates and times. • Social: Capture and share beautiful images with friends and family on social networks. • Mobile: WiFi is NOT required (does not require a data signal or GPS to function). Take it camping, boating, or even flying! What a fun way to teach yourself, your children, your students, or your friends about our wonderful universe!

Screenshots

Star Rover4 screens
SkyView®4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: SkyView® at 7.7K against Star Rover's 414. SkyView® also leads on chart position (#3 vs unranked). Star Rover's advantage is review sentiment (89% vs 77%) and price ($1.99 vs $2.99). On rating, update cadence, 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

Star Rover costs $1.99 and SkyView® $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Star Rover holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SkyView® has 7.7K ratings behind it against 414, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 89% of Star Rover's written reviews are positive against 77% of SkyView®'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Star Rover ships an update every 5 months, SkyView® every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Star Rover versus SkyView®: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStar RoverSkyView®
Price$1.99 — better$2.99
Rating4.7 (414 ratings) — better4.6 (7.7K ratings)
Positive reviews89.4% of reviews — better76.8% of reviews
Number of ratings4147.7K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank—#3 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB112 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer寒飞 易Terminal Eleven LLC

Customer experience

Star Rover

All ratings411 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral2.4%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews700 reviews
Positive89.4%
Neutral2.7%
Negative7.9%

SkyView®

All ratings7,665 ratings
Positive89.9%
Neutral2.9%
Negative7.2%
Written reviews852 reviews
Positive76.8%
Neutral7.3%
Negative16.0%

User reviews

Star Rover

From 414 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ⭐ Excellent star-gazing app
  • 🔍 Helpful for identifying stars and constellations
  • 🌌 Detailed information on celestial objects
  • 🌠 Useful for amateur astronomers and enthusiasts
  • 🌌 Accurate and up-to-date sky mapping

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional issues with accuracy and alignment
  • 🔍 Difficulty zooming in on small details
  • 🔋 High battery consumption when used extensively
  • 📱 Compatibility issues with certain device models

SkyView®

From 7.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🔭 Helpful for stargazing and identifying celestial objects
  • 🌌 Provides a lot of information about the night sky
  • 🎶 Relaxing background music
  • 🤩 Amazed by the app's capabilities

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Calibration issues and inaccurate compass
  • 🤷‍♀️ Missing some celestial objects like comets and the James Webb Space Telescope
  • 🌌 Constellation overlays can be obstructive
  • 🙈 Showing stars/planets on walls/floors even when not present
  • 📱 Compatibility issues on certain devices

Bugs and requests

Star Rover

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App crashes when trying to access certain features
  • Incorrect location detection leading to inaccurate sky mapping

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add weather information to predict cloud cover
  • Implement a red night mode for better visibility
  • Introduce a search function to easily find celestial objects
  • Allow users to save custom star gazing locations

SkyView®

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Compass and orientation problems
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between automatic and manual calibration

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more celestial objects like comets, dwarf planets, and the James Webb Space Telescope
  • Improve calibration and compass accuracy
  • Add option to hide constellation overlays
  • Implement a feature to track the International Space Station and other satellites
  • Add a widget for quick access to sky information
Show 1 more
  • Improve support for older devices and iOS versions

In-app purchases

None

Star Rover

No in-app purchases

None

SkyView®

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Star Rover free?
Star Rover costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is SkyView® free?
SkyView® costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Star Rover or SkyView®?
Star Rover is rated higher. Star Rover averages 4.7 out of 5 from 414 ratings, while SkyView® averages 4.6 from 7.7K ratings.
Do Star Rover or SkyView® have ads?
Neither Star Rover nor SkyView® shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Star Rover or SkyView®?
Star Rover ships an update every 5 months, and SkyView® every 4 months. Most recently, Star Rover was updated on November 1, 2026 and SkyView® on November 2, 2026.

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