Moonrise vs Day & Night Map
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Moonrise
Get accurate moon phase, sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset times for any location on Earth and any date between 1900 and 2099. Features crisp graphics, DST accounting, and offline calculations for precise astronomical data.
- Accurate moon phase data
- Sunrise and sunset times
- Moonrise and moonset times
- Global location support
- Date range 1900-2099
- Daylight Saving Time accounting
- Offline calculations
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AVIA Moonrise is an application that presents an accurate moon phase and the official sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset times for any place on Earth and for any date between Jan 1,1900 and Dec 31, 2099. The application instantly shows the appearance and events for your iPhone's current location, and you can quickly check any location in the world using the map view. Perfect for fishing or hunting trips, or astronomers and astrologers. The calculations for events are accurate to a few minutes of the US Naval Observatory sun and moon calendars, and it doesn't rely on large astronomical data updates, nor on-line sites. In fact, it never accesses the Internet! This avoids any roaming charges from your operator. If you use the map function, you naturally need to have internet access. Special Features: - informative, at-a-glance views with crisp graphics - reports if the Sun or the Moon never sets or rises at a location on a certain day - accounts for Daylight Saving Time for use in any country and any date - map view supports planning trips ahead to "on-the-hour" timezones sharing the phone location's Daylight Saving Time - all algorithms have been updated to include the latest modifications, and verified against the US Naval Observatory and major astronomy sites. AVIA Moonrise is quick, easy to use, and universal!
Day & Night Map
Visualize the Earth's day and night cycles on an interactive world map. Select any date and time to see current illumination, or create animated GIFs of changing light patterns.
- Real-time day/night map
- Selectable date and time
- Animated GIF creation
- Minute-by-minute updates
- Global illumination visualization
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Day & Night Map shows you exactly which parts of Earth are in daylight and which are in darkness — right now, or at any date and time you choose. Watch the terminator move across the globe as hours and days pass. Explore sunrise, sunset, and twilight around the world. Perfect for travellers, astronomers, photographers, teachers, and anyone curious about time on our planet. KEY FEATURES • Live world map of day and night • Move through time with intuitive date and time controls • Jump back to the current moment with one tap • Pinch to zoom and pan across the map • Full-screen map view • Home Screen widgets in multiple sizes (including Extra Large on iPad) • Configurable widgets: sun, moon, moon phase, twilight, icon size, and more • Show sun and moon positions on the map • Display the current moon phase • Twilight zones: smooth shading or separate civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight • Equator and tropics lines • Show your current location on the map (optional) • Display time in local time or UTC • Light, dark, or system appearance • Share a map image by email, message, and more • Create animations over a chosen time range • Export animations as animated GIFs ANIMATIONS Pick a start and end date, set the step interval and speed, and watch the day/night line move over hours or days. Play the animation in the app or create an animated GIF to share. HOME SCREEN WIDGET Add the widget to your Home Screen and keep the current day/night map at a glance. Customize what is shown and how it looks directly when adding or editing the widget.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Day & Night Map at 4.8 against Moonrise's 2.9. Day & Night Map also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and review sentiment (76% vs 45%). Moonrise's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 7 months) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 17.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Day & Night Map holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Day & Night Map has 1.4K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 45% of Moonrise's written reviews are positive against 76% of Day & Night Map's.
Moonrise ships an update every 3 months, Day & Night Map every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Moonrise | Day & Night Map |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.9 (7 ratings) | 4.8 (1.4K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.9% of reviews | 76.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 1.4K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 7.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AVIA | Volker Voecking Software Engineering |
Customer experience
Moonrise
Day & Night Map
User reviews
Moonrise
From 7 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and clear display
- 🚀 Fast loading times
- 💡 Shows moon rise/set and sun rise/set
- 👍 Easy to change dates and locations
- 💡 Nice moon and sun imagery
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inaccurate moon times
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Cannot set location
- 🐛 Times are off by hours or days
- 🐛 App is worthless without location
Day & Night Map
From 1.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great app
- 🚀 Useful for radio hams
- 👍 Interesting to see sun/moon movement
- 👍 Excellent for travelers
Room to improve
- 🐛 Widget issues (doesn't update, resizing)
- 🐛 Crashes on some devices
Bugs and requests
Moonrise
Reported bugs
21 issues- App crashes when trying to set location
- Moon rise and set times not displayed for first quarter
- App closes immediately
- App crashes every time anything is attempted
- Location services not working
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- Daylight saving time not accounted for
- Time zone errors
- Moon phase calculations are off by days
- App does not work on iPhone 4s
- App gives date and nothing else
- App crashes when trying to pin location
- App crashes when trying to set location
- Location not working
- No sunrise/sunset time displays
- Manual setting of location is not working
- App crashes when trying to do anything
- App crashes when trying to set location
- App crashes when trying to set location
- App crashes when trying to set location
- App crashes when trying to set location
- App crashes when trying to set location
Requested features
6 requests- Add a "Today" button for date selection
- Display the selected location on the main screen
- Integrate tides
- Show percentage of moon lit
- Allow viewing moon in its actual inclination as seen in the sky
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- Add a back and forward arrow to cycle to next full moon etc.
Day & Night Map
Reported bugs
2 issues- Moon position not displayed on iPad
- Daylight savings time not working properly
Requested features
4 requests- Option to keep noon at center and have map move
- Show analemma and sun position on it
- 24-hour clock setting for widget
- Improve moon position display on iPad
In-app purchases
Moonrise
No in-app purchases
Day & Night Map
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Moonrise free?
Is Day & Night Map free?
Which has better reviews, Moonrise or Day & Night Map?
Do Moonrise or Day & Night Map have ads?
Which is updated more often, Moonrise or Day & Night Map?
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