What's Up? vs Mars Info
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
What's Up?
Discover celestial bodies visible in the night sky with this intuitive app. Easily track planets, the Sun, and Moon, and forecast their appearance. Access detailed information and moon phases, with support for the Southern Hemisphere.
- Simple sky grid display
- Effortless navigation
- Time-bar functionality
- Comprehensive celestial information
- Observation insights
- Moon phases
- Wikipedia links
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Whether you're deciding if it's worth setting up your telescope or simply curious about that bright 'star,' What's Up? is the perfect companion for sky enthusiasts. Key Features: • Simple Sky Grid Display: View the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets on an intuitive grid representing the night sky. • Effortless Navigation: No augmented reality or motion tracking needed—just a straightforward display to see what's up. • Time-Bar Functionality: Slide the time-bar to forecast the appearance of your favorite planets and their directions. • Comprehensive Information: Displays the location of the Sun, Moon, planets, and even Pluto. • Observation Insights: Instantly identify which celestial objects are prime for observation. • Moon Phases: Stay updated with the current moon phase. • Wikipedia Links: Dive deeper with quick access to Wikipedia pages for detailed information. • Southern Hemisphere Support: Sky-watchers down south are covered too. • Minimal Network Usage: Only needed for Wikipedia access. • Note: Localizations are limited to planet names. For a full 3D rendered experience with motion tracking, check out our award-winning companion app, Pocket Universe. If you already own Pocket Universe, you'll find What's Up? familiar yet even more user-friendly, with a sleeker design and quicker access to the "Currently Visible" mode, and basic Apple Watch support.
Mars Info
Explore the Red Planet with an interactive 3D globe. Discover and learn about key Martian locations like volcanoes, craters, and mountains. View detailed information including size and coordinates for each point of interest.
- Interactive 3D globe with gesture controls
- Pinpoint 80+ interesting Martian locations
- Detailed information on locations
- Zoom, rotate, and tilt controls
- List of selectable locations
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Explore Mars using simple gestures to rotate a globe, tilt, zoom and select locations. Credits - Viking Orbiter MDIM 2.1 map of Mars - NASA NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio: GMM-3 MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) Topography map GMM-3 Free-Air Mars Gravity map GMM-3 Bouguer Mars Gravity map GMM-3 Crustal Mars Thickness map Features: - Ability to pinpoint about 80 the most interesting areas on the map of Mars, including volcanos, craters, plains, mountains, spacecrafts. - Displaying some information about the location, such as its name, type, short description, size and coordinates. - Ability to select locations on the 3D globe and on the plain list. - Zoom, rotation, tilt of the globe.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: What's Up? at Free against Mars Info's $6.99. What's Up? also leads on review sentiment (58% vs 42%) and iOS requirement (12.5 vs 17.0). Mars Info's advantage is ratings volume (159 vs 9). 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
What's Up? is free to download; Mars Info costs $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for What's Up? against 4.3 for Mars Info. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mars Info has 159 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 58% of What's Up?'s written reviews are positive against 42% of Mars Info's.
What's Up? ships an update every 3 months, Mars Info every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | What's Up? | Mars Info |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $6.99 |
| Rating | 4.2 (9 ratings) | 4.3 (159 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.9% of reviews — better | 41.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9 | 159 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 12.5 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 49 MB | 212 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Kennedy | Viktor Goltvyanytsya |
Customer experience
What's Up?
Mars Info
In-app purchases
What's Up?
No in-app purchases
Mars Info
No in-app purchases
