Comparison

What's Up? vs Galaxy Map

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Simple sky grid display
  • Effortless navigation
  • Time-bar functionality
  • Comprehensive celestial information
  • Observation insights
  • Moon phases
  • Wikipedia links
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Galaxy Map

Explore the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies in an interactive 3D map. Discover nebulae, supernovae, and planets, with stunning visuals based on NASA data. Ideal for education and space enthusiasts.

Highlights
  • Interactive 3D galaxy map
  • Explore nebulae and supernovae
  • Fly through planetary atmospheres
  • Land on planets
  • Based on NASA data
  • Available in 100+ languages
Features
Read full description

The galaxy map is an interactive map of the Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda and their satellite galaxies. Explore the Orion Arm's nebulae and supernovae from the comfort of your spaceship. Fly through the atmosphere of Mars and many other planets and you can even land on them. Discover the galaxy in a stunning three dimensional map based on NASA's artistic impression of the Milky Way galactic structure. Photos are taken by NASA spacecraft and ground based telescopes like Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray, Herschel Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope. This interactive 3D map is excellent for teachers to use for instruction, and it is a great astronomy resource for students to explore the Milky Way galaxy and space as they learn more about the universe we live in. Available in over 100 languages! You can also From the outskirts of the galaxy, in the Norma-Outer spiral arm to the galactic center's supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, discover a galaxy full of amazing facts. Notable structures included: the Pillars of Creation, Helix Nebula, the Engraved Hourglass Nebula, the Pleiades, the Orion Arm (where the solar system and the Earth are located) with its Orion belt. Check out neighboring dwarf galaxies such as Sagittarius and the Canis Major Overdensity, stellar streams as well as internal galactic components such as a variety of nebulae, star clusters or supernovae. Explore space and get a little closer to our wonderful universe with this awesome astronomy app! The Galaxy Map requires internet access to retrieve information from the wiki.

Screenshots

What's Up?3 screens
Galaxy Map4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: What's Up? at none against Galaxy Map's 13. What's Up? also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (12.5 vs 15.0). Galaxy Map's advantage is ratings volume (600 vs 8) and review sentiment (80% vs 58%). On price, rating 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Galaxy Map sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. What's Up? asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for What's Up? against 4.6 for Galaxy Map. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Galaxy Map has 600 ratings behind it against 8, 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 80% of Galaxy Map's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

What's Up? ships an update every 3 months, Galaxy Map every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 5, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
What's Up? versus Galaxy Map: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWhat's Up?Galaxy Map
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (8 ratings)4.6 (600 ratings)
Positive reviews57.9% of reviews80.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings8600 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.5 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB613 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn KennedyAndrei Nistorescu

Customer experience

What's Up?

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive57.9%
Neutral21.1%
Negative21.1%

Galaxy Map

All ratings600 ratings
Positive91.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews100 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral7.0%
Negative13.0%

Bugs and requests

What's Up?

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Galaxy Map

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • App crashes on startup
  • Explore button shows nothing
  • Pinch-to-zoom doesn't work
  • App won't load on iPad
  • Text displays as boxes in language settings
Show 4 more
  • Mars moon orbital speed incorrect
  • App kicks users out during exploration
  • Loading issues and incomplete functionality
  • Inconsistent performance across platforms

Requested features

18 requests
  • Search button to find galaxies and objects
  • More diverse and realistic black hole designs
  • AR feature to identify stars/planets in real sky
  • More free content and objects
  • Exoplanet additions (TRAPPIST-1e, J1407B)
Show 13 more
  • Ability to click on stars within galaxies for details
  • Generated planets around stars
  • Sandbox/creation mode for user-generated content
  • Animation for Milky Way and Andromeda
  • More galaxy variety in the app
  • Coordinates filter for objects
  • Space-Engine style gameplay
  • Flying through galaxies feature
  • More female character customization options
  • VIP version option
  • Brown dwarfs addition
  • Photosphere viewing mode
  • More detailed star information

In-app purchases

None

What's Up?

No in-app purchases

13 purchases

Galaxy Map

One-time13
  • Buy ship - Alien Destroyer$0.99
  • Buy ship - Alien fighter$0.99
  • Remove ads$1.99
Show 10 more
  • Buy ship - Alien Destroyer$1.99
  • Buy ship - Alien fighter$1.99
  • 3D Visualization Pack$1.99
  • Buy ship - Dragon Frigate$1.99
  • Essentials bundle - SALE$2.99
  • Remove ads$3.99
  • 3D Visualization Pack$3.99
  • Ultimate bundle - SALE$4.99
  • Essentials bundle$4.99
  • Ultimate bundle$8.99

Questions

Is What's Up? free?
What's Up? is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Galaxy Map free?
Galaxy Map is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, What's Up? or Galaxy Map?
What's Up? and Galaxy Map are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 8 and 600 ratings respectively.
Do What's Up? or Galaxy Map have ads?
Galaxy Map shows ads; What's Up? does not.
Which is updated more often, What's Up? or Galaxy Map?
What's Up? ships an update every 3 months, and Galaxy Map every 5 weeks. Most recently, What's Up? was updated on September 5, 2026 and Galaxy Map on September 25, 2026.

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