What's Up? vs ShowSky
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.
ShowSky
Explore the night sky with this astronomy app. It provides detailed views of stars, constellations, and deep space objects, helping you understand their positions and identify them in real-time by pointing your device.
- 180-degree sky map with flat horizon
- 360-degree visible sky map
- Real-time sky tracking view
- Detailed views of stars, constellations, and deep space objects
- Planet identification
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ShowSky is an astronomy app for everyone. It is designed to let you easily understand and learn the sky in front of you. It gives you a complete view including stars, constellations and deep space objets including photos. The 180 deg map shows you the whole sky in front of you with a flat horizon just as you see it. The 360 deg map shows you the whole visible sky at this moment and the "track" view allows you to point your device towards the sky and see in details what is there. Just turn around to see all currently visible constellation and objects. ShowSky's maps shows you not one or a small number of constellations, but the whole sky allowing you to understand their relative positions in the sky. Planet are also included.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: What's Up? at 4.6 against ShowSky's 3.8. What's Up? also leads on update cadence (every 3 months vs every 48 months). ShowSky's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 58%) and iOS requirement (9.2 vs 12.5). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
What's Up? holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 5 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 58% of What's Up?'s written reviews are positive against 100% of ShowSky's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
What's Up? ships an update every 3 months, ShowSky every 48 months. The most recent releases landed on September 5, 2026 and June 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | What's Up? | ShowSky |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (8 ratings) — better | 3.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 57.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 48 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.5 | 9.2 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 49 MB | 80 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Kennedy | Steven Suckow |
Customer experience
What's Up?
ShowSky
In-app purchases
What's Up?
No in-app purchases
ShowSky
No in-app purchases
