Comparison

Spacetime Clock vs Compass AR

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

Head to head
About

Spacetime Clock

Explore celestial mechanics and terrestrial positioning with this app. Visualize moon phases, Earth's rotation, and your location's latitude and longitude. It also includes a compass and level meter for your device.

Highlights
  • Moon phases visualization
  • Earth rotation and revolution simulation
  • Latitude and longitude display
  • Compass functionality
  • iPhone level meter
  • Customizable background colors
Features
Read full description

Time, calendars, the movements and positions of celestial bodies, and direction are all closely connected. This app brings together time and place in one view. Alongside the time and date, it shows the phases of the Moon, Earth’s rotation and orbit, latitude and longitude, compass direction, and the iPhone’s level. It lets you see and feel where you are in time and space at a glance. [Top of Screen] MOON: Moon phase (lunar age 0–29) HOURS: Hours (24-hour cycle) MINUTES: Minutes (60-minute cycle) SECONDS: Seconds (60-second cycle) [Center of Screen] The year, month, date, hour, minute, day of the week, and second are displayed. Earth completes one circuit around the center of the screen in 365 days (366 in a leap year). The display uses Earth’s axial tilt to approximate the amount of daylight at that time of year. It does not show precise sunrise or sunset times. The Earth and Moon graphics change depending on whether your current latitude is in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. [Bottom of Screen] LATITUDE: Latitude (−90° to +90°; positive values indicate north, negative values south) LONGITUDE: Longitude (−180° to +180°; positive values indicate east, negative values west) COMPASS: Direction of north LEVEL: Level, measured along the iPhone’s X and Y axes Choose from four background colors: Space, Midnight, Twilight, and Sky Blue.

About

Compass AR

This utility app provides precise directional, altitude, and speed readings on a clear interface. It offers augmented reality views of the sun and moon's paths, along with location data and weather information. Pro features include time scrubbing, AR tracking, and speed recording.

Highlights
  • AR sun and moon tracking
  • Precise direction and altitude
  • Live speed and acceleration
  • Sunrise, sunset, and golden hour
  • Location and weather data
  • Time scrubbing for celestial paths
Features
Read full description

CompassPlus is an instrument. Direction, altitude, speed — one screen each, in numbers big enough to read while you walk. COMPASS · A large heading and a dial. True North or Magnetic North, switched any time. · The Sun and Moon are marked on the dial, with sunrise, sunset and elevation. · Scrub time (Pro) by year, month, day, hour or minute and see where the Sun sits at that moment. When you are not on Now, the app says so, and one tap brings you back. · A coordinate card: decimal degrees or DMS, tap to copy, with the place name. · A level, so you can tell whether the phone is flat. · When the magnetic field is disturbed it tells you, and walks you through the figure-eight calibration. ALTITUDE · One big number, colored by how high you are. · GPS + Barometer fused, GPS alone, or automatic — your call. · Meters or feet, with the vertical accuracy beside it. · Pressure, temperature and wind, while you are here. SPEED · Live speed and acceleration, from GPS speed, the motion sensors, or both fused. · It works out whether you are still, walking, running, cycling or driving, and tells you how confident it is. · Tap once to record a stretch (Pro). The average is integrated over time rather than averaged across readings, so the minutes spent parked do not drag it down. Max speed and duration are kept with it. FIND SUN / MOON IN AR (PRO) · Hold up the phone and the Sun and Moon are drawn on the real sky. · It draws the whole day's arc: where it rose, the path it takes, where it sets — including the stretch below the horizon. · The Moon's path drifts a little each day. The gap in the arc says by how much. · When the target is off screen, the edge points you toward it. · Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset and the golden hour sit on the arc. · Drag to move the reticle onto the real thing — slowly to fine-tune, quickly to move far. Exposure stays automatic, and a lock is always one tap from released. SETTINGS Which screen opens first, north reference, altitude source and unit, coordinate format, speed unit, whether to show accuracy. Set it once. PRICE Free to download. Direction, altitude and live speed — with weather, the level and coordinates — stay free. The AR finder, time scrubbing, widgets and speed recording make up CompassPlus Pro: a one-time purchase, not a subscription, with future updates included and Family Sharing on. No ads. ABOUT LOCATION Location and motion data are used on the device to work out direction, altitude and speed. Nothing is uploaded to my server — I don't have one. Place names go through the system geocoder, and the weather reading comes from Apple Weather (WeatherKit). Those are the only two places your location leaves the phone; both use coordinates alone, and both go only to Apple. REQUIREMENTS iOS 26 or later, iPhone only. Barometer-fused altitude needs a device with a barometer. AR needs an ARKit-capable device and camera access.

Screenshots

Spacetime Clock4 screens
Compass AR4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Compass AR at 100% against Spacetime Clock's 41%. Compass AR also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks). Spacetime Clock's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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. Compass AR sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Spacetime Clock asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spacetime Clock ships an update every 5 weeks, Compass AR fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Spacetime Clock versus Compass AR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpacetime ClockCompass AR
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.8 (4 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews40.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developery-design飞 吕

Customer experience

Spacetime Clock

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive40.9%
Neutral22.7%
Negative36.4%

Compass AR

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Spacetime Clock

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Compass AR

One-time4
  • Sponsor · A Lunch$0.99
  • CompassPlus Pro$2.99
  • Sponsor · A Coffee$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Sponsor · A Resupply$6.99

Questions

Is Spacetime Clock free?
Spacetime Clock is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Compass AR free?
Compass AR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Spacetime Clock or Compass AR have ads?
Neither Spacetime Clock nor Compass AR shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spacetime Clock or Compass AR?
Spacetime Clock ships an update every 5 weeks, and Compass AR fortnightly. Most recently, Spacetime Clock was updated on October 28, 2026 and Compass AR on October 30, 2026.

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