Comparison

SkyView® vs Castine History Highlights

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

Head to head
About

SkyView®

Identify stars, constellations, planets, and satellites by simply pointing your device at the sky. This app uses augmented reality to guide you and provides information on celestial objects, upcoming events, and even allows you to travel through time to view the sky on different dates.

Highlights
  • Identify stars, planets, and satellites with AR
  • Discover all 88 constellations
  • Schedule alerts for celestial events
  • Night mode for preserving vision
  • Time travel to view past/future skies
  • Capture and share celestial images
Read full description

SkyView® brings stargazing to everyone. Simply point your iPhone, iPad, or iPod at the sky to identify stars, constellations, planets, satellites, and more! Over 3.2 million downloads. App Store Rewind 2011 -- Best Education App “If you've ever wanted to know what you're looking at in the night sky, this app is the perfect stargazer's companion.” – CNET "If you’ve ever been looking for a stargazing app for your iPhone, then this [is] definitely the one to get." – AppAdvice “SkyView is an Augmented Reality app that lets you see just what delights the sky has to offer.” – 148Apps Editor’s Choice You don't need to be an astronomer to find stars or constellations in the sky, just open SkyView® and let it guide you to their location and identify them. SkyView® is a beautiful and intuitive stargazing app that uses your camera to precisely spot and identify celestial objects in sky, day or night. Find all 88 constellations as they fade in and out while you scan across the sky, locate every planet in our solar system, discover distant galaxies, and witness satellite fly-bys. Features: • Simple: Point your device at the sky to identify galaxies, stars, constellations, planets, and satellites (including the ISS and Hubble) passing overhead at your location. • Sighting Events: schedule alerts for upcoming celestial events. • Apple Watch: see what objects are visible tonight and how to spot them using your Apple Watch. • Today Widget: brand new iOS 8 today widget lets you quickly see upcoming celestial events. • Night Mode: Preserve your night vision with red or green night mode filters. • Augmented Reality (AR): Use your camera to spot objects in the sky, day or night. • Sky Paths: Follow the sky track for any object to see it’s exact location in the sky on any date and time. • Comprehensive: Includes thousands of stars, planets, and satellites with thousands of interesting facts. • Time Travel: Jump to the future or the past and see the sky on different dates and times. • Social: Capture and share beautiful images with friends and family on social networks. • Mobile: WiFi is NOT required (does not require a data signal or GPS to function). Take it camping, boating, or even flying! What a fun way to teach yourself, your children, your students, or your friends about our wonderful universe!

About

Castine History Highlights

Explore a historic town with a rich, international past. This app connects users to centuries of stories, images, and artifacts. Discover key historical sites through guided tours, accessible on foot or by car.

Highlights
  • 400+ years of history
  • Stories, photographs, paintings, maps
  • Key historic site exploration
  • On-foot and in-car tours
  • Annual content updates
Features
Read full description

Take a 21st-century tour of a 19th-century town! A unique town with an international past-Castine’s long history will surprise you. This History Highlights mobile opens connections, for residents and visitors alike, to over 400 years of stories, photographs, paintings, maps, and objects. Take in key historic sites on foot or in your car as you listen to what makes Castine so proud of its history. And this is just the beginning- check back annually for additional tours and tales.

Screenshots

SkyView®4 screens
Castine History Highlights4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Castine History Highlights at Free against SkyView®'s $2.99. Castine History Highlights also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (100% vs 77%). SkyView®'s advantage is ratings volume (7.7K vs 5) and chart position (#2 vs unranked). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Castine History Highlights is free to download; SkyView® costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Castine History Highlights holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SkyView® has 7.7K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of SkyView®'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Castine History Highlights's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SkyView® ships an update every 4 months, Castine History Highlights every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
SkyView® versus Castine History Highlights: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSkyView®Castine History Highlights
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (7.7K ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7.7K — better5
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#2 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size112 MB145 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTerminal Eleven LLCCastine Historical Society, Inc.

Customer experience

SkyView®

All ratings7,665 ratings
Positive89.9%
Neutral2.9%
Negative7.2%
Written reviews853 reviews
Positive76.7%
Neutral7.3%
Negative16.1%

Castine History Highlights

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

SkyView®

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Compass and orientation problems
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between automatic and manual calibration

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more celestial objects like comets, dwarf planets, and the James Webb Space Telescope
  • Improve calibration and compass accuracy
  • Add option to hide constellation overlays
  • Implement a feature to track the International Space Station and other satellites
  • Add a widget for quick access to sky information
Show 1 more
  • Improve support for older devices and iOS versions

Castine History Highlights

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

SkyView®

No in-app purchases

None

Castine History Highlights

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SkyView® free?
SkyView® costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Castine History Highlights free?
Castine History Highlights is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SkyView® or Castine History Highlights?
Castine History Highlights is rated higher. SkyView® averages 4.6 out of 5 from 7.7K ratings, while Castine History Highlights averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do SkyView® or Castine History Highlights have ads?
Neither SkyView® nor Castine History Highlights shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SkyView® or Castine History Highlights?
SkyView® ships an update every 4 months, and Castine History Highlights every 5 months. Most recently, SkyView® was updated on November 11, 2026 and Castine History Highlights on November 2, 2026.

Other comparisons