SkyView® vs Aussie Bird Count
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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!
Aussie Bird Count
Participate in a nationwide citizen science event by counting local birds. Spend 20 minutes observing and recording avian species in your chosen outdoor location. The app assists with bird identification and contributes valuable data to conservation efforts.
- Citizen science bird counting
- Local bird observation
- Bird identification tool
- Data contribution to conservation
- Outdoor nature connection
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Join the Aussie Bird Count! BirdLife Australia’s Aussie Bird Count is one of Australia’s biggest citizen science events. Every October, join tens of thousands of Australians of all ages and experiences in getting outdoors and having fun getting to know your local birds – while helping BirdLife Australia collect information about the birds around us. To take part, register as a counter at aussiebirdcount.org.au and download the Aussie Bird Count app. Then, during the Count, simply spend 20 minutes at a time watching, counting and recording the birds you see in the app. You can count from anywhere: from home, at school, in your backyard or a nearby park or any outdoor space of your choosing. Each count takes just 20 minutes, and it’s a great excuse to get outdoors and connect with nature. The app even has a handy built-in Bird Finder tool to help you identify birds you’re unsure of.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Aussie Bird Count at Free against SkyView®'s $2.99. Aussie Bird Count also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). SkyView®'s advantage is review sentiment (77% vs 50%) and ratings volume (7.7K vs 2). On ads, in-app purchases 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
Aussie Bird Count is free to download; SkyView® costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Aussie Bird Count 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 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 77% of SkyView®'s written reviews are positive against 50% of Aussie Bird Count's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
SkyView® ships an update every 4 months, Aussie Bird Count every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SkyView® | Aussie Bird Count |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (7.7K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.8% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7.7K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 12 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Best chart rank | #2 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 112 MB | 70 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Terminal Eleven LLC | BirdLife Australia Ltd. |
Customer experience
SkyView®
Aussie Bird Count
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
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- Improve support for older devices and iOS versions
Aussie Bird Count
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
SkyView®
No in-app purchases
Aussie Bird Count
No in-app purchases








