Celeste vs Runes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Celeste
Access professional-grade astrological insights with detailed natal charts and daily "astro-weather" forecasts. Understand planetary influences beyond just your sun sign to navigate life's opportunities and challenges.
- Natal chart calculation
- Zodiac wheel display
- Planetary positions in signs
- Daily astro-weather forecasts
- Professional astrology tools
- On-the-go astrological insights
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Real astrology at your fingertips, brought to you by Astrolabe, designers of software for professional astrologers since 1979! Celeste allows you to calculate a natal chart, which you can view on a gorgeous zodiac wheel. You also get a description of all the planets in signs, not just the sun sign. With Celeste, you can also tune in to the current "astro-weather" to find out what's happening now! Always know when to act or when to lay low.
Runes
Explore the ancient magic of runes for divination and insight. Offers three distinct methods: single rune for quick answers, two runes for present situation analysis, and three runes to understand past, present, and future influences.
- Fast divination with single rune
- Two-rune spread for current situation
- Three-rune spread for past, present, future
- Insight into natural forces
- Nordic divination system
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Runes - an ancient magic system, which represents the basic forces of nature. Runic symbols were used for divination and magic Nordic peoples who believe in contact with the natural forces through the appropriate runes. Attached are three kinds of divination runes: - Fast divination runes - often for a response to a question, it suffices to take one rune, its value - this is the answer to the question. In this case, excluded the possibility of misinterpretation, because other runes that can confuse - no. Especially recommended for beginners as well as for those who are interested in a particular issue. - Two runes - a combination of two runes gives a description of the current situation and the forces that affect you now, in the present. And so the question must not touch this or can not do without question. Two runes even without question, show characteristics of the present moment. - Three runes - a simple divination runes, but it allows you to answer a variety of questions and explain what forces influenced you in the past affect the present and will continue to affect the future. Selected only three runes: the first represents the recent past, the second - now third - the future.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Celeste at 54% against Runes's 17%. Celeste also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (3.8 vs 3.4). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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.
Celeste holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 43 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of Celeste's written reviews are positive against 17% of Runes's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 28 months. The most recent releases landed on September 11, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Celeste | Runes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (43 ratings) — better | 3.4 (17 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 53.8% of reviews — better | 16.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 43 — better | 17 |
| Update frequency | Every 28 months | Every 28 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 6.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 102 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Astrolabe | DablPoint |
Customer experience
Celeste
Runes
Bugs and requests
Celeste
Reported bugs
42 issues- App not working after download
- Jams up on newest Apple iPhone OS
- Recent changes to website cause rapid refresh
- Retrograde planets not displayed
- Nothing within the chart can be changed
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- Stopped letting me adjust time, date and location
- Does not show a table of the main aspects
- Can't select months, days, year or anything
- Last update was 2012, can't use anymore
- None of the inputs work
- Doesn't work since iOS 9 install - date wheels aren't working
- Constantly defaults to east coast, New York time
- Tumbler wheel doesn't allow selection of anything but Alabama for a state
- Won't let me change months, days, years
- Hasn't been working, can't pick a birth month or date
- Repeatedly tells me that I don't have an Internet connection
- Doesn't work offline, needs a wifi connection
- Stopped loading up, white blank screen
- App immediately closes when attempting to use
- Won't open after iOS 6 update
- Keeps crashing back to the home screen
- Won't open on iPhone 5
- Doesn't open with iOS 6
- Does NOT open
- Won't Open in iOS 6
- Keeps closing
- App immediately closes
- Doesn't work in iOS 6 - immediately closes
- App stopped working. Doesn't open.
- Lost the ability to open the app when upgraded to iOS 6
- Doesn't open with iOS 6
- It doesn't want to open
- APP keeps crashing with the new update to Apples operating system
- It does not work with ios6!!!
- Button on the top left is too close to the Info button, app always accidentally closes and opens their site in Safari
- Generates a chart, but that's about it
- No listing/explanation of aspects were given
- Can't see current transits anymore
- Weather button gives explanation for various aspects of daily reading
- Buggy, crashes often
- Too many links to the Astrolabe website
- Slow and unresponsive as it needs to go on line to do every single calculation
Requested features
26 requests- Show retrograde planets
- Ability to save charts
- Include progressions, directions, transits
- Bi-wheel functionality
- Explanations and definitions
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- More locations
- Add/save additional charts
- Display a table of main aspects
- Bi-wheel comparison
- Expand to include progressions, directions, transits, a bi wheel and the ability to save a few charts
- Add interpretation of aspects
- Save charts/database ability
- Offline calculations
- Pop-up interpretations
- Report options
- Ability to email reports to clients
- Rival Kepler on a pad
- Change house system to Koch
- Selectable asteroids
- Variable aspect orbs
- Full interpretations and reports
- Aspect chart
- Astrocartography for around the world
- Transit, progression and synastry with interpretation
- Save a few charts
- Pro version with transits to natal
Runes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Celeste
No in-app purchases
Runes
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Celeste free?
Is Runes free?
Which has better reviews, Celeste or Runes?
Do Celeste or Runes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Celeste or Runes?
Other comparisons
