Comparison

Star Rover HD vs StarTracker HD

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

Head to head
About

Star Rover HD

Explore the night sky with a realistic planetarium on your device. Identify stars, planets, and constellations in real-time by simply pointing your device. Travel through time and space to view celestial events and learn about the cosmos.

Highlights
  • Real-time star map updates
  • Identify celestial objects
  • View constellations with artwork
  • Explore planets and moons
  • Moon phases and meteor showers
  • Time and location travel
  • Over 120,000 stars
Features
Read full description

Do you love the starry night? Do you want to know everything in the sky? Star Rover HD is the fantastic planetarium for your iPad. Just hold up your iPad and Star Rover HD will tell you exactly what you are pointing at. Star Rover HD determines your location automatically. You'll see the stars, moon, planets, constellations in their proper place from your current location. As you move your iPad, the star map updates in real time. Star Rover HD makes the virtual sky a gorgeous view. You can see star twinkling, beautiful nebulae, occasional meteor and even sunset glow in the evening. Star Rover HD is very easy to use. You can simply change the sky view in settings and use Quick Find for everything you want to know in the night sky. Star Rover HD lets you set your location manually so you can see the sky from any part of the world. It also lets you travel to the future or the past and see the sky on different dates and times. If you are planning for a solar eclipse, this is the app you need. Features - Over 120,000 stars. - All 88 constellations with beautiful artworks. - Planets and their moons with stunning graphics. - Moon phases. - Real images of Messier objects. - Sky objects information. - Realistic Milky Way. - Equatorial and azimuthal grids. - Sky view underneath the horizon. - Visual magnitude adjustment. - Manually time & date setting. - Manually location setting. - Quick Find. - Point and view.

About

StarTracker HD

Explore the night sky with this augmented reality planetarium. Identify stars, constellations, planets, and deep sky objects by simply pointing your device at the sky. All data is available offline.

Highlights
  • Augmented Reality Star Gazing
  • Identify 8000+ stars, planets, and constellations
  • Offline data access
  • Search and lock celestial objects
  • Time Machine feature
  • High-quality graphics
Features
Read full description

== Best StarGazing experience @60fps! == == Video: http://tiny.cc/starvideo == --- Top 1 Education app in 34 countries and Top 10 Education app in 79 countries when FREE! Thank you all my dear users, please leave a review or rating if you love this application! --- Hey, get outdoor with your friends and start star gazing! Let StarTracker guide you to explore the universe. Just hold up and point the device to the sky and have fun! You can see any stars, constellations and deep sky objects you are watching in reality. ======================== What our user said: "Best star gazing app I've ever used. Very well put together and great visuals!!! From end to end this app is a must-have for anyone interested in astronomy!!" "This app is a marvel of technology, art, and science. Super smooth operation, great graphics and a great merging of the devices capabilities. Having grown up using star charts and compasses, this app feels like science fiction come to life. Great job!" "Looking at the sky was never this incredible!" "If you download only one app, make sure it's this one!! This is one of the best apps I've ever seen, period! Its quality is unmatched among star gazing apps!" ======================== Features: • Augmented Reality Star Gazing with gyroscope! Just hold up the device. • Sun, Moon, planets and 8000+ stars visible to the naked eyes. • 88 Constellations & 100+ deep sky objects with magnificent graphics. • All data is offline! • Search and Lock the objects in Solar system, 12 Zodiac Constellations, 88 Constellations, Deep Sky Objects and Famous Stars. • 3D compass in AR mode, indicate position of objects your searched. • Location auto set by GPS, or set manually. • Time Machine. Time and date can be adjusted smoothly. • Capture a screenshot and share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or save to Photos. • Smooth motion flow and quick response which is realized by cutting edge signal processing technique. • Superb high quality graphics with full screen anti-aliasing. Usage: • Bottom Right: Hide/Show Main Setting Menu, settings for name display, constellation, deep sky object, night mode, star amount and grid mode. • Top Right: Search Menu (Solar system, 12 Zodiac and 88 Constellations, Deep Sky Object and Famous Stars) • Top Left: Location Menu, choose location from a world map. Below is the Share button. • Top bar: Time Machine Menu, adjust any time/date. • Bottom Left: AR Compass indicator in AR track mode, pan the screen to enter un-track mode and click track button to back. Tips: • When search any object under un-track mode, it will be locked at the center of the screen, then user can adjust time/date to see changes of the related sky. • When under un-track mode, just lift up the screen and point it to the sky to enter AR track mode.

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Star Rover HD at 4.7 against StarTracker HD's 4.0. Star Rover HD also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 67%) and price ($1.99 vs $3.99). On ratings volume, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Star Rover HD costs $1.99 and StarTracker HD $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Star Rover HD holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 97 and 43 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 89% of Star Rover HD's written reviews are positive against 67% of StarTracker HD's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Star Rover HD ships an update every 6 months, StarTracker HD every 5 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Star Rover HD versus StarTracker HD: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStar Rover HDStarTracker HD
Price$1.99 — better$3.99
Rating4.7 (97 ratings) — better4.0 (43 ratings)
Positive reviews88.6% of reviews — better67.2% of reviews
Number of ratings97 — better43
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 5 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer寒飞 易身吉 潘

Customer experience

Star Rover HD

All ratings95 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews132 reviews
Positive88.6%
Neutral2.3%
Negative9.1%

StarTracker HD

All ratings43 ratings
Positive74.4%
Neutral4.7%
Negative20.9%
Written reviews128 reviews
Positive67.2%
Neutral10.2%
Negative22.7%

User reviews

Star Rover HD

From 97 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🌟 Helpful for stargazing
  • 🔍 Detailed information on stars and planets
  • 🌌 Beautiful graphics
  • 🧠 Educational for kids and adults

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Compatibility issues with certain devices
  • 🔄 Lack of landscape mode
  • 💤 Limited descriptions and explanations

StarTracker HD

From 43 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth, fluid graphics and responsive gyroscope tracking
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
  • 🌟 Beautiful HD visuals and stunning design
  • 📍 Accurate real-time sky positioning and planet/constellation identification
  • 🎓 Excellent educational tool for learning astronomy

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes on various devices
  • 🐛 Compass/gyroscope malfunction issues
  • 🐛 Screen display problems on larger tablets
  • ❌ Limited functionality and educational depth
  • ❌ Lack of object information and descriptions

Bugs and requests

Star Rover HD

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Screen does not rotate to landscape view on iPad
  • Compass shows interference in some areas

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add Proxima Centauri
  • Provide constellation pictures and names simultaneously
  • Improve brightness representation for bright stars
  • Add Iridium Flare tracking

StarTracker HD

Reported bugs

15 issues
  • App crashes on startup or during use
  • Compass direction incorrect (north pointing wrong direction)
  • Gyroscope not responding or locked
  • Share button causes crashes
  • Forward/share button greying out and causing screen loss
Show 10 more
  • Screen display only showing bottom right corner on iPad Pro 12.9
  • App spinning continuously without stopping
  • Screen orientation lock issues after iOS updates
  • Duplicate app installations appearing
  • iPad 2 compatibility issues despite gyroscope presence
  • Inaccurate celestial object positioning (e.g., M71 placement)
  • Sun position showing incorrectly during daytime
  • Ursa Minor not rotating properly over 24-hour period
  • Menu disappearing after using forward button
  • Half-screen display stuck after exploring tools

Requested features

13 requests
  • Add search functionality for celestial objects
  • Include ISS and satellite tracking
  • Display object information (distance, magnitude, color, brightness)
  • Add ecliptic line visibility option
  • Show coordinate information (RA, Dec, Alt, Azimuth)
Show 8 more
  • Tap-to-identify popup descriptions for objects
  • Add grid markings and horizon line with directional labels
  • Better zoom control with more detailed object information
  • Ability to manually rotate and correct star map
  • Offline functionality without WiFi requirement
  • Remove or disable astrology content
  • Project capability for classroom screens
  • iPhone version availability

In-app purchases

None

Star Rover HD

No in-app purchases

None

StarTracker HD

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Star Rover HD free?
Star Rover HD costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is StarTracker HD free?
StarTracker HD costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Star Rover HD or StarTracker HD?
Star Rover HD is rated higher. Star Rover HD averages 4.7 out of 5 from 97 ratings, while StarTracker HD averages 4.0 from 43 ratings.
Do Star Rover HD or StarTracker HD have ads?
Neither Star Rover HD nor StarTracker HD shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Star Rover HD or StarTracker HD?
Star Rover HD ships an update every 6 months, and StarTracker HD every 5 months. Most recently, Star Rover HD was updated on November 1, 2026 and StarTracker HD on November 1, 2026.

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