Comparison

StarTracker vs Sky Tonight

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

Head to head
About

StarTracker

Explore the night sky in real-time by pointing your device at the stars. Identify celestial bodies, constellations, and deep sky objects with augmented reality and offline data. Adjust time and date to see how the sky changes.

Highlights
  • Augmented reality star gazing
  • Identify planets, stars, and constellations
  • Offline celestial data
  • Search and lock celestial objects
  • Time Machine for sky simulation
  • Share screenshots of the sky
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

--- Video on YouTube: http://tiny.cc/starvideo --- --- Thank you all my dear users to make big success of StarTracker, please leave a review or rating if you love this application! --- TOP 5 Education app in 31 countries when FREE! It's so excited to introduce you the best star gazing app on iOS! This app has a super reaction speed and high accuracy, you must try it out and see how fast it is ;) Just hold up and point the device at the sky to see what stars, constellations and deep sky objects you are looking at in realtime. Full utilization of the build-in gyroscope, digital compass and accelerometer drive the best user experience. 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. (Only share to Twitter on iOS5) • Smooth motion flow and quick response which is realized by cutting edge signal processing technique. • Superb high quality graphic display by enabling the retina display of the device and the full screen anti-aliasing technology employment. Usage: • Buttom 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. • Top bar: Time Machine Menu, adjust any time/date. • Buttom 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.

About

Sky Tonight

Explore the night sky with this astronomy app. Identify celestial objects, discover upcoming astronomical events, and track their positions. Customize your view, set reminders, and access detailed information for a personalized stargazing experience.

Highlights
  • Real-time interactive sky map
  • Augmented reality mode
  • Time Machine for past/future positions
  • Customizable object filters
  • Event reminders
  • Astronomy calendar with weather forecast
  • Flexible search for celestial objects
Features
Read full description

SKY TONIGHT is a brand-new astronomical app for exploring the sky. It helps stargazers answer the three most common questions: ⁕ What is that bright dot in the sky? ⁕ What astronomical events can I see tonight? ⁕ How can I find the object I'm interested in? Made by the developers of Star Walk apps, Sky Tonight is a customizable stargazing tool, that is designed for users with different needs and wants. You can adjust the constellation's appearance, set a reminder for any space body configuration, explore the unique relative to observer trajectory, set up a magnitude limit to filter out space objects, and much more. SKY TONIGHT FEATURES: ► Point your device at the sky to see the real-time positions of space objects on the interactive sky map. ► Activate the Time Machine and determine the position of celestial bodies at different time periods. ► Use the augmented reality mode and see the sky map overlaid on the image from your device's camera. ► Get extended information about any sky object by tapping on its name. ► Stay updated on the latest news from the world of astronomy with the What's new section. ► Turn on the night mode to make your sky observation in the nighttime more comfortable. ► Filter the objects that appear on the sky map according to their visual brightness. ► Regulate the brightness of objects on the sky map. ► Spot dozens of asterisms along with the official constellations. ► Adjust the visible constellations and customize their representation on the screen. UNIQUE FEATURES: ◆ INTERACTIVE TRAJECTORIES RELATIVE TO AN OBSERVER Instead of the classic trajectory that shows the object’s trajectory in the celestial sphere relative to the Earth’s center, the app presents the object’s trajectory in the sky relative to an observer. A long touch on the trajectories relative to the observer will move the sky object to the selected point. While holding the touch, move your finger along the trajectory to change the time. ◆ FLEXIBLE SEARCH Make use of the flexible search — quickly find space objects, easily navigate across different objects and events’ types. Look for "stars", "mars moons", "mars conjunctions", "solar eclipse", and the app will show you all related objects, events, and articles! There are also Trending and Recent categories in the search section. The first one presents the currently most popular objects, events, or news; the second category contains objects you recently selected. ◆ FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE EVENT REMINDERS Set event reminders on any time and date not to miss a solar eclipse, a Full Moon, or a star-planet configuration you're interested in. ◆ ASTRONOMY CALENDAR WITH A STARGAZING INDEX AND WEATHER FORECAST Check out the calendar of celestial events that includes lunar phases, meteor showers, eclipses, oppositions, conjunctions, and other exciting events. Learn what astronomy events will occur this month or see what happened in the sky a year ago! Verify the Stargazing Index calculated from a Moon phase, light pollution, cloudiness, and time when an object is visible. The higher this index is, the better the observation conditions are. You don’t need several apps for your stargazing planning anymore; Sky Tonight contains all the info you need. Premium Access: * The app includes paid Premium Access. Get Premium Access to use Sky Tonight with no limits! Without the subscription, you can’t see most of the interface items in various sections such as Visible Tonight, Calendar, and Search. Therefore, you’re limited in planning and improving your observations. Premium Access will allow you to unlock all the interface items in any view and make the most of all the app’s features. Advertisements will also be removed not to interrupt your stargazing experience. Privacy policy: https://vitotechnology.com/privacy-policy Terms of use: https://vitotechnology.com/terms-of-use

Screenshots

StarTracker4 screens
Sky Tonight4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sky Tonight at Free against StarTracker's $2.99. Sky Tonight also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 12 months) and ratings volume (76K vs 159). StarTracker's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, review sentiment, chart position 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

Sky Tonight is free to download; StarTracker costs $2.99 up front. Sky Tonight sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. StarTracker asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for StarTracker against 4.8 for Sky Tonight. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sky Tonight has 76K ratings behind it against 159, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of StarTracker's written reviews are positive against 81% of Sky Tonight's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StarTracker ships an update every 12 months, Sky Tonight every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
StarTracker versus Sky Tonight: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarTrackerSky Tonight
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (159 ratings)4.8 (76K ratings) — better
Positive reviews84.5% of reviews — better80.6% of reviews
Number of ratings15976K — better
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#128#101 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS6.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB518 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer身吉 潘Vito Technology Inc.

Customer experience

StarTracker

All ratings158 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral0.6%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews181 reviews
Positive84.5%
Neutral4.4%
Negative11.0%

Sky Tonight

All ratings74,594 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral3.0%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews726 reviews
Positive80.6%
Neutral4.8%
Negative14.6%

User reviews

StarTracker

From 159 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use and intuitive interface
  • 🎯 Accurate star and constellation identification
  • ✨ Beautiful graphics and visual design
  • 📱 Works offline without internet connection
  • 🔍 Helpful for learning astronomy and constellations

Room to improve

  • 🧭 Compass calibration issues and inaccuracy
  • 🐛 Graphics spinning or displaying incorrectly
  • 📞 No developer support or contact options
  • 🔄 App not updated for newer iOS versions
  • 📱 Display issues on newer phone models (iPhone XR, etc.)

Sky Tonight

From 76K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app for finding new things
  • 🌟 Amazing and accurate
  • 🔭 Helpful for learning about the night sky
  • 🗓️ Provides calendar of sky events
  • 🌍 Shows satellites and planets

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Difficult to calibrate and use
  • 📢 Too many intrusive ads
  • 💰 Paywall for many features
  • 🔔 Confusing/unnecessary notifications
  • 🧭 Compass/location issues

Bugs and requests

StarTracker

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Compass doesn't point in correct direction
  • App crashes on iOS 6 and older versions
  • Graphics spin aimlessly without user input
  • Calibration fails repeatedly
  • Display cutoff on newer iPhone models
Show 5 more
  • Menus and icons disappear at screen edges
  • Incompatible with iOS 8 and iOS 9
  • Objects appear behind user instead of in front
  • Auto-zoom cannot be disabled
  • App doesn't work with WiFi-only connections

Requested features

10 requests
  • Augmented reality capability
  • Search function for objects by typing
  • Star and object information details (size, mass, distance, composition)
  • Ability to disable auto-zoom feature
  • Lock screen to prevent continuous compass tracking
Show 5 more
  • Google search integration for learning more about objects
  • Satellite tracking
  • Clickable planets and stars for detailed information
  • Better UI button visibility
  • Settings persistence between app sessions

Sky Tonight

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes or freezes frequently
  • Menus and options not working properly
  • Location tracking and sky view not updating correctly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more free content and features
  • Improve calibration and compass accuracy
  • Provide better onboarding and instructions
  • Reduce ads or offer ad-free version
  • Allow filtering by visible objects only

In-app purchases

None

StarTracker

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Sky Tonight

Subscriptions6
  • 1-month Premium Access7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • 1-month Premium Access$2.991 Month
  • 1-month Premium Access3 Days trial$2.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • 1-year Premium Access7 Days trial$4.991 Year
  • 1-year Premium Access$5.991 Year
  • 1-year Premium Access3 Days trial$5.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime Premium Access Sale$7.99
  • Lifetime Premium Access$12.99

Questions

Is StarTracker free?
StarTracker costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sky Tonight free?
Sky Tonight is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, StarTracker or Sky Tonight?
Sky Tonight is rated higher. StarTracker averages 4.7 out of 5 from 159 ratings, while Sky Tonight averages 4.8 from 76K ratings.
Do StarTracker or Sky Tonight have ads?
Sky Tonight shows ads; StarTracker does not.
Which is updated more often, StarTracker or Sky Tonight?
StarTracker ships an update every 12 months, and Sky Tonight every 2 months. Most recently, StarTracker was updated on October 24, 2026 and Sky Tonight on October 25, 2026.
Which is more popular, StarTracker or Sky Tonight?
StarTracker currently peaks at #128 in the App Store charts, and Sky Tonight at #101. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons