Sky Time vs SkySafari 7 Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sky Time
This app provides essential astronomy-related time data, including Julian Date, Universal Time, and Sidereal Time calculated using your device's location. It features a night-vision friendly red display and pop-up descriptions for easy understanding.
- Displays local, Julian, Local Sidereal, and Universal Time
- Calculates Sidereal Time using device location
- Night-vision friendly red display
- Pop-up descriptions for time data
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Sky Time is a simple app that displays Astronomy related times, including Julian Date and Universal Time. It also makes use of your device's ability to sense location to determine the Sidereal Time. Sky Time is a useful tool to have to hand when setting up your telescope! * Displays local, Julian, Local Sidereal and Universal Time. * Night-vision friendly red display. * Pop-up descriptions of the times at your fingertips.
SkySafari 7 Pro
Explore the night sky with an extensive astronomy database and advanced planning tools. Discover astronomical events, control your telescope, and connect with other stargazers in real-time.
- Extensive celestial object database
- Advanced event finder
- Telescope control (ASCOM Alpaca, INDI, StarSense)
- Real-time social stargazing (OneSky)
- Guided sky tours (SkyCast)
- Observation planning and logging
- Home and lock screen widgets
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SkySafari makes stargazing a simple pleasure. It has the largest database of any astronomy app, includes every comet, asteroid, satellite & solar system object ever discovered, offers unparalleled accuracy, advanced planning and logging tools, flawless telescope control, and provides the very best experience under the stars when you depend on it. Don’t postpone joy. Discover why SkySafari is the #1 recommended astronomy app for serious amateur astronomers since 2009. Here's what’s new in version 7: + Complete support for iOS 18 and iPhone 16. Version 7 brings a new and immersive stargazing experience. + Events Finder - go to the new Events section to unlock a powerful search engine that finds astronomical events visible tonight and far into the future. The finder dynamically generates a listing of moon phases, eclipses, planetary moon events, meteor showers and planetary phenomenon such as conjunctions, elongations and oppositions. + Notifications - the notifications section has been completely revamped to allow you to customize and manage which events trigger an alert notification on your device. + Telescope Support - telescope control is at the heart of SkySafari. Version 7 takes a giant leap forward by supporting ASCOM Alpaca, INDI & StarSense Explorer. These next generation control protocols allow you to effortlessly connect to hundreds of compatible astronomical devices. SkySafari 7 brings social stargazing to mobile devices with two new features to help you connect with other like minded people. OneSky - allows you to see what other users are observing, in real time. This feature highlights objects in the sky chart and indicates with a number how many users are observing a particular object. SkyCast - allows you to guide a friend or group around the night sky through their own copy of SkySafari. After initiating SkyCast, you can generate a link and conveniently share it with other SkySafari users via text message, apps or social media accounts. + Sky Tonight - jump to the new Tonight section to see what’s visible in your sky tonight. Expanded information has been designed to help plan your night and includes Moon & Sun info, calendar curations, events and the best positioned deep sky and solar system objects. + Improved Observation Tools - SkySafari is the perfect tool to help you plan, record and organize your observations. New workflows make it easier to add, search, filter and sort data. + Home Screen and Lock Screen Widgets keep your favorite astro information at your fingertips. The Small Touches: + You can now edit the Jupiter GRS Longitude Value in the Settings. + Better Moon Age calculation. + New grid & reference options allow you to display Solstice and Equinox markers, Orbit + Node markers for all solar system objects, and tick marks and labels for the Ecliptic, Meridian, and Equator reference lines. + Previous In-app Purchases are Now Free - this includes the H-R diagram, 3D Galaxy view, and the PGC galaxy and GAIA star catalogs. Enjoy. + Many more. If you haven't used SkySafari 7 Pro before, here's what you can do with it: + Hold your device up, and SkySafari 7 Pro will find stars, constellations, planets, and more! + Simulate the night sky up to 5MM years in the past or future! Animate meteor showers, conjunctions, eclipses, and other celestial events. + Control your telescope, log and plan your observations. + Optionally backup all of your observing data in our secure cloud storage and make it easily accessible to multiple devices as well as from our new web interface, LiveSky.com. + Augmented Reality (AR) mode + Night Vision. + Orbit Mode. Leave the Earth’s surface behind, and fly through our solar system. + Galaxy View shows the position of deep sky objects in our Milky Way! https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ https://www.livesky.com/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Sky Time at Free against SkySafari 7 Pro's $17.99. Sky Time also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and review sentiment (60% vs 46%). SkySafari 7 Pro's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and ratings volume (5.5K vs 18). On update cadence, ads 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
Sky Time is free to download; SkySafari 7 Pro costs $17.99 up front. SkySafari 7 Pro sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Sky Time asks for nothing beyond the download.
SkySafari 7 Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SkySafari 7 Pro has 5.5K ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 60% of Sky Time's written reviews are positive against 46% of SkySafari 7 Pro's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Sky Time ships an update every 2 months, SkySafari 7 Pro every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sky Time | SkySafari 7 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $17.99 |
| Rating | 4.2 (18 ratings) | 4.6 (5.5K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews — better | 45.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 18 | 5.5K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #49 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 14.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 2.4 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Kennedy | Simulation Curriculum Corp. |
Customer experience
Sky Time
SkySafari 7 Pro
Bugs and requests
Sky Time
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
SkySafari 7 Pro
Reported bugs
5 issues- Free database downloads fail to complete
- Telescope button crashes the app
- Time settings spontaneously reset
- Observing list crashes the app
- Field of view indicators not working
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to quickly edit light form
- Allow custom horizon mask input
- Include surface brightness data for extended objects
- Add transit altitude information for objects
- Improve object search with fuzzy matching
In-app purchases
Sky Time
No in-app purchases
SkySafari 7 Pro
- SkySafari Premium Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- SkySafari Premium7 Days trial$39.991 Year
- PGC Galaxy DatabaseFree
- GAIA Star DatabaseFree
- Apollo Lunar MissionsFree
Questions
Is Sky Time free?
Is SkySafari 7 Pro free?
Which has better reviews, Sky Time or SkySafari 7 Pro?
Do Sky Time or SkySafari 7 Pro have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sky Time or SkySafari 7 Pro?
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