Comparison

Back in Time for iPhone vs Solar System Scope

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

Head to head
About

Back in Time for iPhone

Explore the history of the universe, Earth, life, and civilization through interactive timelines, stunning visuals, and custom animations. This app offers an immersive learning experience with social and historical context for key events.

Highlights
  • Interactive timelines
  • Over 350 images
  • 60+ animations and videos
  • 200+ interesting facts
  • Offline access
  • Multilingual support
Features
Read full description

• "...a beautifully executed lesson on the history of the universe" - The New York Times • Winner of the WSA Mobile Award • Top1 iPhone Book App in 10 Countries • Featured by The New York Times (Top10 iPad Apps of the year) • Featured by the American Photo Magazine (Top 10 Photo eBooks of the year) For iPad download - Back in Time Back in Time will take you on a stunning exploration of the history of our Universe, Earth, Life and Civilization. A journey through time where each event is documented with social and historical context, several images, an illustrative timeline and little-known interesting facts. Custom made animations bring those events to life, creating an interesting, immersive learning experience. An imaginary clock will guide you through this quest, proposing a simple analogy: the entire Universe started 24 hours ago. The Big Bang, the source of time and space, is the first event in our journey – the clock reads 0:00 hours. Today, 13.7 billion years later, the clock reads midnight. In between is a sequence of key events that has brought us to where we are today. Explore them, place them in perspective, see how they relate and understand the connections. We invite you to take a step back and see the whole picture. :::: REVIEWS - iPad version :::: "The coolest history textbook you’ll find on the iPad" - Bob Tedeschi, The New York Times “The iPad could use more apps like this one.” - The Daily “...a beautifully executed lesson on the history of the universe and the evolution of life on earth. Great for high school students or parents who’d like to tutor younger children and enjoy a first-rate experience of their own...” - Bob Tedeschi, The New York Times “...the best iPad apps are those that combine coffee table-styled books with the fluid nature of the iPad’s interface. Back in Time is just that, it’s the story of the entire history of our universe made interactive on the iPad.” - Casey Chan, Gizmodo (App of the Day) “Back in Time is utterly gorgeous in its presentation. (...) The app is so easy to navigate that it is a delight to explore. Landka could scarcely have done a better job in putting everything together.” - Gwen Phua, Appmodo :::: FEATURES :::: Designed for iPhone; 47 chapters; Over 350 remarkable images; 60+ amazing animations and videos; 40+ illustrated timelines; More than 200 little-known interesting facts; Music by the compositor Rodrigo Leão; Developed in 7 different languages (English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese); No internet connection required.

About

Solar System Scope

Explore and discover the solar system and outer space with realistic 3D visualizations and detailed celestial simulations. This app offers an educational and engaging experience for all ages, featuring a comprehensive encyclopedia and a night sky observatory.

Highlights
  • 3D Encyclopedia of celestial bodies
  • Realistic 3D visualizations
  • Night sky observatory with time simulation
  • Accurate orbital parameter calculations
  • High-quality planetary and moon maps
  • Multilingual support
Features
Read full description

Solar System Scope is a fun way of Exploring, Discovering and Playing with the Solar System and Outer Space. Solar System Scope (or just Solar) contains many views and celestial simulations, but most of all - it brings you closer to the furthest reaches of our world and lets you experience lots of fantastic space sceneries. It aspires to be the most illustrative, easy to understand and simple to use space model. - 3D Encyclopedia In Solar’s unique encyclopedia you will find the most interesting facts about every planet, dwarf planet, every major moon and more – and everything is accompanied by realistic 3D visualizations. Solar’s encyclopedia is available in 10 languages: English, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Korean and Slovak. More languages are coming soon! - Nightsky Observatory Enjoy Stars and constellation of the night sky as viewed from any given location on Earth. You can point your device at the sky to see all objects in their proper place, but you can also simulate Night sky in the past or in the future. Now with advanced options that let you simulate ecliptic, equatorial and azimuthal line, or grid (among other things). - Scientific Instrument Solar System Scope calculations are based on up-to-date orbital parameters published by NASA and let you simulate celestial positions at any given time. - For Everyone Solar System Scope is well suited for all audiences and ages: It is enjoyed by space enthusiasts, teachers, scientists, but Solar is successfully used even by children of 4+ years of age! - Unique Maps We are proud to present a very unique set of planetary and moon maps, that let you experience a true-color space as never before. These accurate maps are based on NASA elevation and imagery data. Colors and shades of the textures are tuned according to true-color photos made by Messenger, Viking, Cassini and New Horizon spacecrafts, and the Hubble Space Telescope. Basic resolution of these maps is for free – but if you would like the best experience, you can check out the highest quality, which is available with In-App purchase. - Join our vision Our vision is to build the ultimate space model and bring you the deepest space experience. And you can help - try Solar System Scope and if you like it, spread the word! And don’t forget to join the community and vote for new features on our homepage.

Screenshots

Back in Time for iPhone4 screens
Solar System Scope4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Solar System Scope at Free against Back in Time for iPhone's $4.99. Solar System Scope also leads on rating (4.4 vs 3.8) and ratings volume (882 vs 15). Back in Time for iPhone's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On review sentiment and ads 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

Solar System Scope is free to download; Back in Time for iPhone costs $4.99 up front. Solar System Scope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Back in Time for iPhone asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Solar System Scope holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Solar System Scope has 882 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Back in Time for iPhone's written reviews are positive against 76% of Solar System Scope's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Back in Time for iPhone ships an update every 8 months, Solar System Scope every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Back in Time for iPhone versus Solar System Scope: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBack in Time for iPhoneSolar System Scope
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating3.8 (15 ratings)4.4 (882 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.7% of reviews76.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15882 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size625 MB154 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLandkaINOVE, s.r.o.

Customer experience

Back in Time for iPhone

All ratings15 ratings
Positive73.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative26.7%
Written reviews53 reviews
Positive71.7%
Neutral5.7%
Negative22.6%

Solar System Scope

All ratings882 ratings
Positive83.7%
Neutral4.5%
Negative11.8%
Written reviews238 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral6.3%
Negative17.2%

Bugs and requests

Back in Time for iPhone

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Solar System Scope

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when dragging Jupiter
  • Upside-down orientation on tablets
  • Unable to restore purchases
  • Freezes and crashes on launch

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more celestial bodies (Messier objects, Planet 9/10, black holes, etc.)
  • Enable exploration of other galaxies and deep space objects
  • Improve telescope/zoom functionality
  • Add more moons and irregular satellites
  • Implement continental drift and solar system evolution

In-app purchases

None

Back in Time for iPhone

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Solar System Scope

One-time1
  • HQ Textures / No Ads$5.99

Questions

Is Back in Time for iPhone free?
Back in Time for iPhone costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Solar System Scope free?
Solar System Scope is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Back in Time for iPhone or Solar System Scope?
Solar System Scope is rated higher. Back in Time for iPhone averages 3.8 out of 5 from 15 ratings, while Solar System Scope averages 4.4 from 882 ratings.
Do Back in Time for iPhone or Solar System Scope have ads?
Neither Back in Time for iPhone nor Solar System Scope shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Back in Time for iPhone or Solar System Scope?
Back in Time for iPhone ships an update every 8 months, and Solar System Scope every 4 months. Most recently, Back in Time for iPhone was updated on September 28, 2026 and Solar System Scope on October 12, 2026.

Other comparisons