Earth vs NASA Spinoff
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Earth
Visualize global climate data from NASA satellites, including temperature, CO2, and sea level. Explore 3D Earth models with interactive controls and color-coded maps to understand environmental conditions.
- Global climate data visualization
- Satellite data from Earth Science
- Surface air temperature maps
- CO2 and CO levels
- Ozone and water vapor data
- Gravity and sea level variations
- Interactive 3D Earth model
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NASA's Earth Now is an application that visualizes recent global climate data from Earth Science satellites, including surface air temperature, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and water vapor as well as gravity and sea level variations. Data sets are visually described using "false color" maps. Color-coded legends are provided to indicate relative strength or weakness of an environmental condition. The resulting 3D model of the Earth may be rotated by a single finger stroke, and may also be zoomed in or out by pinching 2 fingers. It was developed by the Earth Science Communications and Visualization Technology Applications and Development Teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with support from NASA Headquarters.
NASA Spinoff
Discover how NASA technology benefits everyday life through commercial products. Explore innovations from life-saving satellite systems to hospital robots, showcasing the impact of space research on society. Find shortened articles from the latest Spinoff edition.
- Profiles NASA technology transfers
- Highlights commercial products
- Showcases societal benefits
- Features shortened articles
- Access latest Spinoff edition content
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NASA Spinoff profiles the best examples of technology that have been transferred from NASA research and missions into commercial products. From life-saving satellite systems to hospital robots that care for patients and more, NASA technologies benefit society. There’s more space in your life than you think! This app features shortened versions of all of the articles from the latest edition of Spinoff, which is available in print, PDF, and HTML versions at http://spinoff.nasa.gov.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Earth at 74% against NASA Spinoff's 0%. Earth also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.0) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 12 months). NASA Spinoff's advantage is iOS requirement (7.0 vs 13.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Earth holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Earth has 42 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Earth's written reviews are positive against 0% of NASA Spinoff's.
Earth ships an update every 4 months, NASA Spinoff every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Earth | NASA Spinoff |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (42 ratings) — better | 3.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 73.7% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 42 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 12 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 7.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 181 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory | NASA |
Customer experience
Earth
NASA Spinoff
Bugs and requests
Earth
Reported bugs
12 issues- App crashes on startup or during use
- Endless 'Loading model' message
- Crashes on iPhone 4 and older devices
- Pixel doubler requirement on iPad
- No landscape orientation support
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- Doesn't fill iPhone 5 screen properly
- Extremely slow data loading
- Menu navigation issues
- Equator display shows slashes of emptiness
- Zoom sensitivity causes twitchy behavior
- Text readability issues against Earth background
- Geographic data coverage gaps
Requested features
17 requests- Celsius/Kelvin temperature unit options
- Satellite information (height, launch date)
- ISS tracking capability
- Ocean current visualization
- Ice sheet data layers
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- Methane concentration data
- Snapshot/screenshot capability
- Adjustable animation playback speed
- Manual timeline scrolling for animations
- Higher resolution maps for Retina displays
- Landscape orientation support
- iPad version
- Google Earth integration
- More detailed explanations of data
- Selectable date ranges for animations
- Atmospheric CO2 levels (previously removed)
- Surface temperature data (previously removed)
NASA Spinoff
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Earth
No in-app purchases
NASA Spinoff
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Earth free?
Is NASA Spinoff free?
Which has better reviews, Earth or NASA Spinoff?
Do Earth or NASA Spinoff have ads?
Which is updated more often, Earth or NASA Spinoff?
Other comparisons
