AstroAid vs GalacticAR for Education
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AstroAid
Visualize what you'll see through your telescope with different eyepieces and optical aids. Plan your astrophotography by pairing cameras with telescopes to see what fits in the frame. Includes astronomical catalogs and equipment lists.
- Telescope/eyepiece/imager field of view simulation
- Magnification and visual magnitude limit calculation
- Built-in astronomical object catalogs (Messier, NGC, IC)
- Searchable object catalogs with downloadable images
- Extensive equipment lists with custom entry support
- iCloud synchronization for custom equipment
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AstroAid is an app for amateur astronomers that functions as an aid to visualizing what you will see through your telescope/camera lens when you use a particular eyepiece and, optionally, an optical aid (such as a Barlow lens). You can also pair a camera/imager with a telescope and determine what your camera/imager will see in its frame. This will be a big help for astro-imagers. The app computes a number of parameters for your telescope/eyepiece/imager combination, such as magnification, actual field of view, visual magnitude limit, etc. and displays these values in tabular form. Several astronomical catalogues are built in to the app (including Messier, NGC, IC, and many other object catalogues), and will be updated on-line occasionally. Images for these objects can be downloaded. All catalogues can be searched. The app contains extensive lists of known vendor-supplied telescopes, camera lenses, eyepieces, imagers, and optical aids. You can also create your own custom entries if your equipment isn't listed (for example, if you made your own telescope). These custom entries are shared between your devices via iCloud (if available).
GalacticAR for Education
Explore the universe with interactive 3D models and an extensive encyclopedia. Test your knowledge with over 300 quiz questions covering comets, planets, galaxies, and more. Ideal for students and educators seeking a comprehensive astronomy learning experience.
- 300 quiz questions
- 121 astronomical topics
- 43 interactive 3D models
- 16 immersive outer space scenes
- 9 main astronomy categories
- 6 language options
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GalacticAR for Education is the complete school edition of GalacticAR. Explore and learn about the universe, from comets and planets to black holes, galaxies, and the cosmos as a whole. GalacticAR combines a comprehensive astronomy encyclopedia, interactive 3D models and scenes, and a quiz with 300 questions across multiple difficulty levels. Ideal for schools, classrooms, students, and anyone who wants a complete astronomy experience. It is available across Apple platforms as a one-time app purchase for educational use. Features: • 300 quiz questions to test and expand your knowledge • 121 astronomical topics in the encyclopedia • 43 interactive 3D models • 16 immersive outer space scenes, from the Solar System to galaxies. • 9 main categories: Comets, Asteroids, Moons, Planets, Solar System, Stars, Black Holes, Galaxies, and Universe. • 8 Game Center achievements to collect • 3 Game Center leaderboards to compete in • 6 languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Simplified Chinese) • Made for Vision Pro, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: GalacticAR for Education at 5.0 against AstroAid's 4.3. GalacticAR for Education also leads on device support (6 vs 3). AstroAid's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (44 vs 1). On 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
AstroAid costs $2.99 and GalacticAR for Education $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
GalacticAR for Education holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AstroAid has 44 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
AstroAid ships an update fortnightly, GalacticAR for Education every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AstroAid | GalacticAR for Education |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 4.3 (44 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 71.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 44 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 125 MB | 222 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | iLanga, Inc. | Vielfalt Software e.U. |
Customer experience
AstroAid
GalacticAR for Education
Bugs and requests
AstroAid
Reported bugs
8 issues- App doesn't open
- App crashes on opening (iOS 14.2)
- App crashes after update (12.1)
- Crashes when adding new scope
- Keeps quitting when making custom eyepieces
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- Crashing on iOS 11
- App crashes when entering decimal points or spaces in custom data
- Reinstall needed after last update
Requested features
13 requests- Update equipment database (cameras, scopes, sensors)
- Include planets in object database
- Allow image rotation
- Provide un-cropped images (optional)
- Add solar system images (Sun, Moon, planets)
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- Add ability to exchange north/south
- Add filter support
- Add exposure simulator for imaging
- Add slider for planet rotation
- Update to 64-bit requirement
- Add more custom equipment options
- Improve night mode contrast
- Update optics list (e.g., TS-Optics 6“ Hypergraph)
GalacticAR for Education
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
AstroAid
No in-app purchases
GalacticAR for Education
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is AstroAid free?
Is GalacticAR for Education free?
Which has better reviews, AstroAid or GalacticAR for Education?
Do AstroAid or GalacticAR for Education have ads?
Which is updated more often, AstroAid or GalacticAR for Education?
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