Comparison

Sun Surveyor Lite vs Phocam

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

Head to head
About

Sun Surveyor Lite

This app helps photographers, filmmakers, and professionals visualize and plan around the sun's path. It predicts sunrise, sunset, and twilight times, and offers tools to understand light and shadows for optimal planning.

Highlights
  • Predict sunrise and sunset times
  • Visualize sun's path
  • Golden hour and blue hour planning
  • Twilight time calculations
  • Sun shadow information
  • Visual time machine
Features
Read full description

Sun Surveyor Lite takes the mystery out of the sunrise, sunset and magic hours, helping photographers and filmmakers scout the best locations, plan effectively, and get the perfect shot. Solar Industry (PV) Professionals, architects, real estate agents, and gardeners will also find a wealth of empowering, interactive features. The 3D Compass and detailed Ephemeris provide a wealth of information about the largest natural light source in the galaxy: - Predict and plan for the golden hour, blue hour and every sunrise & sunset - Visualize the sun's path throughout the day or through the year Additional features: - Visual time machine - take a quick glance at the light for a day, or dial in desired compositions easily - Twilight times - civil, nautical, astronomical - Solstice and Equinox visualization - Sun shadow information - calculate the length of shadows cast by objects - Magnetic declination compensation Check out the Full Version of Sun Surveyor for more: - Live Camera View - augmented reality projections of the sun and moon paths, pinpoint the time the sun or moon will be at a particular location in the sky - Interactive Map View - plan a remote shot or PV array placement, interact with a top-down perspective of sun and moon paths and events - Street View Panoramas - 360 degree spherical panoramas with selected sun, moon and milky way events overlaid, where available - Moon Information: moon position, moonrise, moonset, moon phases, apogee, perigee, distance and a Super Moon finder - Show clients the quality and quantity of seasonal sunlight at a remote location - Understand potential shade of surroundings and discover any obstructions - Create images of the summer and winter Solstice & Equinox paths for a site - Prepare night photography shots with the Milky Way & star trail features - Offline usage (excludes Map View, Street View) - enter coordinates, save & load locations with no data connection or GPS available - Measure distance, and difference between elevations, and vertical angle differentials with the Map view - Import and export Google Earth .kmz/.kml locations

About

Phocam

Read full description

Phocam is a camera app that lets you take photos together with your favorite photocards. Create a photocard from your photo library, then overlay it on the camera view and shoot. Adjust the size, position, and angle intuitively to capture "with your bias" moments at concerts, cafés, and on trips. You can also record short videos with the card overlaid, and add a photocard to photos you have already taken. Features: ・Create photocards from your photos ・Overlay a photocard in the camera and take photos ・Record short videos with the card overlaid ・Drag, pinch, and rotate to place the card freely ・Compose a photocard onto an existing photo ・Date and location stamps Phocam is for anyone who wants to make everyday moments more fun and more special.

Screenshots

Sun Surveyor Lite4 screens
Phocam4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Sun Surveyor Lite at 3 against Phocam's 1. On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sun Surveyor Lite ships an update every 2 months, Phocam every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Sun Surveyor Lite versus Phocam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSun Surveyor LitePhocam
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (37 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings37 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size57 MB54 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdam RatanaIzumi Zama

Bugs and requests

Sun Surveyor Lite

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Sun no longer appears where it should
  • Sun direction is wrong indoors without GPS
  • Sun is off by more than 10 degrees
  • Sunrise time not working
  • App crashes when selecting location
Show 6 more
  • Latest update stopped working
  • Compass is always off
  • Compass is reversed
  • Lite version has an obscuring dialog box
  • Map view is not working correctly
  • App crashes on iPhone 5 iOS 7

Requested features

9 requests
  • Make the version free
  • Move UI options
  • Add dark mode
  • Add day-length feature
  • Add UV index
Show 4 more
  • Add sunrise alarm
  • Fix time zone for Russia
  • Allow user to move UI elements
  • Offer a trial for the full version

Phocam

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Sun Surveyor Lite

No in-app purchases

None

Phocam

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sun Surveyor Lite free?
Sun Surveyor Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Phocam free?
Phocam is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Sun Surveyor Lite or Phocam have ads?
Neither Sun Surveyor Lite nor Phocam shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sun Surveyor Lite or Phocam?
Sun Surveyor Lite ships an update every 2 months, and Phocam every 3 months. Most recently, Sun Surveyor Lite was updated on November 1, 2026 and Phocam on November 5, 2026.

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