Comparison

moontake vs AstroOcular

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

Head to head
About

moontake

Capture stunning images of the moon with this specialized camera app. It offers manual controls for focus and brightness, along with a unique watermark displaying current moon phase information. The app faithfully reflects your camera's capabilities without using artificial models.

Highlights
  • Moon alignment guidance
  • Two-finger zoom adjustment
  • Tap-to-focus and manual focus slider
  • Brightness adjustment
  • Moon phase watermark
  • High-resolution capture
Read full description

Tutorials 1. Please align the camera with the moon 2. Use two fingers to adjust the size of the moon (Note: Bigger is not always better, excessive zoom may result in decreased image quality) 3. You can tap on the position of the moon for autofocus. If autofocus is not clear enough, you can drag the focus slider for manual focusing 4. Tap the \"-\" and \"+\" buttons to adjust the brightness. Lowering the brightness ensures more details of the moon 5. Tap the circular capture button to take a photo ---------------------- moontake taking great photos of the moon on your iPhone. moontake provide a special watermark with current moon phase information. moontake's technology implementation does not involve any 2D/3D moon model matching or other cheating methods, faithfully reflecting the resolving power of the camera lens. It is particularly suitable for devices equipped with telephoto lenses. Explore more of the Moon: • Moon Finder gives approximate direction guidance in the camera; compass accuracy affects the guide. • Moon Calendar shows daily phases, illumination, the next full Moon, and phase event times. The current month is free to view; other months require Pro. • Explore the Moon adds approximate labels for lunar landmarks to your photos, with reference images and stories. You can adjust the alignment manually. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

AstroOcular

Features
Read full description

AstroOcular is a focused camera app for recording the Moon, planets, and observations through a telescope eyepiece. The app opens straight into the camera, avoids automatic lens switching by using physical rear cameras when available, and provides a visual guide to help center the iPhone on the eyepiece. Key features: - Photo and video capture through a telescope eyepiece - Physical rear lens selection - Automatic alignment guide and manual reticle fallback - Timer to reduce shake - Pro controls for zoom, focus, exposure, ISO, white balance, resolution, and FPS - Saves locally to the Photos library - No ads, analytics, purchases, or backend Video audio is off by default and microphone permission is requested only if you enable audio.

Screenshots

moontake4 screens
AstroOcular4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: AstroOcular at none against moontake's 1. moontake's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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

Both are free to download. moontake sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. AstroOcular asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

moontake ships an update every 2 weeks, AstroOcular every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
moontake versus AstroOcular: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametermoontakeAstroOcular
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (42 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews89.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings42 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZIZICICI LIMITEDAron Scolaro

In-app purchases

1 purchases

moontake

One-time1
  • Lifetime Pro Membership$1.99
None

AstroOcular

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is moontake free?
moontake is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is AstroOcular free?
AstroOcular is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do moontake or AstroOcular have ads?
Neither moontake nor AstroOcular shows ads.
Which is updated more often, moontake or AstroOcular?
moontake ships an update every 2 weeks, and AstroOcular every 5 weeks. Most recently, moontake was updated on October 9, 2026 and AstroOcular on October 1, 2026.

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