Comparison

nautiMessage vs Sextant

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

Head to head
About

nautiMessage

Features
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An easy way to send short signal flag messages to others using either text messaging or your email. Simply enter your message and press Copy and you can paste the signal flag message into your text. Includes a quick reference guide showing all the flags. This program is a great introduction to the mvSigFlags application which is a state-of-the-art training tool to help you quickly learn all the signal flags using mnemonic techniques. See more information on our website at www.mySigFlags.com

About

Sextant

This app provides a comprehensive celestial navigation toolkit for sailors and enthusiasts. It allows users to navigate using celestial bodies like the sun, moon, planets, and stars, even when GPS is unavailable. The app guides users through taking sextant readings, performing calculations, and plotting positions on a map.

Highlights
  • Celestial body identification using camera and ephemeris
  • Sextant sight reduction with manual correction checks
  • Offline celestial navigation
  • Noon sight for latitude calculation
  • Line of position plotting on a real map
  • Polaris one-shot latitude
  • Solar Compass for deviation checks
Features
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A complete celestial navigation toolkit for sailors, students, and the curious. When the GPS quits, the sun, moon, planets, and stars still work. Sextant takes you all the way from a single sextant reading to a line of position on a map β€” with every correction shown, so you can check the math by hand if you want to. Point the camera at the sky The Sky tab labels every navigational body in view β€” the sun, the moon, all four navigational planets, and 58 navigational stars β€” using the magnetic compass and on-device ephemeris. Spot a star, tap its name, and a sight starts with that body identified and the time stamped. Sight with your camera, or a real sextant The camera flow uses gravity-based altitude with a roll lockout so a tilted phone can't slip a bad shot through. Multi-shot mode takes a series and saves the trimmed mean. Or just type your altitude from a brass sextant and let the app do the reduction. Every body you'll ever shoot Sun, moon, all four navigational planets β€” Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn β€” and all 58 standard navigational stars. Positions computed from astronomical models (Meeus, VSOP87, JPL Keplerian elements), not stale tables. Works fully offline. Noon Sight in one tap Take the sun's altitude at meridian passage; the app gives you latitude. It also predicts the exact UTC of local apparent noon so you know when to look. Plot your fix Every sight draws a line of position on a real map. Take more than one, apply dead reckoning between them, watch your running fix come together β€” exactly like the paper-chart workflow. Tools sailors actually use - Polaris one-shot latitude - Solar Compass β€” true bearing of the sun, for compass deviation checks - Starfinder β€” what's above the horizon right now - Reduction tables (dip, refraction, semi-diameter) - DMS / decimal converter Learn celestial navigation as you go Step through your first sight with a guided walk-through. Every screen has inline help, and every correction in the sight reduction β€” dip, refraction, semi-diameter, parallax β€” has an explanation a tap away. Check the app against your hand calculations, or let it do all the work. Share your work Export sight records as CSV or as a printable PDF work-form in the classic HO 229 layout. No subscription. No ads. No internet. One purchase, everything included.

Screenshots

nautiMessage3 screens
Sextant4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: nautiMessage at Free against Sextant's $9.99. nautiMessage also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

nautiMessage is free to download; Sextant costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

nautiMessage ships an update monthly, Sextant every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 6 level
nautiMessage versus Sextant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameternautiMessageSextant
PriceFree β€” better$9.99
Positive reviewsβ€”0.0% of reviews
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetizationβ€”Paid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 β€” better26.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size12 MB2 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperMiravista Interactive L.L.C.Stolk.cc

In-app purchases

None

nautiMessage

No in-app purchases

None

Sextant

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is nautiMessage free?
nautiMessage is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sextant free?
Sextant costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do nautiMessage or Sextant have ads?
Neither nautiMessage nor Sextant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, nautiMessage or Sextant?
nautiMessage ships an update monthly, and Sextant every 3 weeks. Most recently, nautiMessage was updated on September 18, 2026 and Sextant on September 24, 2026.

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