Comparison

Solar Eclipse Live vs My Cosmic Compass

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

Head to head
About

Solar Eclipse Live

Explore all solar eclipses until the year 2200 for any location on Earth. Preview eclipses from your current or a selected location with highly accurate NASA ephemeris data. A countdown widget keeps you informed about the next celestial event.

Highlights
  • Explore solar eclipses until 2200
  • Location-based eclipse previews
  • Accurate NASA ephemeris data
  • Countdown to next solar eclipse
  • Home screen widget
Features
Read full description

This app lets you explore all solar eclipse until the year 2200 for any location on Earth. You can preview each eclipse from your current location (or select a location manually). The app uses the most accurate research-grade NASA ephemeris data (DE440) to calculate the most accurate eclipse timings possible. The predictions have an error of less than one second. A new home screen widget shows you a countdown to the next solar eclipse based on your current location.

About

My Cosmic Compass

Discover celestial alignments with this tool that uses your iPhone's GPS, compass, and camera to identify stars and planets rising and setting along any line. Explore historical and future celestial events from 5000 BC to 3000 AD, including lunar standstills.

Highlights
  • Capture alignments with GPS, compass, and camera
  • Track 21 navigational stars and major planets
  • Calculate positions from 5000 BC to 3000 AD
  • Detect lunar standstill points
  • View sites on a satellite map
  • Save alignments to calendar
  • Export to Google Earth
Features
Read full description

The iPhone tool for discovering which stars and planets rise and set along any alignment, today and thousands of years ago. Reveal the celestial connections hidden in ancient monuments, sacred sites, or your own backyard. WHAT IS COSMIC COMPASS? Point your iPhone along any structure: a temple axis, a stone circle, a pyramid edge, a garden wall. Cosmic Compass records the precise bearing using GPS, compass and camera, then calculates which stars and planets rise or set along that line, and when they did so throughout history. Does that Neolithic monument face the rising of Sirius? Which star rose along a Maya temple axis in 900 AD? Did the builders catch Venus at dawn? Or which stars rise along your own street? A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME Calculate star and planet positions for any year from 5000 BC to 3000 AD. Set the year a temple was built and see exactly where Sirius, Venus or the Pleiades rose when it was new. Dates appear in the Julian or Gregorian calendar of the time. Precession slowly wobbles Earth’s axis, shifting star positions by about 1° every 72 years, and every star drifts on its own path. Cosmic Compass combines the Vondrák long-term precession model with proper motions from the Hipparcos catalogue. Planets are calculated with VSOP87, the theory used by professional observatories. AS THE BUILDERS SAW IT Near the horizon the air absorbs starlight. Cosmic Compass places each star where it first becomes visible, following Alexander Thom’s work on the British stone rows. THE MOON’S SECRET CYCLE Every 18.6 years, the Moon reaches its most extreme rising and setting points: the lunar standstills. Monuments from Scotland to New Mexico were aligned to them. Cosmic Compass detects them and marks the standstill points around every site. EVERY SITE ON THE MAP Your sites appear on a satellite map of the world. Open a site and a compass ring shows its lines, the Moon’s standstill points and where each line’s star rose in the year you choose. Move through time and watch the stars travel along the horizon. HOW IT WORKS Point your iPhone along an alignment and tap to capture. The answer appears in one sentence, with the horizon drawn as a night sky. Below it: what lies on your line, what lies near it, and how it was calculated. A Celestial Convergence shows when a star and a planet share the same line. FEATURES • Capture alignments with compass, GPS and camera • 21 navigational stars including Sirius, Vega, the Pleiades and the Hyades • Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon • Any year from 5000 BC to 3000 AD • Precession and proper motion for true historical positions • Lunar standstill detection • Satellite site map with moving star marks • The Moon tonight on the home screen • Star Catalog with time travel • Save upcoming alignments to your calendar • Export to Google Earth as KML • Featured sites including Stonehenge, Callanish, Chimney Rock, Uxmal, Teotihuacan, Angkor Wat, Dendera and Versailles • Works offline in the field • Designed for normal, large and foldable screens & iPhone Duo WHO IS IT FOR? Anyone who stands at an ancient site and wonders: what were they watching? Heritage enthusiasts, travelers, students and educators, field researchers, astrophotographers planning star-rise shots, and anyone curious about the sky above their own home. YOUR DATA, YOUR RESEARCH Your sites are stored in your own iCloud Drive and sync across your devices. Nothing is shared, no account needed. START EXPLORING The ancients built with the stars in mind. Let Cosmic Compass reveal what they knew.

Screenshots

Solar Eclipse Live4 screens
My Cosmic Compass4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Solar Eclipse Live at Free against My Cosmic Compass's $6.99. Solar Eclipse Live also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (20 vs 1). My Cosmic Compass's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On rating, review sentiment, ads and device support 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

Solar Eclipse Live is free to download; My Cosmic Compass costs $6.99 up front. Solar Eclipse Live sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. My Cosmic Compass asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Solar Eclipse Live against 5.0 for My Cosmic Compass. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Solar Eclipse Live has 20 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Solar Eclipse Live ships an update daily, My Cosmic Compass every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Solar Eclipse Live versus My Cosmic Compass: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSolar Eclipse LiveMy Cosmic Compass
PriceFree — better$6.99
Rating5.0 (20 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings20 — better1
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHanno ReinAdventuring B.V.

Customer experience

Solar Eclipse Live

All ratings20 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

My Cosmic Compass

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Solar Eclipse Live

One-time1
  • Developer Appreciation Coffee$1.99
None

My Cosmic Compass

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Solar Eclipse Live free?
Solar Eclipse Live is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is My Cosmic Compass free?
My Cosmic Compass costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Solar Eclipse Live or My Cosmic Compass?
My Cosmic Compass is rated higher. Solar Eclipse Live averages 5.0 out of 5 from 20 ratings, while My Cosmic Compass averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Solar Eclipse Live or My Cosmic Compass have ads?
Neither Solar Eclipse Live nor My Cosmic Compass shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Solar Eclipse Live or My Cosmic Compass?
Solar Eclipse Live ships an update daily, and My Cosmic Compass every 6 months. Most recently, Solar Eclipse Live was updated on October 30, 2026 and My Cosmic Compass on November 9, 2026.

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