Comparison

Zephy vs HexPlore

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

Head to head
About

Zephy

Discover aircraft flying overhead with a live radar and compass. Track specific planes to see their origin and destination, or find the closest aircraft with a single tap. Enjoy a simple, clutter-free experience for sky-watchers.

Highlights
  • Live aircraft radar
  • Filter by distance, altitude, direction
  • Track specific aircraft
  • View aircraft origin and destination
  • Built-in compass
  • Track closest plane button
Features
Read full description

Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved looking up a the sky, wondering where the planes are headed towards. It’s just, there is something magical about spotting a plane and letting my imagination go wild, guessing where planes are coming from, trying to guess what model a plane is. That’s why I made Zephy. It’s a little app for people (like me) who just can’t stop watching the skies above. So, what can Zephy do? With Zephy, you can do more than just look. You can see what aircraft are flying above you with the radar, filter them by distance, altitude, direction, or only show the aircrafts that are in the air. You can even track a specific aircraft and see where it came from, where it’s going, and get directional input with the built-in compass. Or, if you’re feeling lazy, just use the “Track Closest Plane” button and Zephy will pick the nearest one for you. And now for the million dollar question. Why Zephy? I made it to be simple, personal, and clutter-free. No overwhelming data, no feeling like you’re in a crowded control tower. Just an app for people, who (like me) can’t resist looking up and seeing what’s flying above them. And if there are clouds in the way, you can always use the radar to find where the planes are.

About

HexPlore

This app visualizes your actual travel footprint by mapping the specific areas you've visited, not just countries. It automatically uses your photo geotags to build a detailed map of your explorations, revealing the true extent of your global experiences.

Highlights
  • Maps actual ground explored
  • Automatic map generation from photos
  • Visualizes percentage of countries explored
  • Highlights areas for future travel
  • Shareable map snapshots
  • No account or cloud storage required
Features
Read full description

You've been to 30 countries. But how much of the world have you actually seen? Most of us have ticked off a country and moved on — a few days in a city, an airport layover, a cruise port. HexPlore shows you the truth, and it's more interesting than any list of countries ever could be. Your travels are more unique than you think. That road trip through the Scottish Highlands. The back streets of Lisbon you got lost in. The stretch of New Zealand coast you drove at sunrise. HexPlore maps all of it — the actual ground you stood on, not just the countries you passed through. You might have been to Australia and seen 0.4% of it. You might have wandered a tiny country and covered 60%. That contrast is the whole point. DISCOVER YOUR REAL FOOTPRINT Find out what % of the world's land you've genuinely explored. See which countries you know deeply and which ones you've barely scratched. Spot the blank spaces on your map and feel the pull to fill them in. YOUR PHOTOS REMEMBER EVERYTHING Every trip you've ever taken is already sitting in your camera roll. HexPlore reads where your photos were taken and builds your map automatically. No logging. No manual entry. Just the honest record of a life lived. SOMETHING TO SHARE Generate a snapshot of your map and send it to friends. Compare honest coverage, not just country counts. Settle the debate about who's actually the more well-travelled one. Your photos stay on your phone. Always. No account, no sign-up, no cloud. Download HexPlore. Find out where you've really been.

Screenshots

Zephy4 screens
HexPlore4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: HexPlore at 5.0 against Zephy's 4.5. Zephy's advantage is ratings volume (159 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, review sentiment, update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HexPlore holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zephy has 159 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 74% of Zephy's written reviews are positive against 67% of HexPlore's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Zephy ships an update fortnightly, HexPlore every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Zephy versus HexPlore: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZephyHexPlore
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (159 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.7% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings159 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDennis MoesAlastair McNeill

Customer experience

Zephy

All ratings143 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral2.1%
Negative9.1%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive73.7%
Neutral5.3%
Negative21.1%

HexPlore

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

Zephy

No in-app purchases

None

HexPlore

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Zephy free?
Zephy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is HexPlore free?
HexPlore is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Zephy or HexPlore?
HexPlore is rated higher. Zephy averages 4.5 out of 5 from 159 ratings, while HexPlore averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Zephy or HexPlore have ads?
Neither Zephy nor HexPlore shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Zephy or HexPlore?
Zephy ships an update fortnightly, and HexPlore every 2 weeks. Most recently, Zephy was updated on October 28, 2026 and HexPlore on October 9, 2026.

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